Progress

This is a photo of the cockpit of the first plane to cross the Atlantic ocean (solo & city to city). The Spirit of St. Louis flew from Long Island, New York to Paris in 1927 an amazing feat at the time and something that lead the way for a revolution in our perception of our planet and a whole roadmap of technology that would eventually become commonplace. There are lots of things to note about this photo for example the lack of instrumentation, a periscope instead of a front window, the wicker chair! But, the important thing is that despite the lack of sophistication this machine still achieved something that had but only a few years previously been thought impossible. 

I can't but compare this simple device with the current crop of aircraft that so frequently cross that same stretch of ocean today. I myself crossed the Atlantic recently, from London to Boston (and back) and did so in a machine ten times longer, eight times higher, many thousands of time heavier than this original device. All while carrying over 400 people and their luggage! We crossed over in only five and a half hours (thanks to a charitable jet stream) roughly five times quicker (it originally took Lindbergh 34 hours). All this improvement has taken place in an amazingly short period of time, the first crossing happened only 95 years ago (one generous lifetime), nothing on a geological scale and yet so impactful on a Human one.