The great leap

When I started work (at 16) in our rural newspaper we used typewriters to feed the news to the operators of machines which molded metal slugs to carry the raised type, or to tradesmen who composed the letters - one by one - from a partitioned tray, so ink and paper could be impressed to produce the printed sheet. It was a process not really very far advanced over a 100 or so years.

By the time I finally left that business, 27 years later, typewriters and rest of the type composing machines were (for some of us) fond memories. Our "deathless prose" went straight into computers, the mass of text was edited and arranged in computers, before manual transfer to a thin metal plate for the printing machine. The tradesmen, by and large, have disappeared, in favor of well trained typists and computer technicians.

In radio, tape recorders are gone, and music and speech are stored, scheduled, and output for broadcast by computers. Television "personalities" emote to video cameras now, with film just a memory.

Think of trade or a profession, and its near certain its been revolutionised within your and my lifetime.

Yet the pace of the advance is still accelerating, noticeably faster from year to year. It has to, to keep up with the growth of population and demand and (unfortunately) to fund the armies of the world.

With a bit of luck the next generation will learn to banish warfare, feed the poor, overcome global warming and, maybe, save the River Murray.

Perhaps they'll be able to bring me back in a 100 years or so - just for a quick look?