Unbelievable Progress?

I just watched two videos: (1) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpEnFwiqdx8 and (2) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lm1sCsl2MQY. Both were about the twitter-paced technological advancements made over the last few decades to beyond the last century. They were both interesting and, for the most part, their statistics and the implications thereof indubitable, yet a certain uneasiness rests in me as to whether all this progress is really progress at all.

The first video, titled, "Did You Know," gives scores of statistics which the viewer is left to assume have been traced to truth. Regardless, the startling information gets one's attention. It's hard to believe India's honors kids number more than the total of America's kids. It's difficult to think the jobs with the highest demand did not even exist in 2004. It's also strange to think half of what a tech school student learns in his or her first year will be outdated by the third. Several statistics seemed random and disconnected. The last frame of the video asks the questions, "So what does this all mean?" That's what I thought, too. It suggests America is not only being outgrown numerically, but also educationally. Yet, Google, Facebook and iPod, all hailed by the video, were created by Americans. So, while I do agree with the premise that America is digressing intellectually, it might not be as bad as some describe it. On a similar note, criticizing America in one area and exalting another country in the same does not prove that that country is overall better than the United States.

There is nothing inherently good or bad with technological progress. I like it. I've got a computer and a cell phone. If I could afford more tech gadgets, I would probably buy more. But, if we've made it so far beyond Shakespeare as to have five times more English words today, then why do most young people struggle to read his? Computers are great, no doubt. Will we have a computer in 2013 that has the intellectual equality of a human brain? Will there be a computer in 2049 that will exceed the computational abilities of the human species? I don't know. Here's one thing, though--no matter how great computers become, they will always be inferior to the humans who create them.

Video 2. This video, "Mr. Winkle Wakes," pokes a little fun at the idea of progress. Our great-grandparents and great-great grandparents, if they returned today, would be shocked. It's funny to think that almost everywhere Mr. Winkle went, he was intimidated and uncomfortable. Yet, in his day, like our late relatives in theirs, he was smart and confident. But, don't worry Mr. Winkle, most people today don't know how TV or radio or internet works. They just know it does.

Of both videos, I appreciate the message of the second the most. Our young people need to be taught technology; however, we cannot stop teaching them much of the same standard curriculum that has been taught without tecnological assistance (computer or calculator) through the years. Mr. Winkle was happy to be at school, where things hadn't changed too much over time. Thankfully, this progress has not yet gotten us away from things not worth changing.