It Ain’t What it Used to Be . . .

As I reflect on the historic year of 2020, I am reminded of the words of Yogi Berra: “The future it ain’t what is used to be”. I think that 2020 was a significant turning point in history. I am optimistic about our future. I hope we learned a valuable lesson from the events of 2020: accurate data interpretation and truthful, fact-based, intelligent communications are vital.

We record data using electricity and then transform “bits” of electricity into knowledge. This electronic data processing began nearly 200 years ago with the invention of the telegraph, a machine that enabled long-distance communications. At some point in the last 100 years the Industrial Revolution ended, and an Intellectual Revolution began. Our economy and society are now driven by innovations in electronic data processing. Simply stated, we learn faster and communicate more freely than ever before. In 2020 we began to fully comprehend the necessity of intelligent communications.

The Inventions that emerged from the Industrial Revolution provided us with machines that granted us super-human strength and endurance powers. Now, our machines (computers) are providing us with super-human intellectual powers. Automobiles required a transportation network; computers are connected to a global communications network (the Internet). Most of us now spend far more time online, than in-car. Remember, “The future it ain’t what it used to be.” Don’t look back, look forward.