Here I sit, on a fully-automated robot train, typing a message that I will trnasmit by radio to in-turn be relayed by wire and light to San Francisco where it will be automatically published. The message will be read on cathode ray tubes and liquid crystal displays across the continent from Vancouver to Los Angeles to Miami to New York. It will be read at opposite ends of the earth, from Europe to Australia. And this is all a routine part of my Monday morning commute.

A century ago I would be lucky to get a letter to Australia inside of three months. The area that I am travelling over was wilderness. Central Africa was less well known than the surface of Titan now; "Tarzan" was brand-new science-fiction. A century ago people believed there were men on Mars, today, right now, there are robots exploring Mars.

Sometimes you have to stop and remember how amazing our "ordinary" really is.

Oringinal post: http://mbarrick.livejournal.com/690216.html