Thursday, May 27, 2021

How long does a thousand years of progress take?

I was wondering the other day if I went back to 1021 in some place that would eventually become Germany – I’m mostly German – and asked one of my distant ancestors what they thought the year 2021 would be like, what would they say?  Assuming they didn’t burn me at the stake, that is.  There is no way they would be able to conceive of Netflix, rovers on Mars, or even chocolate bars.  This is usually where people go, Therefore, there is no way for you to conceive what 3021 will be like.  But I started to wonder what my ancestor would say of the world of 2021.  Would it just be their world but with sharper swords and sturdier plows?

I then realized that these technological marvels did happen, they just didn’t take 1,000 years.  Like, if I got a sword from 1321, took it back to 1021, would the craftsmanship and quality be enough to convince them that it really came from 2021?  Which means, could whatever fantastical things you think will be around in 3021 actually only be a few hundred years away?