The Mother of Invention

I remember watching 'The Mask' when I was a kid, which really wasn't that many years ago. I watched as the Villain played virtual golf in his office, he swung his club and then looked on as the imaginary ball flew across the green on his Television screen. It seemed incredible to me; just imagine if you could really do that! But that was a fictive world where masks had mystical powers, and bank clerks could be super-heroes.

Ten years later and the implausible is becoming ordinary. Ryan and I are able to play tennis against each other in our living room with nothing but a minute sensor and a remote control. Our every motion is tracked, the force we use is accounted for, and our aim is mirrored exactly on the screen in front of us. Electronics can be charged wirelessly, with nothing but a mundane looking mat, and people on different continents can have real time conversations through an invisible camera. My mind boggles.

Our new Wii seems to be bringing us up to speed with the changing technology around us, but for the most part I feel like an old dear who can't work any of these new fangled contraptions.

I am grateful then for the humble calculator. It has been hand held since the 60's, and even as the decades roll by, I still know how to work one. It still does exactly what I need it to do, in exactly the same format as it did when it appeared on the market in 1967. It has its function, it fulfills it, and even I have the competence to use one correctly.

Technology will continue to change no doubt, leaving me incredulous. The capability of a phone will change on a weekly basis, while the width of our TV screens decreases. No doubt the DVD will become obsolete as HD takes over, (What comes after High Definition I wonder?) and virtual music will continue to replace CD's, until we wonder why we ever wanted hard copies in the first place? As these new devices leave me feeling more and more incapable, I will always have my trusty calculator. Unchanging, usable, useful.

It seems necessity is no longer the mother of invention.