The LifeStyler

This week The LifeStyler has been doing some navel gazing. So lets take a ride inside his mind and see what happens!

In a previous discussion EFTM’s Dictator, Trevor Long, felt the biggest breakthrough ever was electricity. My grandfather was born in 1897 and died in 1993 at 97 years old. Think about what he saw in his life time! Aeroplanes in 1903, transistor in 1947, internet in 1969, electricity introduced to houses, cars and trucks replacing horse and cart, two world wars etc.

Ask Google and you will get (in order) the internet (funny she did not say Google assist), computer, light bulb, compass, semiconductor, written language, internal combustion engine (Bowen will be happy with this), wheel and axle, sanitation and automobile.

Put all this aside and now think of how many amazing innovations have occurred in your lifetime. I like to think of the benefit rather than the thing, although we do talk about some amazing things on the EFTM website. For example, people are living longer due to amazing advancements in health care. My father is still with us today because he has had a double heart bypass. His mother died of similar complications because the only treatment at the time was aspirin to help blood flow. I can find a destination in my car easily due to GPS and devices that interpret this data.

So what is the LifeStyler’s biggest technology breakthrough in his lifetime?

It is the graphical user interface or GUI. Think Windows versus DOS or iPhone versus a Nokia 2110. The GUI is a magnificent invention that has driven usage in any domain it has been introduced. The more it is used the more it is expected. Today we expect business tools to have a nice GUI, even the motor car is no longer about gears and gauges rather navigation and the distance to empty.