Communications no longer has time limits or friction. Everyone can share anything immediately with everyone. It’s amusing, and somewhat awe inspiring, to consider that getting message to someone once involved riding horses many days at breakneck speed. We have something called horsepower to measure the torque of engines, perhaps we need something similar to keep perspective on the routine sharing of information and knowledge.
Such perspective is important to keep in mind when evaluating our utopia/dystopia. As much as we drive ourselves to destroy institutions and values that have served us well, we are also blessed to live with the kinds of technological treats people of any other age would consider magic. We can travel anywhere in very little time for an absurdly low cost, considering the massive multi-generational investments necessary to make it possible.
Nostalgia is a fool’s game. There was no great moment in the past where people lived longer, healthier lives, where more people had access to medicine and education, when societies were free of prejudices and economic disparities. We are alive at a time our ancestors dreamed of. It’s our fault that we have no idea what to do with it.