What's made your life better over time?
Bottom Line: Think back over the course of your life. What do you believe has improved it the most overtime? The Pew Research Center wrapped up a study on this topic looking back on the past fifty years. Think about how much incredible change has happened in 50 years. Fifty years ago, LBJ was President and we were still in the earlier stages of our involvement in the Vietnam War. So, what's been the biggest catalyst for positive change in our lives? There was a resounding top answer. Technology
When you think about how much time when spend online. When you think about how often we're on computers (including the fact that we pretty much are always carrying at least one with us), let alone all of the other remarkable technology all around us it's hard to argue. Here were the top responses:
Technology: 42%
Medicine & Health: 14%
Civil & Equal rights: 10%
Economy: 8%
Quality of Life (in US): 5%
Politics: 2%
Energy & Environment: 2%
Peace/End of wars: 1%
In a lot of ways most of these are interconnected. It's our economy and (mostly) free enterprise that have spurred technology and medical growth leading to a generally better quality of life in the US - as an example. As a follow-up question people were asked what they thought would most impact it over the next 50. Not surprisingly technology and medicine led the way again. I guess my question would be if we're at risk of it potentially turning the other way however.
Is it possible that the future of technology could actually lead to increased warring, a greater division in income inequality and generally lower quality of life? I'd argue that aspects of all of those are already on display. Food for thought.