The Class of ‘08

Imagine what historians would say when looking back on ’08. The brightly lit ball at Times Square dropped at midnight, starting what could be an exciting, longer-than-usual year (a leap year). It was an election year, occurring in the last months of a two-term Republican who hadn’t actually won the popular vote.

The world changed dramatically during the first years of the new century, especially in the area of technology, with exciting new planes, and communication innovation which brought the world closer together than in the past. The United States military showed its strength around the globe and U.S. citizens believed we were the best at everything.

You thought I was talking about 2008, right?

No. Everything in the first paragraph of this post refers to 1908, courtesy of a major article in the current issue of Smithsonian Magazine.

The ball drop at Times Square was the first annual New Year’s ball drop (although Dick Clark could very well have been there). The Republican President was Teddy Roosevelt, who was President McKinley’s Vice President and first took office when McKinley was assassinated.

The exciting new plane in 1908 was an updated Wright Flyer, piloted by Orville Wright himself over a field full of spectators near Washington DC. He set a flight record of 75 minutes. Then on the last day of the year, Wilbur Wright set another record, flying over a large crowd in France for more than two hours. The exciting new aviation event this year is regular service using that new jumbo plane that was unveiled last fall.

Communication innovations like the telephone and telegraph were in use by 1908, bringing the world ever closer. Radio wouldn’t come along commercially for another 15 or 20 years. Cell phones and the internet are the contemporary devices that make it possible to communicate with someone in Italy as easily as someone next door.

The year 1908 was also big in the transportation world; Henry Ford started making the Model T that year. Blame him next time you’re stuck in traffic. This year is a year that signals greater acceptance of cars that don’t use gasoline (or gasoline in combination with other fuels).

The U.S. military event of 1908 was a world tour of a whole fleet of navy ships. President Roosevelt thought this would be a good way to show the world that America was the new power player on the block.

What do you think historians will say about our ’08 in a hundred years?

Will someone born this year still be alive in 2108? Longer life spans could make that not just possible, but routine. Will the Smithsonian Magazine, or any magazine, still be printed? Or will citizens a hundred years from now fill their brains with information directly using implanted digital chips, rather than obtaining it using primitive reading methods such as books or computer monitors. Have you ever seen a piece of paper in a Star Trek episode?

A century from now, will there still be fighting in the Middle East, famine in Africa, poverty in the United States? Will the U.S. still be the global superpower?

Will we finally have flying cars and colonies on Mars?

Will a fifty-something in 2108 be looking ahead ten years to their retirement, or will a 50th birthday mean he or she is just getting started with life? Will the phrase “today’s 50 is yesterday’s 20” be the latest rage?