There never has been, it is just a dream, good or bad.

This year is usually not that different to last year and last year is generally not that different to the year before, giving an illusion of life just going on as usual. But as we get older, we look back, with differing degrees of nostalgia, to the “old days”.

People talk of generations, Millennials, Gen-Z and so on, which seem to change about every two decades. In this time new technologies appear, bringing new ways of doing things and old technologies become out of date and disappear changing the way we have to do things.

The gradual unfolding of history becomes significant, fashions and attitudes change.

Historically these sorts of change were probably less frequent and triggered more by natural events, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, plagues, floods and drought, and historical events such as wars, deaths of monarchs, revolutions and geographical discoveries.

Change brought about by new technology were even less frequent, but the changes brought about perhaps slower to act but more profound, consider writing, gunpowder and the printing press.

The pace of change has increased and by the time of the industrial revolution, technology has probably become the major driver of change. The pace of change continues increase today.

The overwhelming driver for change now, has to be the climate emergency, with a compelling demand for the development of the right technologies.