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It Hasn’t Always Been This Way
Recognizing and acknowledging this truth can change your life.
One of the most fascinating elements of conservativism, to me, is how they want to go back to a simpler, better time. Realistically, of course, they want to go back to a simpler, better time that never existed (save in a few minds).
The reason this fascinates me so much is because that desire ignores progress made. Not just social progress, though. Technological progress. The world of the ridiculously idolized 1950s is nearly as different to us in 2024 as the world of 1950 would have been to the people of 1850. Alien, vastly different, utterly unfamiliar. What’s more, the reality is that this would go in both directions.
So much of what we have today is utterly taken for granted. Whatever device you’re reading these words on, for example, didn’t exist only 25–30 years ago. I have friends who have never known a world without smartphones, e-readers, computers everywhere, and instantaneous global connection and communication.
However, I remember. I got my first PC in 1985. It was an Apple IIe with a whopping 128k of memory, a duo 5¼" disk drive, and a green screen. My iPhone is exponentially more powerful and probably 1/24 ththe size. Many of my friends didn’t have their own PC at that time.
