A WWII spy who hid codes in her knitting
Something I've been thinking about lately is how World War Two is receding from our collective memory and how "archaic" it will eventually come to be seen? The last veterans will pass away within the next few years. In less than twenty years, WWII will have happened a century ago. It will be as ancient as the Franco-Prussan War of 1871 to someone who was alive in 1971, or to World War One to people today. Humanity will move into the 22nd century and WWII will be two centuries old. Two centuries ago, you had the Napoleonic Wars. In the 23rd century, it will be 300 years old. 300 years ago, you had the War of the Spanish Succession (a war only nerds know about at this point) and the Seven Years War.Will Hitler continue to be the go-to example of prime evil in people's minds then? I'm not so certain.Pupils in the 22nd century will read about the Enigma machine and the codebreakers of Bletchley Park, think to themselves "how primitive they were then", then send their friend a text using an unbreakable post-quantum encryption algorithm.West Point cadets will read about how German and Soviet commanders got creative with Panzers and T-34s, then go into a virtual simulation where they press a few buttons to coordinate a multi-domain kill chain to direct a smart cruise missile from a destroyer in the South Atlantic to a tank force in Pakistan, thousands of miles away.Aerospace engineering students will read about the V2 rockets, then start their summer internships on Lunar Base 3 (on the actual Moon).And eventually, will they even stop learning about it?Are there any lessons to draw here about our view of the past and the lessons we can learn from them? Our ancestors were just as creative and smart as we, they just had more limited means.