HELLO FUTURE

Shortly after World War II ended, a statue was erected in Cherkassy, Ukraine. The statue was a woman holding an ever-burning flame in her right hand to symbolize the memories of the fallen soldiers. It used to be a popular place—from the look of old photos, which is really all I have to go by.




When the Soviet Union collapsed and different regions became independent, some things were overlooked and other things changed. In particular, Cherkassy would no longer receive the natural gas used to keep the flame burning for free. Eventually, that led to it being extinguished.

Then the future came along.

A Russian company installed a cell phone tower on top of the statue surrounded by a video screen covered in pixelated flames. Now it looks like a combination of ancient history and an 80's Nintendo game.

Sometimes I look at technology and just shake my head. Or write about it on the internet.