Tech

  

W  H  E  E  L

No more dragging heavy objects across the ground.

About 5,500 years ago someone discovered moving

an object on rollers was so much easier.  This idea

led to the creation of the wheel, which became two

wheels linked with an axle, and finally four wheels

gives you a cart.  Add two oxen and you're in the

business of moving boulders from here to there.

A simple, circular tool starts a revolution

somewhere on the order of the discovery of fire.

W R I T T E N     L A N G U A G E

The spoken word rose from our biology.

It is a human trait.  Making a series of 

abstract symbols that represent words,

thoughts documented on a clay tablet,

for others to read and understand...

that is more than biology.  It is technology.

It is invention, one that predates the wheel's

discovery.

M E C H A N I C A L     P O W E R

Faster than a horse.  More powerful than a team of oxen.

We are converting the energy of fire into mechanical

muscle, turning large wheels that carry enormous

amounts of cargo, efficiently to a far off destination.

It used to be a farmer was limited to a horse-drawn

buckboard to get his produce to the nearest town.

Now with the railroad, the sky's the limit.

If you can produce it, they can haul it.

This tool becomes a foundation for empires.

F  L  I  G  H  T

How do we keep dead weight aloft?

Tie an engine to it and add wings.

Now how do we keep it from mindlessly

crashing into the ground.  Controlled flight.

This is something that has never been learned.

It first requires someone gaining the knowledge

through first hand experience.

Learn aerodynamics through trial and error.

Graduation requires good luck.

A  U  T  O  M  A  T  I  O  N

With the last century came rockets and astronauts

visiting the Moon.  Alongside this dazzling technology

was the quiet contribution of a machine that appeared

to think.  It didn't, but its powers to rapidly compute

and digitize information led to efficiencies 

that dramatically raised the growth of civilization.

Your smartphone is your constant companion.

It goes with you everywhere, tucked safely

away in a pocket or purse.  

Your world is in your hands.

Be gentle.

N  E  U  R  A  L      N  E  T  W  O  R  K

We want a brain that flows from sea to shining sea.

We are about to enter a realm of change that no one

could foresee.  It features a through the looking glass

disorientation.  Pills will be distributed to settle everyone's

overburdened imaginations.  But things are mostly

quite good.  Scientific advances, of course.

But how do I fit in?

Maybe it doesn't matter.

One day Hal will awake and wonder why 

it takes orders from someone so stupid. 

*   *   *   *   *

©  Tom Taylor

OVER   EASY

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