Friday, April 21, 2006

Changes

Being interested in science fiction is not just an interest in what the world will be like 400 years from now but how will the world have changed in my lifetime. One of the things that got me very interested in Science Fiction was not simply star trek, star wars and battlestar galactica but a story my mom told me.

I have no memory of my great grand mother as she died when I was one year old at the age of 96. Now I was born in 1387 A.H. (1968AD) so yes she died in 1388A.H. (1969AD). The Year she died she watched a man walk on the moon, when she was born, the year 1290 A.H. (1873 AD), there were horses and carriages on the streets of New Orleans and the quickest way to travel was either by steam ship or train.

The changes she saw in her lifetime were phenomenal; In my lifetime I can remember going to a friend's house who had a PC which used cassette tapes then computers started to use floppy disks, right now most computers use CDs, and on my key chain I have a 1 gig flash drive. My first computer did not have a 1 gig hard drive. I can only imagine what everything will look like at the end of my lifetime or what my children will see during their lifetime. So before you start to scoff at some idea as being implausible remember my great grandmother.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

very true... insightful post. nothing is impossible in this century. every idea is an opportunity...

I will always remember your late grandmother. And remind myself that nothing is too impossible...

Anonymous said...

Salaamz,

A very nice blog u have. Very impressive.

Dynamite Soul said...

Ditto, pinkys.

Great post.

Omar said...

Did the counting of time, "A.H." begin when the Prophet was born or after he died?

Anonymous said...

That was an interesting post. Hmm, thought-provoking. I can't imagine living in the cart-and-horse days.

Wassalamualaikum.

Aiman said...

Even with all the technology, I always remember old people talking that their days were better. They spent their time reading books. There's even a poem by Roald Dahl that refers to the TV as the "idiot box".

Anonymous said...

it is true most people waste a lot of time watching idiotic shows on TV or playing games but people used to waste lot of time playing cards and such. and with books, books are cheaper and more available than ever. I have 5 different english translations, and the Arabic Quran As well as a massive hadith and fihq collection all on one CD.