The change ( and progress) signified with the ending of "Dial-up" Internet

Change Is Certain, Progress Is Not: Reflections on Four Decades of Technological and Cultural Transformation

From Acoustic Couplers to Artificial Intelligence—A Personal Journey

The news that AOL, once "America On Line," will soon retire its dial-up service may seem like a minor blip in today's digital landscape. In reality, this quiet ending is a poignant milestone in a vast parade of technological evolution—one that I have had the privilege of witnessing, and at times being bewildered by, over the course of my adult life and 40+ year business career. As I approach my 64th birthday, reflections abound: not only on inventions and obsolescence, but also on the intricate dance between change and progress, and how we find meaning and direction within the whirlwind.

AOL's Farewell: The End of a Digital Era

In about a month, AOL will cease offering dial-up internet access—a service that was, for a time, the very lifeblood of the online world. Dial-up, with its iconic screech and hiss, connected a generation to the vastness of cyberspace. Today, less than 0.1% of U.S. households still use it, but its departure serves as a gentle requiem not just for a technology, but for an era marked by anticipation and discovery. For many, the phrase "You've got mail!" is not just nostalgia; it's a reminder of simpler, slower, more deliberate connections.

This moment has prompted me to look back—not only at AOL, but at the sweeping revolutions that have defined my professional and personal journey. These are not merely changes in gadgets or services; they are shifts in how we communicate, work, learn, and dream.

The Pace and Paradox of Change

When I started college in 1979, the landscape was unrecognizable by today's standards. Imagine embarking on higher education without cell phones, personal computers, the internet, social media, email, text messaging, ride-sharing apps, and the myriad conveniences that now define everyday life. These things simply did not exist. The notion that, in 2025, we carry in our pockets devices more powerful than the mainframes of yesteryear would have seemed like science fiction.

Throughout the decades, I have often remarked: "Change is certain, progress is not." These words echo truer with each passing year. While the pace of innovation is exhilarating—at times, mind-boggling—it is not always accompanied by corresponding improvements in quality of life, equity, or happiness. There is a fundamental distinction between change—the ceaseless evolution of tools, systems, and paradigms—and progress, which is the meaningful, positive transformation of our human experience.

The Mainframe and the Modem: Early Days of Computing

One story from my college years illustrates both the marvel and the madness of early computing. In a statistics class, we were required to master regression analysis, starting with the basics—working out the "Least Squares Method" with pencil and paper. But the real magic happened with SPSS, a software package still used today (now as "IBM SPSS").

Back then, using SPSS was a logistical adventure. We typed our data into a keyboard equipped with an acoustic coupler. After programming our inputs, we would dial a touch-tone phone, listen for the static handshake, and nestle the receiver into the coupler, connecting us to a mainframe computer at Ohio State—over a hundred miles away. Our batch projects were submitted to run whenever mainframe time became available, often overnight. The following day, we would check back for results—or, more often than not, to discover a keystroke error that required another cycle of patience and repetition.

It is literally astonishing to compare that ritual with the present. Today, I can run a regression analysis on my smartphone, in seconds. What once took hours or days is now compressed into moments. This is, without question, a triumph of both change and progress.

Witness to Revolutions

My career has been shaped by a dizzying succession of revolutions—plural with intent. From analog to digital, from local to global, from scarcity of information to its overwhelming abundance. Each wave has brought new tools, opportunities, and challenges.

Consider the workplace: Once, communication meant memos, phone calls, and face-to-face meetings. Now, email, instant messaging, and video conferences have redefined collaboration, but also introduced new distractions and anxieties. Financial services, manufacturing, healthcare, education—no sector has been immune to the relentless march of innovation.

Yet, amid this acceleration, questions persist: Are we more productive, or merely busier? More connected, or more distracted? Does each new technology bring us closer together, or isolate us within our curated digital bubbles? The answers are nuanced, and the relationship between change and progress is anything but linear.

The Advent of Artificial Intelligence: A New Frontier

Today, we stand on the cusp of yet another technological revolution—artificial intelligence. The headlines are filled with speculation, hope, and fear about AI's impact on jobs, business, industry, and society at large. Prognosticators abound, offering visions both utopian and dystopian.

I do not claim to be an "early adopter," but neither am I a Luddite. AI, to me, is simply the latest set of tools to be explored, understood, and harnessed. I have begun to incorporate AI into my work—using it to edit and enhance my writing, to conduct advanced searches, to learn and to question. I am acutely aware that I am in the earliest days of this journey, just as unsure and awed as I was in front of that acoustic-coupler-equipped keyboard all those years ago.

The difference, perhaps, is that I now have the wisdom to appreciate both the promise and the pitfalls of new technology. I know that no tool is inherently good or bad; its value lies in how it is used, and for what purpose. Change is certain, but progress must be pursued, shaped, and, at times, defended.

Finding Progress Amidst Change

So, as AOL prepares to fade into the tapestry of history, I am reminded that the true measure of any technological revolution lies not in its novelty, but in its capacity to serve human flourishing. The tools we invent and adopt should expand our possibilities, deepen our connections, and enrich our lives—not merely accelerate our pace or multiply our distractions.

As I move toward another milestone birthday, I do not wish to be absent from the journey ahead. I want to remain curious, adaptable, and engaged—to keep questioning how each wave of change can be transformed into genuine progress. The revolutions of the past forty years have been incredible, and those still to come will be no less so. My hope is that we all find ways to steer these changes toward a future that is not just different, but better.

In the end, perhaps that is the greatest lesson of a life spent amid technological upheaval: that while change is certain, progress is not—but it is always within our reach, if we are willing to seek it out, shape it, and share it.

postscript:  you might notice a change in the font/layout/use of color in the essay above vs some of my past postings.... yes indeed an outcome of me using an AI tool to take my original essay and suggest edits based on grammar and on techniques to help readability on a blog platform... a helpful tool indeed!