comment: >
  
  That might be one of the coolest things ever
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  My great uncle was born in 1896 and passed in 1994 when I was 14. Radio had just been invented, automobiles were a curiosity, it'd be almost a decade before the Wright brothers made their first flight and television was several decades beyond that. By the time he passed he'd been through two world wars, helped wire our town for electricity and phones, seen planes evolve into 747s and horse-less carriages become luxury cars. In his lifetime we went from "man could never fly" to the space race and using Morse code on telegraphs to the nascent days of the internet. Blows my mind whenever I think about him and the fact I grew up around someone from the 19th century. >
  
  The 20th century was astounding when you really think about it. I watch a lot of classic films from the 30s 40s 50s and when you see old people In those films you can't help but think how they were born in the mid 19th century and went from steam boats, locomotives, horse and carriage, telegraph to automobiles, phones, planes, nuclear energy, television. Can you imagine explaining to the average person in 1850 that a rock is capable of wiping out an entire city. >
  
  It took 2100 years for humans to move from bronze to iron tools. It took us just over 50 years from us inventing the airplane to us going to space >
  
  I'm a classics major and I minor in history. The progress we make through time is mind-blowing. And like some other redditor on here said, we don't always move forward. The medieval era was pretty stagnant. >
  
  I too was a classics major. And I’m fascinated by how the changes in technology do not mean that we humans have changed that much. The average person today and the average citizen of Rome have much in common. >
  
  Yeah reading roman and greek comedies showed me how similar their humor is to ours. >
  
  Jack Marston could have played Pac-Man with his great grandchildren at the ripe old age of 85. >
  
  Yeah he's a great example. He grew up with outlaws and ragtime and likely witnessed disco and MTV >
  
  So when did the wild west end? It sounds medieval from TV (as it it was that long ago) >
  
  My home town, Bakersfield, boast to have had the last Wild West shootout. The bad guys and good guys dueled in the streets in 1903. PacMan debuted in 1980. So, someone born in 1900 would be 80yo and play? >
  
  My favorite example is that one of the wright brothers lived to see the first supersonic flight.