Exciting Times

While I may sometimes forget it, and get lost in day to day trivia, this seems to me an exciting time to be alive. Of course, I wonder if that is something people always think. Throughout much of recent history, has there generally been some segment of (basically average?) people who thought they were living in exciting times?

So why now? Well, the primary reason I think now is exciting is because of the technical advances. I love computers and playing with them and seeing what they can do, and dreaming about what they will soon do (and what mine, in particular, will do. Lots of the things I want already exist). I eagerly anticipate more (at least slightly more) ubiquitous (wearable) computing. I'm looking forward to having a pair of glasses in which I can see a 'computer screen', and be able to easily interact with while I walk around.

At a slightly more reserved (less fun) level, I just finished reading 'Geekonomics' (which I encourage you to read), and I enjoyed it. It presents interesting historical case studies, and I also learned a little about economics and our legal system. The subtitle is 'The Real Cost of Insecure Software', and the book provides convincing evidence that change is eminent in the software engineering field. The code we depend on is largely dangerous, with all of its security holes, and something needs to happen soon to address this issue (says the book). The net result will be higher quality software all around (again, says the book), and I like the sounds of that. So that, too, is exciting.

This summer CERN gets ready to make black holes in France and Switzerland, and that's exciting. I've seen claims (today's reminder came from a link off digg) about them creating things with temperature comparable to that of the Sun. So perhaps all of this future tech I anticipate... the world won't be around for. But that, too, is somehow exciting - being around for the end of the world, that's gotta be worth something.

And in just over 20 years (depending on who you ask), 'The Singularity' will... well... we don't know. That's the point.

Exciting times indeed.