Bad news: sudden, showy, scary *** Good news: barely felt, global gossamer that changes everything

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Death, murder, crime, disease, car wreck, genocide, discrimination, corruption .... blah, blah, blah. That' news. Want to predict the future? Copy this, write "News in 2030", stuff it in an envelope, and put it in a vault. Have your kids or grand kids open it in 2030. They’ll say “Yep, gramps got it right.” 

Politicos on both the left and right agree on one thing -- bad news sells. Unfortunately, news functions mainly as a massive reality distortion machine. People complain about inaccuracy and fake news. True, but it's not the REAL problem. The damage comes from looking at everything from a uniform perspective of societal failure. For example, children fail a lot. That's how they learn. But they succeed a lot too, sometimes spectacularly. Want to crush a child's spirit? (or an adult's for that matter). Talk only about his failures. 

All this is to say we have a responsibility to remember, every waking moment, that good things, and massive human progress, happen constantly. Consider the following, as reported in the website www.tweaktown.com:


"Google's in-house quantum computer smashed through a calculation of a random number generator in just 3 minutes and 20 seconds, versus the world's fastest supercomputer -- Summit, which would take around 10,000 years. The authors of the paper wrote: "To our knowledge, this experiment marks the first computation that can only be performed on a quantum processor". Impressive stuff."


Today quantum computers are irrelevant. It is easier to hammer jello to a wall than to keep  a quantum computer stable. Nonetheless, solving an unthinkably difficult problem like this is a stupendous advance, hiding in plain sight. What if your car gets 30 miles to the gallon today but tomorrow runs 100,000 miles on a single refill? The quantum computer is that level of change and it's coming to your town. No exaggeration.  



No big alert shouted for my attention; I just happened to notice the article
I saw the quantum computer article from tweaktown. It didn't scream in big type and all caps. The obscure word "gossamer" comes to mind.  The Oxford English dictionary defines gossamer as "a light, thin,  and  insubstantial or delicate material or substance."  Gossamers of hope and delight surround us, like ghosts. Unaware, we underestimate the future and fail to notice the relentless march of daily improvements.

In 2010 the first widespread voice recognition software hit the market. Siri amazed Apple customers, in spite of her limitations. Most people thought the development had taken maybe 3-5 years. In fact, Siri was decades of work. By no means did Apple do it all. First the theoretical groundwork had to be developed (think: big equations, much chalk), then all the engineering. Did you hear anything about it  in 1970? 1990? 2000? (OK, maybe HAL or the Terminator). This big thing, new to our species, developed slowly, hidden in the minds and laboratories of a few. Obscured by the disaster-focused press, it was invisible until the fully formed technology platform, strutting its hour upon the stage, changed our lives. Talking, not just typing, became the standard for communicating with the computer.  


In the 1960's, Timothy Leary said " "Turn on, tune in, drop out." I'm not sure about turn-on or drop-out, but for sure "tune in" is the way to go. Turn off Fox or CNN. Tune in to the right things. Get in your car and drive to the nearest elementary school. As you go by, think about what is going on in there. Good things may be hidden. That doesn't make them any less good. 

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