The Arc of Civilization

It’s pretty easy to look back on the arc of human evolution to recognize that human

societies in some form have been around for a hundred thousand years. It’s easy to see

that our modern age of information is only a few ticks of the clock of recorded history.

Literate societies have been around for at least five thousand years; not long afterwards,

full-fledged empires and dynasties emerged. Looking back three-thousand-five-hundred

years ago, we can see advanced technologies of construction, astronomy, mathematics and

philosophy. In the last seven hundred years we see emergent technologies of optics and

engineering. In the last three or four hundred years we have had the industrial revolution,

the scientific enlightenment, and the discovery of the harnessing of electricity for light. In

the last century alone we have experienced the petroleum age and the incredible rise of the

automobile; we have seen the telephone, the radio, the television, the computer, the

internet and the capacity to transplant replacement organs into living beings. And while

we think nothing of it after a generation of space shuttle missions and the new normal of

satellite communications, we put men on the moon only forty-five years ago which was a

first in the four billion year history of this planet.

When we turn on the lights we rarely, if ever, think that for most of human history

we could not go to the wall and flick a switch to illuminate our lives. It’s a brand new

invention. It’s a brand new technology. We take for granted that we can get in our cars and

drive thirty or fifty kilometers to work in less than an hour when only a few short

generations ago, most people didn’t travel farther than that from their places of birth in

their lifetimes. Only a century ago, it took information and news months to travel from one

side of the world to the other, yet at the time it was a small marvel that we had created the

systems of mail delivery that allow this to happen. Now communication is not only instant,

but consolidated and universally delivered. It is astounding that we all know and

recognize, if we stop to consider it, that we are living in an age where technological and

social change is not only happening faster than it ever has in human history, but it is

accelerating. What is even more astounding is that we think this is normal.

Shannon Boschy, BFA, CFP Financial Security Advisor, Mutual Funds Representative819-243-6497 - Scheduling and Administration613-282-5370 - Goal-Based Inquiries

Suite 400, 228 St Joseph Boul.Shonnon.boschy@investorsgroup.comVisit me at www.shannonboschy.com

Trademarks, including Investors Group, are owned by IGM Financial Inc. and licensed to its subsidiary corporations.This is a general source of information only. It is not intended to provide personalized tax, legal or investment advice, and is not intended as a solicitation to purchase securities. Shannon Boschy is solely responsible for its content. For more information on this topic or any other financial matter, please contact an Investors Group Consultant.