lucid vagary

Ben Franklin and Outlook

Every so often you hear people talk about how would long deceased musical geniuses exploit todays music equipment. How would Mozart, for instance, use a synthesizer? With advancement in hearing technology, could Beethoven have created even more exhilirating scores than the ninth?

But what about the Founding Fathers of the American Revolution? How would Benjamin Franklin leverage Microsofts Outlook Calendar to schedule his time? He is famous for having kept a schedule for himself and living by it. Would he have used Project to set timelines and manage his underlings to deal with the French during the Revoluionary war? The blogospere would certainly have found a worthwhile denizen in the form of Thomas Paine! John Adams would certainly have been an avid user of email technology and IM. And, of course, there is certainly the romantic notion of Paul Revere using a cell phone to warn of the Red Coats.

I think it is important to reframe the notion of technology in the context of different eras. People of former times accomplished so much with so little in comparison to today’s modern conveniences and communications technologies. How can we elevate ourselves by reconsidering and revisiting our predecessors? Millions of emails are sent daily, thousands of text messages on cell phones, but what are they really saying? How can technology assist in actualizing greatness?

Just a thought I had.