Chasing the dots … Revolve, Evolve or Dissolve

I SAT reflecting on the world with a kaleidoscope of conflicting thoughts, ably assisted with my normal libation (several!) and occasional brief showers giving false hope of a decent downpour.

I felt entitled. It was my 65th birthday!I had listened to endless TV about all those who were born a day earlier, Presley, Steven Hawking and now, we are told Kim Jong-un, that new guy with lots of guns and nukes and our friend. The first two have both added to my life, the last I have a feeling his handlers are somehow not going to.As our world accumulates more and more nasty leaders, often under the guise of democracy and human rights who seem intent on destroying their peoples to preserve themselves, I speculate the next few years will be interesting. During my lifetime we seem to have gone the full circle from evolving to revolving; is dissolving the next stage? The end of WWII was the beginning of an era. It seems we are now ending that era uncertain as to ‘where now’.Almost as a metaphor I reflected on the Land Rover, which is also 65 years old this year. A vehicle designed and put into production in a few months, made from leftover war materials and retooling munitions factories to manufacture the rest. It was a symbol of a nation raring to go and use its newfound skills and talents to change the world, which despite criticisms over colonialism, it did. And that little Land Rover was often the talisman leading the progress in an emerging world.I always remember the Mark 1 Landy from early teens when I learnt to drive one on a friend’s wooded smallholding full of pits and water holes. No electronics, diff locks or such fancy stuff, this vehicle got through nearly everything despite the abuse of young fools! Occasionally it got stuck but it was light enough for a simple capstan winch to recover it; it occasionally broke down but with a little help and a primitive tool kit we learnt to fix it. Skills we both retained and valued we realised when we met 50 years later; he is in the Australian bush!Since then I have had several versions, travelled thousands of kilometres in Southern and Eastern Africa, and those skills have rewarded me many times. The basic simplicity of the vehicle was retained until it got windup windows! I also watched the Land Rover range develop until the other day when I saw the latest Range Rover which must be the ugliest vehicle I have ever seen. (with latest Land Cruiser). It surely, as an upmarket Chelsea Tractor, be stuffed with the latest bling making impossible to work on and learn.My thoughts were about what we regard as progress. The old Mark 1 was the ultimate functional product, not without faults, but part of an understandable world and it worked. Now, 65 years later, the product is about form rather than function. About contacts forcing owners to use the ‘dealer’ and eliminating any way to ‘self learn’. This maybe why our kids progressively find it more difficult to accumulate skills as technology continues to grow complexity and eliminate human interaction. And can’t cross mud!Is this what is wrong? Our lives are ruled by technology which few understand but many use. We believe form (presentation, bulk) is good whereas the simple, understandable functional model is bad. Our current financial lunacy possibly give a clue on this.We have evolved, revolve and maybe about to dissolve! Our next budget presentation?csmith@mweb.com.na