So I was sitting at a VERY long light today and while sitting there I was looking around and landed on the cars around, I thought to myself "wow, that's amazing" and was literally in amazement of the technology all around me. I could only imagine how someone from the 1500's or 1800's would react to such a world.

I do realize how fortunate I am to have a car but man, would it have sucked taking a horse everywhere or having to walk across the country! HA! LOL

The looong time it took that stupid light to turn green I kinda of had those moments where you just stop and really appreciate everything. I almost want to say I was in awe at the cars and as people (illegally in CA lol) talked on their cell phones to people maybe thousands of miles away.. Then I got home and was like "I'm going on a computer right now to talk to people thousands of miles away from me, who will respond to me in minutes even seconds..." Maybe I think too much at long lights lol But it was literally amazing to me how far we've come from say the 1500's.


Does anyone else have moments like these?

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78 Datsun 280Z
86 Peugeot 505
14 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited

“Owning a car is like owning a dog. Every now and then, it craps on the carpet — but it’s still your dog.” - Jeremy Clarkson

Yes, but to balance your view, think about how really close you are to the many people you can communicate with so easily, and compare that closeness ( or not) to the sense of community from earlier times. People shared food, nursed each other, and, generally, had very close relationships. Today we are more characterized by the expression, " a mile wide and an inch deep".
Yes, the technology is impressive, but has it really changed the human condition?

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1982 300SD " Wotan" ..On the road as of Jan 8, 2007 with Historic Tags

All the time! I'm glad someone else does!

Gotta admit though, prior to all that technology people had more social lives (in person).....spent more time at home and doing family activities, the arts, games, and so on. People try to cram too much into one day in these times.....so it all goes by in a blur.....and they are often doing it essentially by themselves.

I'm undecided which time period I'd want to live in. I'm ok with the current one though.

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-diesel is not just a fuel, its a way of life-
'15 GLK250 Bluetec 118k - mine - (OC-123,800)
'17 Metris(VITO!) - 37k - wifes (OC-41k)
'09 Sprinter 3500 Winnebago View - 62k (OC - 67k)
'13 ML350 Bluetec - 95k - dad's (OC-98k)
'01 SL500 - 103k(km) - dad's (OC-110,000km)
'16 E400 4matic Sedan - 148k - Brothers (OC-155k)

Funny thing, I was having such a conversation with colleagues last night...remembering the vast technological transformations that have occurred in just a few decades.

We were sitting in a bar and grille looking at all of the flat panel plasma TVs and telling stories about seeing a color TV for the first time!

I think its ironic that I have a career doing something that didn't even exist when I was a kid!

But I agree with the previous posts...all this technology allows us to do more with less time, and now we are too busy to engage in the social activities that were necessary to survive in the pre-industrial era...

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2009 ML350 (106K) - Family vehicle
2001 CLK430 Cabriolet (80K) - Wife's car
2005 BMW 645CI (138K) - My daily driver
2016 Mustang (32K) - Daughter's car

I'm glad I live in my times. I cant imagine life without the BlackBerry or the aux unput in my car. I am sure in a few hundred years they will be having this same coversation talking about how we only had wireless internet and whatnot. Thinking that we had it so hard!

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1984 300SD Orient Red/ Palomino
1989 560SEC
2016 Mazda 6 6 speed manual
1995 Ford F-150 reg cab 4.9 5speed manual

Have those moment every once in a while.




It makes me want to throw the phone out the window...

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-Justin

91 560 SEC AMG - other dogs dd
01 Honda S2000 - dogs dd
07 MB ML320 CDI - dd
16 Lexus IS250 - wifes dd

it's automatic.

I'm greatful, but why bother imagining what people would have thought back then?

They never would have known or even thought the things we have today existed.

A box that displays pictures? That's dumb.

A carriage without a horse?

They wouldn't be asking or wondering these questions because they never existed! So no need to worry

I am grateful for my modern medicine.

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-Typos courtesy of my mobile phone.

I own two cars ans still walk to work every day. Think of where cars will be 50 years from now....what we have today will seem somewhat pagan.

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"It's normal for these things to empty your wallet and break your heart in the process."
2012 SLK 350
1987 420 SEL

I agree. I think I could be happy in an earlier time, especially anytime after the Reformation.
However, modern sanitation and dental care, along with penicillin and other "modern" medicine combine to make THIS as the best time to be alive.

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1982 300SD " Wotan" ..On the road as of Jan 8, 2007 with Historic Tags

I get kind of the opposite feeling. I'll see those huge tv billboards in Times Square and all I can think of is Blade Runner.

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1983 240D 3.0T 4-speed manual, now sold

1989 Subaru GL Wagon 5-speed Touring Edition

One day, kids will say to you:

"Really, you used to only listen to the music?"

"Getting from Los Angeles to New York used to take how many hours?"

"What's 'cash'?"

Or maybe,
You used to own your homes? You could own private cars, and drive anywhere you wished?
You were free to choose how you wanted to earn money, and invest it as you wished?
What was the Constitution?

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1982 300SD " Wotan" ..On the road as of Jan 8, 2007 with Historic Tags

Well I can see this scenario playing out:

I pull up in front of a town in 1509 in my Delorean time machine and open the door and pull out my iPhone and show them the interior of the car.. There is a slight pause then all at once "WITCH!!!! BURN HIM AT THE STAKE!??!?!?!" LOL

It's just crazy how far we've come, and I know we have much farther to go but I mean compared to a few hundred years ago. I think it's pretty cool. I'm glad I live in this time but would be curious as anyone would be to see what it was like back them. I'd probably get tired of it in 5 minutes but man... Here we are all drinking our bottled water and back then they were drinking the water from rivers, streams ect.. I always think it would be cool to bring someone back from the past to the present, imagine how shocked they would be! I was pissed when they didn't take Clara back to 1985 in Back to the future 3...

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78 Datsun 280Z
86 Peugeot 505
14 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited

“Owning a car is like owning a dog. Every now and then, it craps on the carpet — but it’s still your dog.” - Jeremy Clarkson

Another thing is what is technology going to be like in 60 years? I mean how can you keep going further with cell phones with all the crazy crap they do now, and what are cars going to be like then? Especially computers!! It'll be weird! I'm so excited to see what the future holds. The 220 will be 99 years old in 2060! How cool would that be if she's still around?

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78 Datsun 280Z
86 Peugeot 505
14 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited

“Owning a car is like owning a dog. Every now and then, it craps on the carpet — but it’s still your dog.” - Jeremy Clarkson

BTW, where are the flying cars and intergalactic space flights that were supposed to be here by 2000?

What actually interests me is how "unevenly" technology has developed in the last century or so. Most of the "amazing" developments are directly related to solid state/ computer developments, advances in materials, and battery technology.

At the same time, many basic technologies are essentially unchanged. Most "heavy" technologies haven't really changed in 50 years; if you've every been inside a coal fired power plant you would see 19th century technology with 21st century control systems.