Lately AI has amazed us what is possible with technology. It reminds constantly how much technology can evolve in a human lifetime. Technology products, like the internet, cell phone Apps, whatsApp, Facebook, YouTube, TikTok were not around five decades ago. At that time, we were living on a slow network, computer memory was in units of megabytes, and CPU was a million times slower, and the turn around time of email would be at least a day if not a few days. Computers were big and scarcely available.
Now it is very hard to imagine life without the internet, cell phone, social media, and videos.
We sometimes overlook these as miracles that have made our lives much better. Some may feel that our technology is poised in taking us further to making life even more enriching. It is up to us how we use technology for more miracles.
The miracles are not limited to the progress we made in technology, there are bigger miracles around us that we also overlook. Here are just a few examples:
- Every time I get on a highway, I am amazed at how orderly the drivers are. That often gives me a chill that the overwhelming majority of humans, around us, is intrinsically good and safe.
- Most of us have a poor understanding of so many things in the world. Our human brains, after all the years of evolution, are nothing compared to the AI models in terms of our ability to handle the zillions of information around us. With the little we know, we function pretty well as an individual and in society. Many of us may not even know where Ukraine, Gaza, Syria are on the map. These are all sad places where human suffering is happening. Many are ignorant about the histories of the world at the times of the Mesopotamia civilization, the Persian civilization, the Roman Empire times, the Ottoman Empire Times, the Tang Dynasty, the Sung Dynasty, the Europe colonization and more. Still we develop strong opinions of the rights and wrongs of the current happenings based on our modern and limited knowledge. For all the limitations and ignorances, we generally live better and definitely more comfortably than hundreds of years ago. If that is not a miracle, I don’t know what can be considered as miraculous.
- Not only do we have poor understanding of many things, we actually can be quite off, and have a lot of misunderstanding. We may think everyone on earth has access to the internet, yet the global internet penetration is about 71%. For all the negative press about the Uyghurs in Xinjiang, China, the population there has grown from 4 millions to over 11 millions in the last five decades. Our minds are just so easily influenced by a few news coverage.
Above all, Nature is the biggest miracle. It has stored in itself billions of years of stories on this planet. It stores the short history of human evolution but also the histories before humans. If you truly love Nature, you will find both miracles and beauties everywhere.
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