Changeover

We are in a changeover, a time of transition. Is there anyone who could disagree? I do not think so. The speed of the changes is quite impressive. Changes are manifested almost in all directions.

Let’s go for a little journey in time. What about hundred years ago?
Too much? Well, our recent history tells us we are in the beginning of the third millennium. That means about two thousand years of known history. What means 100 years on that? Five percent or so.
There we go, one hundred years ago!
Scenario: no cars, electricity coming up, and planes? Not yet. Cars? Not with engines yet, at least on an industrial scale.
Let’s imagine ourselves over there: no cars, no planes. What was our notion of comfort. Quite different of nowadays, is that not so?
Well, let’s keep advancing in time, what about the fifties? Some of us or our parents, grandparents were born here. How was the world over that time?
Cars factories coming up, turbo helix planes flying from Europe to the Americas, miss world contests going on. 200.000 people gathering together in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to watch the world cup’s final of soccer. The motion picture industry moving up with full success. But, yet, the radio is still unbeatable.
Well, let’s imagine ourselves having our first TV set at home, black and white, of course. Telephones? Oh, yes, through a telephone operator, of course. Few people affording to have one at home. Typewriters being developed, electrical ones? How come! No, but very good mechanical ones are being used by many, journalists, writers, lawyers, everyone… Yet we have telegraphs. It is getting better and better.
How are our relations with the developing world?
Well, let’s go little bit further, year 1980. Computers, electronic equipment, smaller and smaller. Plastics everywhere. Water being sold? a young 1900 fellow would ask. Milk in boxes? another one would add.

Now, let’s come back, but let’s invite two young fellows, acquaintances of ours, from the beginning of the century.
What subject to present to them?
Let’s think together.
Communications? Well that is a huge subject, do you dare to talk about it to our fellows of hundred years ago? Not me.
- ” Come on. Just give a simple speech about internet, intranets, internet 2, windows, oracle, c++. That is simple, is it not?
-Oh yes. Even my grandma heard of that, but let’s try another subject.
The number of magazines in a bookstore? Well, how many options would someone have? Five, ten, fifty? Ask us our nine hundreds fellows.
Do you dare to approach that topic with our young nine hundred’s fellows? What about hundreds?
How long would it take to receive a letter? They ask.
Let’s tell them about simultaneous communications?
- “Well, let’s change the subjects, our fellows will think we are teasing them.

- “What about an invisible world?
What do you think of telling them about the world of the electromagnetic, radar and satellite waves? Or just about the television signals.
“More than one frequency?” would they ask us.
Our answer? Let’s try this one?
Ok! Well, it depends on the city, area, country, but usually every city has at least 100 different channels, that is, more than one hundred different frequencies or electromagnetic signals, with different frequencies among them, of course, flying over our heads every second.
Radios? Well, that is another world in itself, so many in each city. Their waves dancing over our heads 24 hours a day.

How do you think our fellows from the beginning of the last century are feeling?
Are they comfortable?
” I don’t know, maybe not much. What do you think?
Let’s take them for a walk?
Ok, whereabouts? A city tour?
Ok, let’s go.
Let’s have tea with them in any teashop first?
Fine, good idea.
On the way…
” So many types of cars”, one of them says. ” How many do you have?” The other asks.
Well, you know, say you, we do have many. See the colors, do you like them?”
They just nod their heads looking at our traffic.
Well, it’s funny how you get across to cross any road, one of them says. It seems to be a race.”
I just look at your eyes. It’s not difficult to bet what’s going on in your head.

Ok, here there is one bookstore with a coffeeshop inside, how would you like to stop by? You ask me.
“-Ok, let’s get in”, I say.

” -A bookstore with coffeeshop? That is a great idea, one of them says.
We agree, of course.”

Before getting to our tea, they just get pulled by the shelves. So many books, that is wonderful, one of them says.
They look around, and there they go.
The magazines section.
They get a little bit RED.
What are they thinking, we try to guess.
- “Maybe those naked women?”
Probably. They don’t say anything.

Well at last we had our tea.

On our tour they will get more familiar with our world, we guess.
Will they?
Men and women almost naked on the billboards and shown on the outside of the buses.
Well, that’s publicity we try telling them.
Why are they always almost naked? The younger one asks.
I look at you, looking for help. You try answering it? My eyes ask you.

Well, wouldn’t you like to get back home? You ask them.
Oh, yes, they say almost simultaneously.
Here we go, back home, for a while.

At night, when they go to bed, we start reflecting about some of the things we are used to see every day, but a funny feeling comes up: when someone else comes with different perspectives and asks us about those basic things, we really have trouble to answer.
Why is that?
The changes are going kind of so quickly, we may say. Or, so many things are going on at the same time that we do not have a chance to think about all of them.
We may think: well that’s not a problem, you see, each one gets expertise in what interests him. One does not need to know everything.

To our fellows in their room what they are going through seems not to be real.
- ” Too many things, too many people, too many cars, too much publicity, too many magazines, too many things around. Could you imagine the world would reach this situation?” One asks the other.

- ” I don’t know. When Einstein made his public statements about those theories we couldn’t understand at that time, I thought that fifty years later everyone would know that, as we learnt basic math. But what I see is that they are getting trapped in so many things that they know very little about most things they have.” the other one says.

- ” you know, the younger one says, they do a lot of things, but they do really think very little about what they are doing. That’s my feeling. They do so much that they don’t have time to think about what they are doing.”

-” You know what, the older one says, I feel that the world is going through a huge change, right now! He says.
We were used to see changes as well. But in small moves, that was the way we learned.
Now they are going through changes so quickly that I would say that it’s like being within huge waves in the ocean.
You are near the seashore, but it’s not there on the land, and yet you are not in the middle of the ocean, sailing as we were used to live.
It seems that they are going to reach another world, like when our old sailors (Columbus and others) were about to reach their new discoveries.
Now they seem to be in between the old and a new world. The changes are happening in a different way, you do see that.
It’s like surfing, sometimes over the waves, some really huge, other calm. Sometimes under the water, getting rolled by the waves, other times under storms, others under sunshine.
It’s funny, but they act as if they were either in the middle of the ocean, sailing, or already in the new found land, on firm ground. But actually they need to be very alert because they are in between. You can’t say that things are easy around here. These guys have a real challenge going on.”
-” Do you think they will succeed?” asks the younger one.
“- I hope so” says the older one. But it’s time to sleep now. Have nice dreams.

That’s where we will leave our fellows. Allowing them to get back to their world.
We appreciate their brief visit.