Ten years
When I think about life ten years ago my first though is that it was basically the same as it is now. The world ten years ago is basically the same as the world is today. But wait... ten years ago? 1998. Then with some further though I begin to realize how different things were. There has been some huge changes in that ten year period but somehow it's like I didn't really notice these changes happening. On a day to day basis, it seems like today is no different then yesterday and I would naturally assume that tomorrow will be no different. I think that people just don't notice changes until they build up. It's like watching your puppy grow day by day. You know it's growing but you really don't notice until there has been a significant change.
Anyway lets look at 1998. No cell phones!!, no GPS, dial up AOL internet, Laptops were rare and super expensive, no wifi, no wireless anything, no LCDs, no Plasma, no flat screens tvs, DVDs were very rare and super expensive, no one had even heard of an mp3, the word blog had not been invented yet, no downloadable movies, no digital cable or if there was it was unheard of, people had pagers, and , well I could go on and on, but I think you get the point. And if I'm off on any others things, I'm only off by, at most two years. For those of you who know about computer hardware just think about this. In 1998 128mb of RAM cost around $200!! And that was old crappy not even DDR RAM. The last ten years has been the longest ten years in human history. The next ten will be much, much more intense. Technological progress is accelerating at a rate that is exponential and well, mind blowing. And the funny part is, most people don't even really notice. Looking at the list above, can you really believe that was ten years ago? Think about how different the world must have been back then. Those are some huge things that have made some very significant changes in not only our culture but the entire world we live in.
Now think about ten years from now. What could happen in the next ten years? Well, the only real certainty is that our technology will be far more advanced then it is today. As you can probably tell by now, I for one am excited about this and I am looking forward to technological progress day by day.