WW1 vs. War on Terror
WW1 is often credited by historians to be the first modern war;
however, most people would not consider the vast majority of technology from 1914 to
be modern in 2020.
Let’s compare some of the major differences in technology since
1914, as it can be easy to overlook just how quickly the world has
advanced in the past 100 years.
Recently, smartwatches have only begun to impact our lives. Even
though smartwatches have only been around for five years in 2020,
they are already far more impressive than they were originally in
2015. The Apple Watch Series 5 is nearly twice as fast as the S3
processor in the Apple Watch Series 3; yet, the S3 processor was
already 70% faster than the Apple S2 processor, and the Apple S2
processor was already 50% faster than the processor of the original
Apple Watch. Also, there are now a variety of generic smartwatches
that are now available. Not only is an expensive smartwatch in 2020
substantially more powerful than the original Iphone (even though an
expensive smartwatch in 2020 is still cheaper than a first-generation
Iphone would have cost originally), but a generic smartwatch can
already be purchased for far less money than an original Iphone from
2007.
To be specific, the original Iphone cost around $499 for the most
basic 4 GB model upon its release in 2007. Today, a Samsung Galaxy
Watch Active can be purchased for around $150, and a Samsung Galaxy
A10e 32GB prepaid phone can be found at Walmart for around $100; yet,
even a Samsung Galaxy Watch Active is more powerful than the original
Iphone in 2007! Not only is it much more convenient to use a Samsung
Galaxy Watch Active for certain tasks than it would have been to
accomplish them on a smartphone in 2007, but a smartwatch also has
entirely new functions that were not available on smartphones from
2007; furthermore, a Samsung Galaxy A10e contains a processor that is
over twenty times as fast as an original Iphone: in other words, for
half the price, one is now able to obtain an incredibly amount of
capabilities than were available less than fifteen years ago.
However, this article is meant to compare WW1 with the War on
Terror: we are not primarily concerned with a comparison of
technology from 2007 to technology in the year 2020—the smartwatch
and smartphone example was simply used to show how quickly our
technology has changed in less than 15 years alone. It is not as if
humanity suddenly emerged out of the darkness and into the light of
technology in 2007—enormous advances were occurring well before
2007.
Let us travel back just a bit further in time—to September 11th,
2001. At this point, Iphones were not even a reality. As a matter of
fact, the original Ipod hadn’t even been released! The original
Ipod Classic was not released until early November of 2001, and at
that time, it cost $399: it had a very basic processor that was
capable of playing MP3s, and it had 5 GB of storage—that’s it!
And yet, people were willing to pay a rather substantial amount for
the Ipod Classic, because the technology seemed spectacular at the
time! It is not as if an original Ipod Classic was even something
that could be used for a variety of productive purposes—it was more
of a device for hobbyists!
In economics, there is a term that is known as consumer surplus—it
is the difference between what someone is willing to pay, and what
they actually pay.
For the sake of argument, let us assume that time travel would have
been an option for people living in the past: anyone who purchased an
Ipod Classic in 2001 would enjoy a consumer surplus of $150 by
purchasing a Samsung Galaxy Watch Active and a Samsung Galaxy A10e in
2020 for a combined amount of $250—rather than the $399 they would
have paid for an Ipod Classic; yet, they would also obtain an
enormous amount of additional hardware and software. Obviously, this
means that a time traveler from 2001 would obtain a lot more bang for
their buck in 2020.
The storage space on a smartwatch in 2020 is nearly as much as what
was available on an original Ipod Classic; yet, a smartwatch in 2020
is phenomenally easier to use—especially if one works in a
profession that requires the extensive use of ones hands. Indeed, it
is easy to argue that a Samsung Galaxy Watch Active on its own is
much more useful than an Ipod Classic: this means that the far more
powerful smartphone of 2020 is actually additional consumer surplus!
In fact, in comparison to what was available in 2001, not only does
a budget smartphone in 2020 have far more more powerful hardware and
software than an Ipod Classic, but in many ways, it is far more
capable than an expensive laptop computer would have been in 2001,
because we have not even begun to discuss the ways in which the
Internet has changed since 2001!
After all, even if someone does not wish to pay for Internet service
for their smartphone—they are still able to access the Wi-fi
networks of Starbucks and McDonalds in 2020, which would have been
unavailable in 2001. Once online, a smartphone user in 2020 would be
able to freely use far more advanced social networks than those that
were available in 2001. A variety of options are now available: one
can send private messages from Snapchat, group text messages from
Twitter, and photos from Instagram. All of these services would have
been unavailable in 2001—even if one were to use a relatively
expensive laptop with a home internet connection. After all, Myspace
was not even founded until 2003, and many of us have long forgotten
that service. Obviously, these are much better options than a
payphone would have been for someone with low income in 2001.
Furthermore, even if someone does not wish to pay for Internet
service for their smartphone by purchasing coffee and hamburgers in
2020—it is also much easier and cheaper to access the Internet from
local libraries in 2020 with a smartphone than it would have been to
use a laptop in 2001. A library from 2001 with WiFi would have been
cutting-edge; nevertheless, at that time, even a cutting-edge library
would have had trouble handling more than a handful of users who were
lightly browsing the Internet: for comparison purposes, the original
802.11a
Wi-Fi standard that was available from
1999
had a maximum linkrate of 1.5 to 54 Mbit/s; today, the 802.11ax Wi-Fi
standard that
has been available since 2019 has
a maximum linkrate of 600 to 9608 Mbit/s, and
the much more established 802.11ac Wi-Fi
standard
from 2014 has a maximum linkrate of 433-6933 Mbit/s.
Once
at a library, a smartphone user in 2020 can now watch a seemingly
unlimited amount of YouTube videos; nevertheless, YouTube was not
even available to people with a home internet connection in 2001, as
YouTube did not exist until 2005.
Furthermore, even though some academics might not consider Wikipedia
to be a reliable research method—there is no doubt that it is
phenomenally better than it would have been in 2001. Wikipedia was
not even a year old when the terrorist attacks of September 11th
occurred, and the website had very little funding. For comparison
purposes, in 2003/2004, Wikipedia had revenue of $80,129—in
2018/2019, Wikipedia had revenue of $112,900,000: this means that
Wikipedia can hire far more professional editors and software
developers than they could have in 2001, especially since the cost of
the hardware that powers Wikipedia has fallen dramatically since
2001; furthermore, as time has moved along, and as the user base of
volunteers has contributed more and more to the site, the accuracy of
the articles that have been submitted to Wikipedia has continually
increased, as there is a much greater chance that they have been peer
reviewed multiple times.
In any case, between the various social networks, YouTube, and
Wikipedia alone, it is easy to see why it is fair to say that a 2020
smartphone has far more Internet capabilities than a laptop computer
would have had in 2001—despite the fact that a smartphone could be
considered to be consumer surplus in comparison to what one might
have paid for an Ipod Classic in 2001!
To sum things up this far, the world has obviously drastically
changed in the past twenty years, and the world has changed so
quickly that we often lose track of exactly how quickly this change
occures. Once again, the ultimate point of this article is not to
compare the modern world to the year 2001—we are trying to compare
the modern world to what the world looked like during the time of
WW1, which was much further back in time; nevertheless, because the
rate of change has been so exponential, it helps to go back one year
at a time in order to see the bigger picture.
Therefore, instead of simply comparing a smartwatch and a smartphone
in 2020 to what someone would have paid for an Ipod Classic in 2001,
let us now rewind the clock just a bit further to the beginning of
the year 1995.
The cutting edge consumer device in 1995 was the original
Playstation. In comparison to a standard electronic device today, it
was a bit laughable, but it seemed amazing at the time. Despite the
fact that the Playstation was primarily a gaming device that was
aimed towards a younger audience—it included a CD player! This
seemed revolutionary at the time—even though the device was unable
to connect to the Internet. Nevertheless, despite the fact that the
original Playstation sold for $299 at the time, demand was high: over
100,000 units were sold in North America within two days!
Let us take just a moment to think about how much consumer surplus
those 100,000 buyers of original Playstations from 1995 would have if
they could travel forward in time to the year 2020 in order to
purchase a Samsung Galaxy Watch Active smartwatch for around $150,
and a Samsung Galaxy A10e 32GB prepaid phone for around $100.
To begin, by purchasing a smartwatch and a budget smartphone in 2020
as opposed to an original Playstation in 1995, a time traveler from
1995 would save $50 in 2020; furthermore, they could store over five
times more data on their wrist than could be found on a CD—in a
compressed format that would allow for them to pick out hundreds of
their favorite songs—and they would even be able to take that music
with them to the gym (after all, there is a reason why people found
Ipod Classics to be superior to portable CD players, and a smartwatch
takes that concept to the next level, as it is even lighter than
carrying an MP3 player in one’s pocket); furthermore, not only
would they also have a second MP3 player as an additional
bonus in the form of their smartphone--with enough storage space to
carry an average person’s entire CD collection from 1995, but the
Internet capabilities of a smartphone in 2020 in comparison to the
Internet in 1995 would appear even greater!
After all, not only were social networks, YouTube, and Wikipedia
completely absent in 1995, but
this was the first year that Ebay was founded. Obviously, according
to basic economic principles, as supply increases, and as the numbers
of sellers in a market increases—the
market clearing price
decreases. Not only are the barriers to entry for sellers on Ebay
much lower than they might have been in 1995, as
a budget smartphone
is much cheaper than a laptop
would have been in 1995, but
pictures are obviously
important on Ebay, and the cost of a digital camera would have been
astronomical in 1995:
for comparison purposes, in 1996, the relatively
cheap (at the time) Kodak
DC20 cost $299 for the camera by itself—it had no LCD display to
review photos, and it only contained 1 megabyte of flash memory,
which was only enough storage to hold 16 pictures at low resolution.
Nevertheless, a digital
camera would be a bonus (consumer surplus) to a time traveler from
1995--if they used their money to purchase the aforementioned
smartwatch and budget smartphone from 2020.
In any case, let’s say that a
time traveler from 1995 does not want to be a seller
on Ebay, even though they could make a fair amount of money in 2020
if they worked at it with a budget smartphone and free Wifi at
McDonald’s, Starbucks, and their local library (it would be
incredibly difficult to produce income with a Playstation in
1995—unless one happened to be extremely talented)--even as a
consumer, one could at least save
a substantial amount of additional money in 2020 than they could have
in 1995 by purchasing products online. After
all, a Playstation needs software, and a brand new Playstaion game in
1995 could cost at least $50.00: many of these games can now be found
on Ebay for under $15 (collectors items in good condition could trade
for much higher amounts), and a used original Playstation itself
could be found for around $50.00, which is how much money a time
traveler from 1995 would have had leftover if they purchased a
smartwatch and a budget smartphone in 2020. In other words, thanks to
Ebay, we could safely say that a smartwatch and a budget smartphone
in 2020 are both consumer surplus in comparison to what someone would
have paid for an original Playstation in 1995—and that doesn’t
even include the fact that the could purchase software in 2020 for at
least half off if their main concern is playing a game rather than
collecting a pristine piece of history! After all, it’s not as if
very many video game players in 1995 thought they would be reselling
the game 25 years in the future as a collector’s item—they just
wanted to have fun!
However,
we are still too far ahead in the future, because in case one has
forgotten—we are comparing the modern War on Terror to WW1, and
1995 is still very far in the future in comparison to the years of
WW1. Nevertheless, it is not as if technology suddenly started
expanding in 1995.
Let us now wind the clock back
another few years—to 1991.
In 1991, the Super Nintendo was
first released in the United States—at the time, it cost $199. At
first glance, it might seem as if a smartwatch and a budget
smartphone in 2020 would be more expensive than a Super Nintendo;
however, we have not
even mentioned inflation up until this point. In 2020 dollars, a
Super Nintendo from 1991 would cost well
over $300
(the federal minimum wage was
only $4.25 an hour in 1991). However,
let’s not even consider inflation—let us say that it actually
costs $50 more for a smartphone and a smartwatch in 2020 in
comparison to what a time traveler from 1991 might have paid for a
Super Nintendo in 1991.
To make a long story short, a time
traveler from 1991 would easily make that extra $50 back.
After
all, unlike the original Sony
Playstation, the Super Nintendo did not even
have a CD player—let alone
the two
separate MP3 players that one
obtains when they purchase a
smartwatch and a smartphone in 2020 for a mere $50 more than a Super
Nintendo would have cost in 1991. More
importantly, in 1991, most
people in America did not have a home Internet connection, so they
definitely would not have found it to be troublesome to travel to a
library in order to freely access the Internet of
2020 for only a
relatively short
amount of time—they
certainly would not have found it to be troublesome to travel to the
nearest Starbucks in 2020.
In fact, high-speed Internet was not even available to people who
paid for Internet service at
home in 1991--even if someone
purchased a
private Internet connection in 1991, the dial-up speed of a modem
would be a maximum of 14.4kbit/s. Furthermore,
Amazon was not online until 1994, and mp3s were not around until
1993, which means that it
would not have been possible
to purchase a large amount of mp3s with a private Internet connection
in 1991—even if someone had the money and the patience in order to
do so!
Also,
even though relatively powerful search engines existed shortly
after the original
Playstation was released, it was far more difficult to search the web
when the Super Nintendo was released in 1991—even
Yahoo and AltaVista were
absent: not
only was the Internet much slower in 1991, but furthermore, it was
far less user friendly. Indeed, there was such a lack of Internet
content in 1991 that it probably did not make much of a difference
that search engines were basically nonexistent.
Two of the largest
and most established gaming
websites in 2020, IGN and Gamespot, did not exist until 1996: not
only do these websites help video game purchasers
make informed decisions in
2020, but today, one can
simply Google “cheapest and best super
nintendo games”, and they
will find far more
independent reviews from many unknown
websites that did not exist in 1991. Certainly, the sheer amount of
information that one could obtain
in 2020 in comparison
to what was available online
in 1991 would have been worth
$50 at that time—especially
in combination with Ebay. In 1991, a very limited amount of software
was available for the Super Nintendo, and a single game cost $50: in
2020, a frugal shopper
can easily purchase hidden
gems on the Super Nintendo for $15 or less, and since these games are
already nearly 30 years old, the depreciation rate is actually much
lower than it would have been when they were purchased for brand new
nearly 30 years ago!
In
any case, once again, the point of all of this is not to talk about
Super Nintendo games—we are trying to compare the War on Terror
with WW1, and in order to do so, we need to compare the technology of
the modern world with the technology that was available in WW1. And
yet, even though we have at least made it all the way back to 1991 in
our discussion thus far, and
even though we have seen drastic changes in technology since we
began, there
is still a long way to go!
Let us rewind the clock just a bit
further--to the year 1985.
In
1985,
the deluxe set original
Nintendo Entertainment System was released
at a price of $199.00—this
would be over $450
when adjusted for inflation in 2020! Nevertheless, even if one does
not adjust for inflation, it is guaranteed that a time traveler from
1985 would be willing to pay an extra $50
for the aforementioned smartwatch and budget smartphone of
2020—despite the fact that the minimum wage in 1985 was only $3.35
an hour! After all, not only was
the original Nintendo
Entertainment System missing
a CD player, but a basic home CD player in 1985 cost $199
alone at the time,
and a portable CD player (the Sony Walkman-style D-5) cost $300! And
yet, the original portable CD players did not even have adequate skip
protection for jogging—let alone the light weight and
ultra-portability of a smartwatch in 2020 (even
a smartphone in 2020 by
itself would be much better
to exercise with
than a D-5 CD player from 1985 would have been).
Furthermore,
not only were home Internet
connections even slower in 1985 than they would have been in 1991, as
dial-up modems only reached speeds of 9.6kbps, but the world wide web
did not even exist in 1985!
In fact, even though video
games are often thought of as being devices for children, AOL
actually developed out of an even
older online system for a
video game console that predated the original Nintendo Entertainment
Sytem—AOL was originally known as Control Video Corporation, and
they sold a service that was known as Gameline for the Atari 2600.
This service was transformed into Quantum Computer Services in 1985,
which utilized a licensed
system known as PlayNet for even
more expensive computers in
the 1980s. Even though modems were extremely slow at that time, the
service cost $8 a month, plus $2.75/hr for connect time—a more
limited user could pay $3.75/hr with no service charge. Obviously,
this amount of money in 1985 would have been astronomical in
comparison to the WiFi service that one could obtain by purchasing a
basic cup of coffee from Starbucks in 2020—let alone in comparison
to the free WiFi service that one could obtain in 2020 by visiting
their local library (Starbucks
WiFi is around 9 Mbps, which is over 930 times as fast as a 9.6kbps
modem: assuming one is only at a Starbucks for fifteen minutes, they
could download well over 230 times more data in the year 2020 than
one could have in
1985 after
spending $3.75 for an entire hour of online access at home—and in
2020, one is able to enjoy
a big cup of coffee as their
additional consumer surplus while
they are at it; of course,
this is not to mention the fact that the web browsers and
applications of a smartphone in 2020 make it much easier to find
amazing content to download in the first place—from
seemingly unlimited third parties—whereas Playnet was a service
with a much more restricted amount of content that was controlled by
an extremely limited amount of vendors).
An
interesting side note to keep in mind, however, is
that there
is a reason why people
purchased Nintendo Entertainment Systems in
1985, despite the lack of an
option to download games—even though it was technically possible to
download games at home on an Atari 2600. Frankly, despite the online
capabilities, the hardware of an Atari 2600 was not nearly as
powerful as a Nintendo Entertainment System.
For comparison, an Atari 2600
contained 128 bytes of RAM; a Nintendo Entertainment System contained
2,000 bytes of RAM. Atari 2600 game
cartridges contained
eight times less storage space than the first Nintendo Entertainment
System game cartridges, and as time went on, the game cartridge size
of Nintendo Entertainment System games continued to increase. The
games of the Nintendo Entertainment System were simply much larger
and far more immersive than the games of the Atari 2600,
and the developers of the
Nintendo Entertainment System knew how to design games that took
advantage of these capabilities—this
is why people didn’t mind having to pick up physical copies of
Nintendo games.
In
any case, as the original Nintendo Entertainment System did not even
have online capabilities, despite the fact that it cost $199.00
in 1985,
it should be even more clear as to why most people in 1985
would not have had an issue
with paying an additional $50
up front for a smartwatch in 2020 and a smartphone in 2020 in
order to obtain even occasional Internet access at Starbucks in
2020—even if they might not
have be music fans. After
all, if search engines and Ebay are useful for finding discounted
Super Nintendo Games in 2020—they are even more useful for finding
discounted Nintendo Entertainment System Games in 2020! It is easy to
find Nintendo Entertainment System games for under $10 in 2020, even
though they could have cost
$50 in 1985 (many of these
would not have even
been released by 1985).
Furthermore, in 2020,
it’s possible that some of these games are becoming collector’s
items, which is to say that they could
even appreciate in value—like
baseball cards, or comic
books. In fact, there are
brand new after
market gaming
systems in
2020 that cost
less than $75, which can play
both original Nintendo
Entertainment System games and Super Nintendo Entertainment System
cartridges
on modern televisions: this
is a fantastic deal for
adults who might have grown up in the mid-1980s and early 1990s, as
they do not need to pay nearly as much for dozens
of video games up
front in 2020, and as they are now able to resell any
games that they might be tired of playing without
incurring a substantial depreciation expense at a garage sell!
Let
us not spend too much time comparing 1985 with 2020, however.
Regardless
as to how one may feel about video games, once again, the point in
this discussion is not about video games in particular: video games
are simply
a good indication of technological progress, and
in comparison to what technology looked like in WW1, the technology
of 1985 was still incredibly
more advanced. In
fact, there was a time not much further back from 1985 when the Atari
2600 was completely dominant—even without online capabilities.
Let
us rewind the clock to the year 1977.
When
the Atari 2600 was first released in 1977, it also cost $199;
however, when adjusted for inflation, this would have been a price of
$350 in 1985, or $850 in 2020! Once again, however, let us ignore
inflation, as people in 1977 would certainly be willing to pay an
extra $50 for a smartwatch and a budget smartphone
in 2020 if they could travel in time to 2020,
despite the fact that the minimum wage in 1977 was $2.30
an hour!
The reason why we could certainly
say that people in 1977 would be willing to spend an
additional $50 for a
smartphone and smartwatch in 2020 in
comparison to what they would have paid for an Atari 2600 upon it’s
release in 1977 is because
many people
were willing to spend $150 for an original Walkman cassette player
when it was released in 1979—even
though the minimum wage had increased
to $2.90 by then (this was actually a big jump in wages, as inflation
was high at the time), the
increase in wages within those two years
certainly wasn’t a 300% increase, which means it is fair to say
that $50 in 1977 would have still
been much less than $150 in
1979!
In
fact, Ebay would be even more useful for a person in 1977 than it
would be for a person in 1985! From
the perspective of used video game software alone,
even though original Atari cartridges are becoming increasingly rare
from a collector’s standpoint, in 2020, the actual software itself
can be found at even more
extreme discounts than
Nintendo Entertainment System games from 1985.
For instance, as of this
writing, there are multiple listings for
Atari Flashback 9 reproduction
systems with 120 built-in
Atari 2600 games for around $40—many of these software titles were
not even released by 1977.
In fact, upon its initial
release, the Atari 2600 only
contained nine launch titles--only
a handful of these software
titles would have cost far
more than $40 at the
time, despite
the high cost of the base system!
And
yet, 1977 was still decades after WW1.
As a matter of fact, 1977 was even
after the relatively recent
Vietnam War!
The Vietnam War ended on April 30th
of 1975. Nevertheless, in
many ways, technology was even more basic at that point than it was a
mere two years later! Before
Atari could develop the Atari 2600,
they had to market
their home console version of Pong for around $99: adjusted for
inflation, this price would
be equivalent to around $450 today, as the minimum wage in 1975 was
only $2.10 an hour—despite
the fact that it only allowed people to play a single and very basic
game. Nevertheless,
there were obviously plenty of buyers at that moment in time, and it
is certainly
fair to say that most people in 1975 wouldn’t have minded paying
two-and-a-half times that amount for a smartwatch and a smartphone in
2020.
Indeed,
an
HP-21 scientific calculator alone
cost $125 in 1975; yet, for
practical purposes, this
calculator was inferior to the standard
scientific calculator applications
that are preinstalled on
smartphones today. It
is much easier to edit typos on
the most basic smartphone
calculator applications,
as one can use the touchscreen to single out digits. Furthermore,
a standard
smartphone calculator keeps a detailed calculation history, which one
can easily scroll through and select. Most
importantly, scientists,
engineers, and financial
specialists can easily
download far more specialized
calculator applications for
smartphone in 2020 for free—let
alone free
spreadsheet software!
And
yet, as expensive as basic technology might have seemed immediately
after the Vietnam War
ended—the situation was far worse during
the Vietnam War itself.
The original video game console was
the Magnavox Odyssey, which was released in 1972, and
like Atari’s Pong console in 1975, it also cost $100 (at
this time, the minimum wage was only $1.60 an hour):
once again, if
inflation is taken into consideration, this would be equivalent
to over $615 in 2020, which was therefore
more expensive than
the Atari Pong console would
have been at $480
inflation-adjusted
2020 currency
upon its later release.
Nevertheless, let us ignore
inflation—as usual.
Even though the Magnaox Odyssey did
sell a few units, most people had much less discretionary income to
spend on such an electronic device in 1972. After
all, video game devices are often considered to be for nerds, and
nerds had to spend far more on calculators in 1972 than they had to
spend on calculators in 1975. In 1972, an HP-35 scientific calculator
alone cost $395 (over $2,400 in 2020); therefore,
it is immediately obvious why a scientist from 1972 would consider a
2020 smartwatch and smartphone a steal at $250—even if they could
only use their 1972 savings if they traveled in time from that year!
Already,
therefore, one can see a crucial difference between the Vietnam War
and the modern War on Terror. For the majority of the Vietnam War,
many scientists and engineers did not have a portable electronic
device that they could easily perform trigonometric functions
with—they relied on slide rules. Not only is an
electronic calculator more
precise than a slide rule,
but a modern smartphone in 2020 can be used in the dark without an
external light source! In fact, a free flashlight app can utilize the
LED camera light on most smartphones
in addition to the light of the screen itself, which would have been
extremely useful for military engineers in the Vietnam War.
To
summarize the above two paragraphs, we have shown how a military
engineer from 1972 would save over $145 as a result of the calculator
and light on a smartphone in 2020 alone—this is completely
disregarding everything else that they could accomplish by having
access to the remainder of the features on a smartwatch and a
smartphone in 2020, and we haven’t even discussed how beneficial
temporary access to the Internet would have been to a military
engineer from 1972 who
could travel in time to 2020!
With
this $145 in savings, a time
traveling military engineer from 1972
could use a mere $40 of such
in order to purchase an Atari
Flashback 9 reproduction
systems with 120 built-in
Atari 2600 games on Ebay in
2020. Of course, the modern Atari Flashback 9 requires the use of an
HDMI cable and television, but an HDMI cable and a 24-inch 720p HD
LED TV can be found online in 2020 for
around $100.
Speaking of televisions in
1972—they were much more expensive at that point in time. As an
example, a 1972 Emerson Color 18” Model 18cp40WR sold for around
$359 in 1972—adjusted for
inflation, this would be over
$2,200 in 2020. Therefore, not only would a 24-inch HD LED TV be a
significant upgrade in size and picture quality, but it could
actually be thought of as a form of consumer surplus in comparison to
what a military engineer might have paid for a portable calculator in
1972!
Nevertheless, before we spend a
great deal of time extrapolating the compounded consumer surplus that
a time traveling military engineer from 1972 would discover in 2020,
it would be better if we at least made it halfway back to the time of
WW1, as this is the ultimate point of this discussion.
1972
was roughly 48 years ago, which means it is still closer to the
modern world of 2020 than it would have been to the world of WW1. WW1
ended in 1918; therefore, the halfway point of traveling back in time
would be around 1969.
Nevertheless, if pocket calculators
seemed expensive in 1972, they were virtually nonexistent in 1969.
One of the first pocket calculators was the Sharp EL-8; however, it
was not released until the start of 1971, and it was unable to
perform trigonometric functions. In
fact, the Sharp EL-8 was only what we would consider to be a basic
calculator in 2020, which is to say that one could only add,
subtract, multiply, and divide, and
it only contained an 8-digit display—as opposed to the 15-digit
display of the HP-35
scientific calculator from
1972. The Sharp EL-8 was also
too bulky to really fit in one’s pocket; however, it could be held
in one’s hand, and it had a rechargeable battery pack.
It cost $345 at the time, which would be around $2,200 in 2020 terms.
Nevertheless,
even the Sharp EL-8 would have been useful for accounting purposes
in the Vietnam war. After all, basic accounting is important in
logistics. A single battalion under the care of a lieutenant colonel
contained anywhere from 300-800 men, and over a period of weeks in
the field, the amounts of food and ammunition that
are required to support such an amount of people become substantial.
In
1971, an O-5 (lieutenant
colonel) made a base salary
of $835 a month. Even if the
army required its officers to buy their own computing equipment for
use in the field, which would
have been rather
ridiculous—given what
the army spent
on other equipment--it’s possible that such
an officer might have found
the Sharp El-8 to be
useful enough to purchase on
their own in 1971,
especially if they might have been taking educational classes at the
time in order to obtain a higher rank (if they were to become the
next highest rank, they would have
been training to become
a full colonel, which is in charge of at least 1,000 soldiers: it’s
rather common sense that arithmetic quickly becomes tedious when one
is dealing with numerical figures that contain at least four digits).
After all, in 1971, a basic
calculator would have been
enormously useful for
personal use to begin with—even officers in the army needed to
balance their personal checkbooks!
Today, a $150 Samsung
Galaxy Watch Active can
easily function as a basic calculator (this
is not built-in, but it is a simple and free download). Even
if this were to be the
only function of a Samsung Galaxy Watch Active, this would be much
cheaper for
a field officer in Vietnam than
a Sharp El-8 would have been!
Not only this, but in many
respects, the basic calculator function of a Samsung Galaxy Watch
Active is superior to a Sharp El-8 in 1971: even though a Sharp El-8
was portable—its battery pack only lasted around three hours; the
battery life of a Samsung Galaxy Watch active is over two days!
Furthermore, a Samsung Galaxy Watch Active is extremely lightweight
and can be carried on one’s wrist—it is not as if one could have
carried a rifle and a Sharp El-8 at the same time; it would have even
been difficult to transport
a Sharp El-8 in one’s pocket! Also,
even if one somehow managed to fit the Sharp El-8 in their pocket, it
is doubtful that it would be water resistent.
Not only would these
factors easily outweigh
the one advantage the Sharp EL-8 would have over the calculator on a
smartwatch in 2020 if they
were the same price for a field officer,
which is to say that the
buttons of a large calculator would at
least be easier to see and
push, but it is important to
remember that a smartphone
and a smartwatch in 2020 are cheaper in combination
than a Sharp EL-8 would have been alone in 1971!
To
make a long story short, not only would a time traveling field
officer from 1971 save around $95 by purchasing a smartwatch and a
smartphone in 2020, but they would actually be able to obtain two
separate calculators as opposed to one, and
both calculators would be much more usable!
This would be an enormous amount of consumer surplus to a field
officer from 1971—after all, we are only discussing the calculator
functions that are available on smartwatches and smartphones, which
are rather basic functions that we often completely take for granted
in 2020!
In
fact, even if one might make the argument that a lieutenant colonel
wouldn’t have paid that much money for a calculator in 1971—given
the rather large expense and
the difficulties it would posed in the field—it
is important to note that the first digital electronic watch (the
Pulsar LED) wasn’t created until 1970, and since it was
manufactured with 18-carat gold, it wasn’t exactly
cost effective for
military use. The
first quartz watch wasn’t even
available until 1969, and even though this led the watchmaking world
into the period known as the quartz crises, at which point watches
would become incredibly affordable and much
more accurate—the first
quartz watch was hardly affordable at all: in 1969, the Astron
wristwatch cost $1,250. It
would be a few more years of intense watchmaking before Texas
Instruments would create the
first affordable digital electronic
watch in 1975, which
originally sold for $20
(adjusted for inflation, this
would be $95 today). In
any case, in 1971, it
is highly probable that a field officer wouldn’t have minded paying
$250
for a simple
electronic watch that only
digitally displayed
the time and the date
in a way that they could
easily view in the dark!
And
yet, despite the fact that the first quartz wristwatch was not
released until 1969—this is the year in which we finally reach the
halfway point in our journey back in time to the technology of WW1.
It is at this point that it becomes fascinating really examine the
consumer surplus that a time traveler from this period would discover
if they were able to move forward to 2020.
After all, since a lieutenant
colonel would have likely
found the
technology of a simple
electronic watch to be even
more cutting-edge for a mere
$250 in 1969 than it might
have seemed in 1971, despite
the fact that a dollar was worth more in 1969, we
could say that all of the
extra features of a smartwatch in 2020 would be considered to be
consumer surplus to a lieutenant colonel in 1969—and that a
smartphone of 2020 would be additional consumer surplus beyond this!
Most likely, a time traveling
lieutenant colonel from 1969
would have found
the features of a smartwatch and a smartphone from 2020 to
be unbelievable,
especially if they were able
to connect to the Internet of
2020 at a local Starbucks. In
some respects, the amount of
money that they would save would be absolutely incredible
in comparison to what they would have encountered in 1969.
For one, social networks would save
a time traveler from 1969 an enormous amount of money on personal
long-distance phone calls.
Around 1969,
a long-distance call was around
$0.70 during
certain hours on the weekend:
adjusted for inflation, this
would be $4.92 in 2020, which
is more than a basic cup of coffee at Starbucks.
Yet,
in 1969, it was not even possible to see the other
person on
the other line—today, we have video capabilities on our
smartphones. Furthermore, rates
would have been even higher in 1969 if one were to attempt to speak
with someone internationally—there is no extra cost when one speaks
with someone through a social networking application in 2020!
In
1969, a 12”
diagonal color television was
around $250 (adjusted for
inflation, this would be about $1,700.00 in 2020). Today, a
24-inch 720p HD LED TV can be found online in 2020 for
around $100, and an HD
Digital TV Antenna can be found online for around $20. Not
only would the quality of their television channels be phenomenally
better, but this means that a
time traveler from 1969 would actually save $130 by using their
savings from the past, and they could use part of this savings to buy
a decent Blu-ray/DVD player for around $70—even after this
purchase, they would still have about $60 left! This
is enough leftover cash for them to be able to purchase at least five
Blu-ray movies on Ebay from 1969, such as the famous John Wayne
movie, True Grit,
which can be found used for around $6.00. It
is important to note that VCR players were not even available until
1972—at that time, a Cartrivision system cost $1,350, which would
be equivalent to over $8,000 in 2020.
In fact, the average movie ticket
was $1.42 in 1969, which would be about $9.99 today: if a Blu-ray
cannot be found for this amount for a movie from 1969 in 2020, at the
very least, a DVD can usually
be found online,
which is to say that it is often
cheaper to buy movies from
the era of 1969
to watch at home in 2020 for
as long as one owns them than
it would have been to view the movies a single time in the theater in
1969—once one adjusts prices for inflation. In any case, the simple
consumer surplus of a time traveler from 1969 who was planning on
purchasing a television that year would at least be enough for them
to own a few movies right away—even if they didn’t wish to find a
minimum wage job in 2020, despite the fact that the minimum wage
would be substantially more (the minimum wage was $1.60/hr in 1969 in
comparison to $7.25/hr in 2020.
It’s
actually surprising how well films from 1969 have held up in value in
comparison to the devices that they
are viewed on—it’s even
more surprising how well they have held up in value when
one considers the relatively
insignificant modern price of
cameras in 2020—let
alone the digital equivalent of “film”.
After all, the
most basic Kodak M12
movie camera (super 8mm) cost
around $30
in 1969—an equivalent of
over $200
in
2020. If
someone wanted a 1.9 zoom lens that created a sharper and brighter
image, the M20 model sold for $100—an equivalent of over $700 in
2020. Furthermore,
to view the film, one often paid $60 for a projector—an equivalent
of over $400 in 2020. It
is also important to note
that the film cartridges for
these devices, which
were purchased separately,
could only film approximately 2.5 minutes at 24 frames per
second—once this was done,
it cost even more money to process the film!
Even
though this type of movie quality might appear nostalgic and artsy in
2020--it’s also rather
grainy and unfocused in comparison to what can be shot
on a budget smartphone in
2020. In
many ways, a modern budget
camera on a Samsung
Galaxy A10 has
more capabilities than the upgraded Kodak M20 model that sold for
$100 in 1969. Not
only is the image quality of
the camera on a Samsung Galaxy A10 superior in some respects,
but more
importantly, the footage can
be instantly reviewed, and it
does not cost anything to delete and reshoot scense! Furthermore,
it is phenomenally
easier to edit digital movie
footage that is taken from a smartphone than it would have been to
edit film in 1969! Also, a
smartphone can instantly share videos on the Internet in a way that
was completely unavailable in 1969. And
since we have
already established that a time traveler from 1969 could buy a
Samsung Galaxy A10
for less than the price of a simple wristwatch in 1969, it
is therefore
fair
to say that a time traveler from that era would
automatically own a much
better movie-making device
than they likely owned in 1969
once they reach the year
2020—without particularly
meaning to buy one!
It
is important to not that a
budget laptop in 2020 would
only further multiply the
benefits of a smartwatch and a smartphone to
a time traveler from 1969,
and that such a laptop
would be affordable with the
camera savings
of
a time traveler from 1969. After all, in
1969, a portable typewriter alone
cost around $50 (adjusted
for inflation, this is $350 in 2020). Let us say that the time
traveler from 1969 took the $100
that they would have spent on
a Kodak Instamatic M0,
the $60 that they would have
spent on a super 8 mm film
projector, plus
the $50 that they might have spent on a portable typewriter—and
that they put this $210
towards a used
laptop computer that could be found on Ebay in 2020.
In
fact, a fairly used HP ProBook 745 G2 can be found for around
$155 with free shipping.
The first benefit that such a laptop brings to the table is a large
amount of storage space: a typical model might contain a 128 gb SSD,
which is about four times more space than a Samsung Galaxy A10e.
Nevertheless, even though an enormous amount of video footage could
be stored on a 128 GB hard drive in comparison to 8 mm film in 1969,
the storage space on a laptop can be massively expanded. A 1,000 GB
(1 TB) external hard drive can be purchased for around $50, which
could hold an unimaginable amount of video footage in comparison to
what could be held on 8mm film in 1969—it would also provide a way
for the most important footage to be backed up and kept in a safe
place!
Not only does a laptop provide a way for a movie maker to store a
massive amount of footage in comparison to what might have been
available in 1969, but this footage can easily be organized in
digital folders—and it is easily accessible. Not only does a laptop
make it easier to view an enormous amount of footage in a portable
manner, but a simple HDMI cable could hook a laptop up to the 24-inch
720p HD LED TV that was
mentioned earlier—this is
far easier than setting up footage on a projector!
Even then, we are only beginning to
discuss the benefits of having a portable laptop with a screen along
with the smaller screen of a
smartphone.
After all, a
script is obviously necessary in order to create a great movie.
In 2020, one can easily download
free office productivity software, such as LibreOffice 6.4:
one of the programs in this free software package is a fairly
advanced word processing program. In
1969, it would have been necessary to create an outline before one
began typing up a lengthy document, as a great amount of planning was
necessary before serious amounts of typing occurred. Even
then—assuming one had their thoughts in order--one needed to be
careful when typing, as it was rather difficult to edit a typed
document. On a word processing program, however, it is so easy to
edit documents that an outline itself can easily transform itself
into becoming the main document—much less forethought and planning
is required; furthermore, edits can be made so quickly and easily
that typos are practically irrelevant.
Furthermore,
LibreOffice contains a presentation program that is similar to
Microsoft Powerpoint—in
2020, this can
be
used to create storyboards
much more quickly and professionally than would have been available
to an amateur filmmaker in 1969.
For
instance, a paper medium was
often used for a storyboard
in 1969, which meant one had
to acquire paper first—let alone
physical writing
utensils:
pencils, markers, etc. Even
though these methods still
offer
certain stylistic and
artistic advantages in
2020--if one wishes to use a physical medium in order to draw a
storyboard by hand, a smartphone camera can easily digitize the image
today,
which can thereafter be easily
organized in the form of a
digital slide show. In any case, stylistic considerations aside, from
the standpoint of the
need for purely functional
labels (such
as scene one, scene two,
etc.) a laptop keyboard
and mouse can create utilitarian indicators much easier than
writing utensils
could have in
1969. It
would have been
especially difficult
for an amateur movie maker to
instantly resize
physical images to
fit onto a fixed paper medium
size, despite the fact that
this feat is
easily accomplished on free presentation software in
2020.
In fact,
a basic slide projector in
1969 cost $60.00--an
equivalent of over $400 in 2020--which
would have been an additional
cost beyond an 8mm film projector, as
slides are a completely
separate format. For this
same amount (we
are not even going to account for the
time and money
that a time traveler from 1969 might have been spent acquiring
paper and drawing materials, especially once these
amounts are adjusted for
inflation) a
used digital
drawing tablet can be purchased on Ebay in 2020.
With a basic drawing tablet in
hand, such as a used $60
Wacom intous model, the advantages of a laptop become even greater in
2020—not only for storyboard creation—but for drawing in general!
This is especially true in 2020, as one can freely download powerful
graphics editing software, such as GIMP. In certain respects, a
digital drawing is often easier to create than a physical drawing.
For one, it is easy to undo mistakes. Large areas can be filled with
color with a simple click—in fact, the entire background of the
image can easily become a desired color! It is much easier to select
various brush sizes and colors than it is to try and find a writing
utensil of a certain size—let alone a certain color. Multiple
layers can be created and deleted at will. External images can be
resized, rotated, cropped, and filtered. And yet, since we were
simply talking about the creation of a storyboard before, it is
important to note that a storyboard isn’t usually meant to be a
complete work of art in and of itself—generally speaking, a
storyboard is a means to an end; therefore, it is certainly fair to
say that a drawing tablet and graphic editing software from 2020
would present a time traveler from 1969 with substantial advantages.
We could continue to discuss the significant advantages of
using technology in 2020 in order to create drawings,
storyboards, and scripts—let
alone entire
movies—in comparison to what was required in 1969; however, once
again, that is not the main point of this discussion. 1969 was simply
the halfway point to our
understanding of the relative lack of technology that was present in
WW1. In
fact, the 1960s are often
thought of as a time of phenomenal artistic and technological
revolution; yet, up until this point—we have only discussed
technology as it existed at the end
of this important decade! Therefore, let us not spend too much time
discussing how much technology has changed since the end of the
1960s, even though far more could be said.
Instead,
let us simply move back in time to 1965.
At this point, the Vietnam War
seemed winnable. On March
8th,
1965, 3,500 marines were deployed to secure a U.S. airbase in the
country. Officially speaking, these were the first American combat
troops on the ground. Yet, at that stage in history, the technology
that was available to them was even more primitive than it would have
been by 1969.
A
relatively affordable Sears 21-inch color television cost $288 in
1969: this was at a time when
the minimum wage was only $1.25 an hour. Adjusted for inflation, such
a basic color television
would have cost over $2,300.00 in
2020! Nevertheless, by July
1st,
3,600,000 households had access to a color television in the United
States.
And
yet, even though the color
television revolution started in 1965—at the beginning of 1965,
many television shows
were still in black and white. In June, 50% of the shows available on
CBS were in black and white, and only 33% of the shows available on
ABC were in color! The majority of the shows on NBC were in color in
1965; however, even two
popular shows on NBC were still aired in black and white (I
Dream of Jeannie, and Convoy).
Therefore,
if a time traveling US marine from 1965 landed in the year
2020--rather than in Vietnam--they would have been even more
astounded than a time traveling lieutenant
colonel
from 1969. After all, one of
the lowest paid enlisted ranks in the military—an E-1 with under 2
years of service—only made $93.90 a month in by September 1st
of 1965. In 2020, an
E-1 with under 2 years of services makes $1,732.94 a month.
For
the sake of argument, let us say that a basic solider only has 10% of
their gross income available as discretionary income, as
“necessities” might mean different things to different people.
Let us also say that a basic soldier is never promoted—even
though this would be
incredibly harsh for a solider. Nevertheless, as harsh as this may
seem—it would be far more harsh for a soldier living in 1965. In
other words, let us say that
a basic solider from 1965
would only have
around $9.40
a month to spend on entertainment—versus $173 a month for a basic
solider in 2020.
After
a month, a solider from 1965 could barely afford a basic alarm clock
with such a small amount of discretionary income: a Westclox alarm
clock from 1965 cost $5.98.
After
a month, a basic soldier in
2020 is able buy
a smartphone with their
discretionary income. In
fact, there are cheaper smartphones on the market than the Samsung
Galaxy A10e 32GB model in
2020, and the author of this
document happens to own
one: in 2020,
a brand new LG Rebel 4 with
16 gb of storage can be purchased for $40.
The
alarm clock on an LG Rebel 4 is much better than what was available
on a Westclox alarm clock from 1965. Whereas
only one alarm time might have been possible from a simple alarm
clock in 1965, in 2020, a basic solider can
set multiple alarm times on
a smartphone, and these alarm
times can be easily programmed to repeat on certain days of the week.
Furthermore, the alarm sound itself is not nearly as obnoxious in the
morning as a traditional alarm clock. If a soldier was married in
1965, and if their spouse needed to wake up at a separate
time, it’s perfectly plausible that the alarm clock function on a
smartphone in 2020 would be well worth the purchase price if they
could travel in time to 2020—even if they were unable to use an LG
Rebel 4 for anything else!
Yet,
the alarm feature on an LG Rebel 4 is obviously far more useful than
a basic bedroom alarm clock, as it is portable. As
discussed previously, a quartz watch was not available until 1969;
therefore, the digital clock on an LG Rebel 4 would be
incredibly convenient to a
basic solider in that time period,
as it doesn’t take much
more effort to plug an LG Rebel 4 into a charger every so often than
it would have to regularly
wind a mechanical watch. In
fact, there were electric watches that did not need to be wound in
1965; however, they were not as accurate as a digital watch, and they
were rather expensive: a popular Timex electric watch in 1965 was
$39.95 at the time--certainly, a basic soldier could not have
have afforded
a Timex electric watch with less than a month’s worth of
discretionary income (which we are assuming would have been $9.40) in
1965.
Yet,
not only is an LG Rebel 4 more than just a portable watch with an
alarm clock function, but furthermore, these
alarms can be set throughout the day. This makes it much easier to
remember important and repeating events— the time when one usually
leaves for work, the time when one usually eats lunch, etc. In times
of war, it is often extremely important to keep track of time, and an
LG Rebel 4 could easily accomplish this in miraculous ways in
comparison to what was available in 1965. Furthermore,
it is incredibly easier to use the timer and stopwatch features
on even
an extremely basic smartphone
than it would have been to use a mechanical watch for such purposes
in 1965.
What is more, an LG Rebel 4 is far
superior to a standard alarm clock from 1965—even
in regards to setting up a single alarm, as an “alarm”
can be scheduled from the notepad application
with a lengthy reminder
message. Furthermore, these
reminders can be set for days,
weeks, months—and even
years in advance! In this
regard, the LG Rebel 4
functions as an extremely sophisticated appointment book and planner!
In fact,
an LG Rebel 4 contains a
nearly unlimited amount of “pages”
in comparison to a paper device:
it has an enormous amount of storage space for simple text entry, and
older messages can be deleted
with extreme ease--in
order for someone to reuse a planner from
1965, they would have needed to use a pencil and
eraser, and
they would have needed to spend a great amount of time erasing what
they had written, which
probably wouldn’t
have been a great
idea if it could be avoided,
as pencil markings on paper
are particularly prone to smudging—especially in a humid and wet
environment, and as rewritten pencil markings aren’t always clear
to begin with. Finally,
speaking of wet and humid environments--even
though the LG Rebel 4 is not often
marketed as a water resistant
device—it is certainly much more water resistant and durable than a
paper planner would have been
in 1965.
Also,
in order to write on a physical
notepad—especially
when on the move—two hands are usually necessary.
Not only is there an audio
recorder on an LG Rebel 4, but an audio recording can even be used
when setting an alarm for a future reminder! A photo can even be
taken with the camera on the LG Rebel 4—and this can be inserted
into the future reminder with an alarm! When
someone receives a party invite with a date, time, and address—in
2020—they can simply take a quick photo of the invite with their
phone, and then set an alarm to go off. It isn’t necessary to write
anything down.
The contacts list on an LG Rebel 4
would have been much better than what
would have been possible with an
organizer from 1965. Contacts
are grouped
alphabetically and
automatically when they are entered, and one can simply begin typing
a name into a search bar in order to locate the individual. There is
also a way to enter in an individual’s email address, which
certainly wouldn’t have been available in 1965. Even
without cellular service—this would have much better method to
store contacts than a personal organizer would have been in 1965!
Obviously, assuming a basic solider
from 1965 only had $9.40 of
a month’s worth of
discretionary income—they
wouldn’t have been able to afford the most basic super 8mm camera
that was available at
the time; however, even the video camera on an LG Rebel 4 is superior
to a Kodak M12
in most
respects. For one, the camera on an LG Rebel 4 can take a
video at 30 frames per
second—a super 8mm film could only record at 24 frames per second.
For another, despite
the fact that it recorded videos
at a slower speed, a Kodak M12 could only record a scene for 2.5
minutes before the film cartridge needed to be replaced—the camera
of an LG Rebel 4 can record a substantially longer 9
minute scene, and it would still have plenty of storage space
available for other needs!
Furthermore, the footage of
an LG Rebel 4 can be watched instantaneously, and the
much lengthier scenes it can shoot can be retaken numerous times, if
necessary. Also, the LG Rebel 4 camera has zoom capabilities, and the
brightness can be adjusted, which was not possible with the Kodak
M12—an LG Rebel 4 also has a flash light that can be turned on
incredibly easily, which allows one to take footage in the dark. It
is also important to note that super 8mm film was unable to record
sound in 1965, which means that an LG Rebel 4 video camera is
substantially more useful for creating something such as a basic
educational video—if not an entire motion picture, assuming one has
the right supporting equipment.
Finally,
since basic electronic calculators—let alone scientific
calculators—did not exist in 1965, the calculator application on an
LG Rebel 4 would have made a basic soldier from that time period
incredibly useful to their commanding officer—especially if the
basic solider was part of an artillery brigade, as trigonometry is an
incredibly useful subject for calculating the range of projectiles,
and as the precision of an electronic calculator could
make a big
difference at longer
ranges in comparison to a
slide rule. After
all, before scientific calculators were portable,
they were also
much more expensive. The
first scientific calculator by the modern definition was the
Hewlett-Packard 9100A. In
fact, the Hewlett-Packard
9100A
was actually more of a programmable calculator than a scientific
calculator in and of itself; however, as there was nothing more basic
that
this,
it
was the
bare minimum cost for
someone
to perform electronic trigonometric functions upon its release. In
fact, even
this machine would not have been available in 1965, as it was not
released until 1968; yet, by 1968, despite
the fact that computers had
become cheaper than they were
in 1965, this
original “scientific
calculator” cost $5,000 (adjusted for inflation, this amount
is equal to $37,000 in 2020).
And yet, we are only just now
scratching the surface of the potential of an LG Rebel 4 phone in
2020 in comparison to the
technology that was available in 1965. An advertisement from the Bell
System in 1965 states, “For only $12, plus tax, for the first three
minuets, you can call almost anywhere in the world.”
It’s rather obvious that the
lowest paid solider in the US military wouldn’t have been speaking
with their International friends very often in
1965; however, today, it’s free to speak with International friends
on social networks from a local library. The price of a basic cup of
coffee from Starbucks varies by location in the United States, but it
is nowhere near $12: in most
locations, it is under $3. However,
Starbucks was not even established until 1971, which means that it
wasn’t even possible to make a $12 International call from such
locations in 1965—and the cost of coffee wouldn’t have been
included. Yet, it is
certainly easier for most
people to travel to a local
Starbucks in 2020 than it would have been to travel to a local
library in 1965.
Once
again, black and white television was still fairly common near the
beginning of 1965; therefore, it is fair to say that the amount of
color video on YouTube in
2020 is unfathomable
in comparison to what was
available on the airwaves at any given time in
1965. In
fact, it would have cost a coffee shop owner a substantial amount of
money in order for them to display multiple color televisions for
guests to watch in 1965, and the sound from the various television
sets would have been invasive to the ears of others—unless a coffee
shop happened to be rather large. Even if a coffee shop in 1965 had
enough televisions available for its guests to watch whatever may be
available on air at any given
time in 1965—this would have been limited to a few local channels.
For
educational purposes, YouTube would be far superior to television in
1965. PBS wasn’t launched until 1969, and whatever is available on
a television channel at any
given time isn’t necessarily something that one might be interested
in learning. Today, one can
simply search for Algebra I videos, and
they will likely discover the Khan Academy.
This
simple YouTube channel grew
so much within the past
twelve years that the founder has been able to finance his own
dedicated website (www.khanacademy.org),
and this website allows
students to solve
an enormous amount of problems after watching videos on a wide
range of subjects. The website even keeps track of the progress
students make, and they can earn badges and achievements. In
some respects, this is even better than math books, as it is easier
for learners to stay engaged, and as a smartphone can easily fit into
one’s pocket: it is cumbersome to haul physical books back and
forth everywhere. Most
importantly, the website is freely available to users, which would
have been much cheaper than basic math books with color illustrations
in 1965.
Nevertheless,
the Khan Academy was the creation of only one person who started his
project at a time when it was even more difficult to create online
content than it is today!
There are
an unimaginable
amount of educational channels from other YouTube creators in
2020, which are better than
the Khan Academy at teaching
subjects besides mathematics: for instance, foreign languages are
best learned from native speakers. Many
native speakers are available on YouTube who are willing to teach
Americans the basics of
their language—such
as Vietnamese. It may have
been impossible for an
American in 1965 to learn
basic Vietnamese at a small community college, even though the
United States was at war with
that country! In fact, it can
be difficult to find Farsi courses at large
community colleges in the
United States of 2020—let
alone courses on Dari
and Pashto—despite the fact that the
US has been at war in
Afghanistan for the past 20
years! And yet, even though
languages are best learned by listening to them over and over again,
which YouTube is phenomenal at, it
is doubtful that very many
basic soldiers
from 1965 could have learned basic
Vietnamese for free at their
local library. After
all, compact cassette players had only been introduced in the United
States by Philips in November of 1964, and prerecorded music
cassettes were not introduced in the United States until 1966—despite
the fact that early cassettes were not the high fidelity tapes that
were
invented in the 1970s. However,
even if it had been possible to listen to a tape recording of
Vietnamese at a public library in 1965—it helps a great deal to be
able to see pictures and actual words on a screen, especially when
learning the accents and spellings of words in Vietnamese.
After all, after one understands
the basics of a language in 2020, they can thereafter use the
Internet to find websites in most
foreign languages
in 2020—including Farsi!
This could help someone
understand a language far more naturally in 2020 than
would be possible with a simple language dictionary and a fairly
limited amount of cassette tapes at best.
After all, Google translate is also
available in 2020, which is
far superior to a language dictionary. Even if one might not know the
Persian alphabet very well in 2020, it is possible to simply copy and
paste text into Google translate in order to discover the meanings of
words. It’s even possible to watch the BBC in Farsi in 2020—there
is an entire BBC Persian channel that is dedicated to the language.
Once again, not only is all
of this available for free at public libraries in
2020, but it is even more
conveniently available for the price at a cup of coffee all over
America!
And
yet, in the comparison of 1965 to 2020—up until this point—we
have simply been mentioning the benefits of a phone that can be
purchased for $40. This is
the only amount that has been paid out-of-pocket from the
discretionary income of $173
a month for a basic solider in 2020,
versus the $9.40 amount that might have been available to a basic
soldier in 1965.
Once
again, to summarize, we have discussed how a
solider from 1965 could barely afford a basic alarm clock with such a
small amount of discretionary income, as
a
Westclox alarm clock from 1965 cost $5.98, and
we have discussed the overwhelming amount of benefits from a simple
$40 LG Rebel 4 smartphone in 2020.
At
this point, the soldier from 1965 would only have $3.50 left in
discretionary income; the soldier from 2020 would have $133 left in
discretionary income.
Let
us
say
that AT&T gave the soldier from 1965 a military discount, and
that they could have purchased residential phone service for
$3.50—even though it cost $5.67 for such in 1965: at this point,
the soldier from 1965 would have
been
completely out of discretionary income.
In
contrast, with $133 in their pocket, a soldier from 2020 could
purchase a
pay-as-you-go Tracfone
plan for
$20 a month with unlimited talk & text, 1.0 GB of data at 4G LTE
speed, and no contract. It is also important to note that any unused
data from such a cellular plan will carryover to the next month if it
is unused. In any case, even though this type of data plan might seem
incredibly insufficient to many Americans in 2020, it would be
unbelievable to a basic soldier living in 1965.
After
all, with only basic residential service at their disposal—even
with a military discount—a basic soldier in 1965 would not have
been able to make long-distance calls.
In
contrast, with such a cellular plan—a basic soldier in 2020 could
make unlimited
long-distance calls within the entire United States!
Furthermore,
whereas a basic solider from 1965 would have needed
to be at home in order to make
a phone call,
a basic soldier from 2020 is
able to make a phone call
from virtually anywhere close to civilization in 2020.
In
fact, as
a quick
side
note, the
first cellular phone was not available until 1983 in the United
States, and even by that time, the
device had
a talk time of only thirty minutes, and it took ten hours to
charge—furthermore, even by 1984, the
first cellular phone cost
$3,995, which would have been over $9,900 when adjusted for inflation
in 2020! As
far as the cost of the first cellular phone plan itself, Ameritech
initiated the first commercial cellular service in the U.S., in 1983,
which cost $50 a month--plus 40 cents a minute from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.,
and 24 cents a minute off-peak.
