CULTURAL EVOLUTION

Not only are we experiencing unprecedented rapid climate change as the result of human pollution of the environment; but we are also experiencing an unprecedented rapid societal change in values and accepted norms, brought about by a technological revolution. 

 

Climates have changed in the past; but without a catastrophic event, these changes took place over thousands of years.   Today we can document a climate change over a single lifetime. 

Mirroring climate change, societal  changes, in the past, have required centuries to establish themselves.  A societal evolution is now taking place, with a genesis of about fifty years.  

    

Having lived through the majority of a century in time, I am probably more aware of the changes in attitudes and values then younger people.

I think the following photograph best demonstrates the point.

The pocket watch is in a gold case.   It was made in 1939.   When you remove the back, the working mechanism is beautiful to behold: intricate gears and wheels and a pendulum moving in a precision that is amazing.   The non-moving parts are scrolled and crosshatched and present an artistic beauty that only watch repairman would ever see.   The name of the watch maker is etched onto a frame member.    This watch must be wound daily, and reset each month as it gains about a minute a week. 

Someone took pride in the construction of this pocket watch, and the owner, my grandfather, surely appreciated and cared for this watch for the last twenty-five years of his life.

In contrast, the wrist watch is plastic.   It cost nine dollars.  It is a precision time piece and is always accurate.   It requires no daily maintenance.   Some machine in a Chinese factory stamped out the printed circuit board and some poorly paid worker in another sweat shop in China assembled the unit.  The replacement battery would cost seven dollars, so when the watch stops, I will throw it away and buy another.  I don’t give a damn about this watch, and wear it regardless of the activity or the weather.

These two watches pretty much represent two distinctly different cultures; one that existed for hundreds of years, and one that has evolved over the last half century.  

Technology is marvelous and changes rapidly.  The change in cultural values of society are keeping pace with the technological changes.     In the not to distant future we may be a different species.  

the Ol'Buzzard

My grandfather died in 1965, his second wife died in 1994 - that is when I came into possession of the pocket watch.