Apparently this is "list week" at this blog. My attention was caught this time by USA Today's list of 25 things that have disappeared in the last 25 years.
The list of things that have disappeared includes indoor smoking, typewriters, vinyl records, rotary dial phones, and more.
I must take issue with item number 3, "The Soviet Threat." Yes, the Cold War is over, but as we all know, Vladimir Putin seems to be trying hard to start it up all over again.
Here's something on the flip side to think about: Can you name 25 things that we have now, that we didn't have 25 years ago?
I think I can, quite easily. In fact, in my opinion, the top innovations of the last quarter century are far more astonishing than the list of what we've lost.
One of those innovations is the popularization of the internet we're using right now. In 1982 -- 25 years ago -- home PCs were just beginning to take hold, laptop computers were still unheard of, and the World Wide Web was not yet "invented" or given its name. There was no wireless internet, there were no iPods, and there were no blogs.
Among the innovations made possible by advances in computers and microprocessors are digital cameras and everyday toys that talk, make music, and react in lifelike ways. (Cleaning up children's toys is much more of an adventure than it used to be. It's not usual for toys to react to your entry into the room with whirring noises, music, or a request for a Care Bear hug.)
There have also been many astonishing breakthroughs in medicine in the last 25 years, including adult stem cell therapy, laproscopic surgery for many procedures, laser vision correction, genetic engineering, growth of human tissue in laboratories, and advances in cardiac care such as widespread use of aspirin regimens, use of cholesterol-lowering drugs, treatment with stents, and much more.
We've even discovered that the human papillomavirus causes cervical cancer and invented a vaccine for it. Ditto for AIDS treatment; scientists have discovered the cause and invented multi-drug therapy that has made long-term survival possible, where before there was only death.
Some will still look back longingly to a time when gas stations still provided good service (without charging an arm and a leg for it) and public discourse was at least a little bit more civil and polite.
Sure, those were the good old days.
But so are these days, right now. Enjoy them while they last!
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