Conversations

Had an interesting conversation with my daughter this morning on the drive over to the school.

I was saying how I wonder sometimes what sorts of things she'll see in her lifetime that I am unable to imagine, like my grandparents and the internet. I said that people talk about things, like sunglasses that spot-darken to block out a very bright light while still keeping the rest clear; we don't see them yet, but perhaps they will suggest things to others. Necessity is, I said. She looked quizzically at me. Necessity is the mother of invention, I amplified. Like cell phones. Remember satellite phones? She did, vaguely. Those big brick like things, right? Right. At the time, they were the big thing. Oh, wow, you can talk to anywhere from anywhere. Then the spread of cell phone coverage pretty much wiped them out, except for really distant locations, like the middle of Africa. And maybe not even there -- I told her about the deal where some folks figured out a way to link one phone in Australia to another, so that if you're out of range to a cell tower, you can connect to a phone that is within range. Bet that was an Australian who did that, she observed, and I agreed: probably was. Necessity is. But you'll have things that I can't even imagine. Like what? Like, someday, you won't need a PC to connect to the net; you'll just be able to do it. She looked at me. We can do that now, Dad. It's called a telephone.

Um. Yeah. Not quite my point...