Is the world passing us by?

fuzzybuddy

fuzzybuddy

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The Sticks, Northeast PA.
When I was a kid, the US was the biggest, tallest, most, and the best. Today, we don't have the tallest building, largest dam, longest bridge, etc., etc. Yeah, it's just bragging rights, and doesn't define us. But, damn, I liked it when the US was filled with superlatives. I wonder why we no longer are the biggest, the best, the tallest, and the most.
 

fuzzybuddy said:
When I was a kid, the US was the biggest, tallest, most, and the best. Today, we don't have the tallest building, largest dam, longest bridge, etc., etc. Yeah, it's just bragging rights, and doesn't define us. But, damn, I liked it when the US was filled with superlatives. I wonder why we no longer are the biggest, the best, the tallest, and the most.
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Because it's too expensive. The world has passed us seniors by. The future has arrived. We complain about it and wish it was still 1950. I belong to a group of about ten who meet for coffee every day. Only two of us have cell phones and know how to use them.
 
fuzzybuddy said:
When I was a kid, the US was the biggest, tallest, most, and the best. Today, we don't have the tallest building, largest dam, longest bridge, etc., etc. Yeah, it's just bragging rights, and doesn't define us. But, damn, I liked it when the US was filled with superlatives. I wonder why we no longer are the biggest, the best, the tallest, and the most.
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Those days date back to the end of WWII when the US was the only Western power with its industrial base and infrastructure still intact after the war; the other Western countries were pretty much destroyed by WWII. Even in the 1960s, the other Western countries were still playing catch-up with us. But now it's been 75 years since the end of WWII, the other countries have finished rebuilding (with our assistance in many cases), and there's no particular reason for the US to stand out from the rest. Inevitably, other countries are going to excel at some things.

The US is still a leader in many fields (military, space, medicine, etc.). But we have to pick our battles, that is to say, we have to prioritize where we want to channel our money and time. Can't be first in everything.
 

Camper6 said:
Only two of us have cell phones and know how to use them.
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Heheh. I have a cell phone, but it's a flip phone (a dumb phone). I can't be bothered messing with a smart phone. As a retiree, I just don't need all those extra capabilities that a smart phone offers.
 
CraigD said:
Heheh. I have a cell phone, but it's a flip phone (a dumb phone). I can't be bothered messing with a smart phone. As a retiree, I just don't need all those extra capabilities that a smart phone offers.
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I just love the messaging feature. I read better than I listen.

Messaging is great for those who are hard of hearing.
 
Camper6 said:
Because it's too expensive. The world has passed us seniors by. The future has arrived. We complain about it and wish it was still 1950. I belong to a group of about ten who meet for coffee every day. Only two of us have cell phones and know how to use them.
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The Korean war started in 1950, that was unnerving for any male that was an older teenager.
 
CraigD said:
Heheh. I have a cell phone, but it's a flip phone (a dumb phone). I can't be bothered messing with a smart phone. As a retiree, I just don't need all those extra capabilities that a smart phone offers.
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I don't need them either. My consumer cellular flip phone works fine and just costs 26.00 a month. I do have a desktop and I am sure I don't use everything it can do. It works for me and once I get a new printer, I am set.
 
Messaging is wonderful. I keep in touch with my kids and grandkids with it. Also, I've recently been introduced to the game "Words With Friends," a scrabble-type game played on the cell phone. Addictive but lots of fun.

I've also found that having a light, portable camera (which is part of what a smart phone is) at my beck and call all the time is very handy. Have gotten some wonderful pictures with it.

Probably using it as a phone is way down on the list of what I use it for. It's a GPS, an alarm clock and reminder system, a camera, a recreation tool, an Internet provider, a compass, a notepad, and much more, a lot of which I don't bother with, but so what?

As far as the original question goes, we are definitely not no. 1 any more. Why? Probably multiple reasons. Maybe it's just that what goes around comes around, and nothing lasts forever.
 
​We always do seem to look back on the good old days. Sometimes with rose colored glasses. Sometimes not. I am sure in 50-100 years people will be having a similar conversation. Would love to be around to hear it.
 
We knew such prosperity and superiority back then because we had recently been victorious in 2 world wars. We were the wealthiest because all Americans contributed to our nation for the benefit of all, so of course we had the tallest, biggest, best, smartest etc. To the victor go the spoils as they say. Maybe we could learn something from the old days that will benefit us now.
 
chic said:
We knew such prosperity and superiority back then because we had recently been victorious in 2 world wars. We were the wealthiest because all Americans contributed to our nation for the benefit of all, so of course we had the tallest, biggest, best, smartest etc. To the victor go the spoils as they say. Maybe we could learn something from the old days that will benefit us now.
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The first World War was not victorious for anyone because it was an Armistice with conditions. It wasn't unconditional surrender. So it allowed Germany to rearm secretly although in this day and age and satellite observations it wouldn't work.

That's why the allies insisted on unconditional surrender in the Second World War.
 
Sunny said:
Messaging is wonderful. I keep in touch with my kids and grandkids with it. Also, I've recently been introduced to the game "Words With Friends," a scrabble-type game played on the cell phone. Addictive but lots of fun.

I've also found that having a light, portable camera (which is part of what a smart phone is) at my beck and call all the time is very handy. Have gotten some wonderful pictures with it.

Probably using it as a phone is way down on the list of what I use it for. It's a GPS, an alarm clock and reminder system, a camera, a recreation tool, an Internet provider, a compass, a notepad, and much more, a lot of which I don't bother with, but so what?

As far as the original question goes, we are definitely not no. 1 any more. Why? Probably multiple reasons. Maybe it's just that what goes around comes around, and nothing lasts forever.
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That is great. I love it. I can't stand it when seniors brag about how old fashioned they are.

Do they still have crystal sets instead of a radio?
 
It's not that I'm longing for a forgotten time. We are not the best, biggest, highest, longest, etc., etc. anymore. We don't have any of these things. We aren't striving to be any of those things. It's like, as a nation, we have lost the joy of life. We accept 32nd place.
 
Camper6 said:
That is great. I love it. I can't stand it when seniors brag about how old fashioned they are.

Do they still have crystal sets instead of a radio?
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Well, at a minimum all of us participating in this conversation are on the internet, which means we're all fairly tech-savvy. By posting here at Senior Forums, we're all demonstrating our familiarity with the internet, VBulletin protocols, and use of a computer or smartphone.

When talking about not knowing a certain gadget or piece of tech, I don't think it's necessarily a question of bragging about being old-fashioned. It's more a question of prioritizing how you invest your time. There's a huge amount of new tech out there, and it takes time to master each new gadget and tech upgrade. And there are only so many hours in the day. So maybe we choose to bypass one gadget in order to learn other gadgets.

In my case, I'm quite sure I could master the smart phone if I had a need for it. But I just don't need the extra communication capabilities it offers. I'm a surly old curmudgeon; I don't text with people, I don't do a lot of traveling (don't need GPS capability, prefer maps when I do travel), etc. So I just haven't gotten around to investing the time and effort required to learn smart phone features.

But there are plenty of other hi-tech equipment and applications that I *do* use on a regular basis. I don't mind learning new stuff if I know that I'll be using it on a fairly regular basis.

So I don't mean to demonstrate pride in being old-fashioned or a luddite or whatever. In my earlier post I was just sympathizing with your buddies who don't have cell phones. Not having grown up with cell phones, it's a choice as to whether we want to put in the time to learn to use them later in life. For me, it's a question of prioritizing: Bypassing one gadget in order to invest that time more profitably elsewhere.
 
rgp said:
I agree, but I also do see a 'slip' in areas I wish I did not. Examp;......us bumming rides to the space station....just doesn't seem right?........jmo.
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Heheh. Believe it or not, the Soviets were actually the first to put a satellite in space (Sputnik), and they always had better rockets than us for carrying payloads into orbit and back. For example, they didn't splash down their returning astronauts in the ocean like we did; they did hard landings in a rocky desert.

By comparison, the US was better at big expeditions like space stations or putting a man on the moon or putting a rover on mars. But when it came to basic rocketry for carrying payloads, the Soviets excelled.

So now that the Russkies have given up that Communist ideology and become good capitalists like us, then why not let them taxi us to the space station? Why not work with them and take advantage of their particular area of expertise? :)

Cooperation, mutual benefit, beating swords into plowshares, and all that.
 
terry123 said:
I don't need them either. My consumer cellular flip phone works fine and just costs 26.00 a month. I do have a desktop and I am sure I don't use everything it can do. It works for me and once I get a new printer, I am set.
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Hooray for you. I too have a flip phone for $26 but I have a laptop that I had for work. The last two vehicles I bought had next to none of the hi-tech junk on them.
 

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