Many years ago, I read about something called “Cultural Lag.” Basically, it means when a new scientific development is introduced to our culture, it takes time for people to adapt to the new science or product. If you take the example of electricity, it takes time to get to a new customer because of the manpower and cost of running electric lines to the consumer.
However, the automobile, introduced in the late 1890’s, presented other problems such as noise and dust on mostly unpaved city streets. To compensate for this, the first laws governing speed were passed. We are still dealing with that problem today. Even though the automobile was introduced over a hundred years ago, we still are dealing with its place in society like where to park. Plus, “what about the pollution from engine exhaust it produces?” Recent years have brought an answer to the exhaust problem by introducing another “cultural lag,” the electric car. Once again, it is a solution that is problematic because of cost; not all members of society can afford an electric automobile.
The question is always, “how are we as a culture going to integrate a new scientific development in our daily lives?” About 1957, I attended a lecture on the binary system, thus using 0 or 1, to represent information. This binary system was integral in creating the first computer. A special room, with heat and humidity controls, housed the first computer. It used magnetic rolls of plastic tape to store information. Radio tubes provided the power; thus, heat was produced. Later transistors replaced the radio tubes. Now small chips do the work, and the hand-held phones that we use today have more power than the first computers introduced. The fact that nearly everyone has a phone, computer, or hand-held device today has solved this “cultural lag.”
It would seem that mankind will “out tech” himself. We are now facing a new development called AI or artificial intelligence. In other words, a machine, a robot, or a computer, can do things humans can do and do them better. If you want a theme written just set up the computer to write a paper using proper grammar and spelling. Because you don’t have to have knowledge of the subject, the use of AI can create problems in business and schools with plagiarism.
We live in a very “high tech” world. Maybe humans are being more adaptable to inventions so the “cultural lag” time to adopt new developments will be shortened.