It’s a new year, and that means that everyone and their dogs feel compelled to write about the most interesting things of the last X amount of time. CNN had weighed into the fray with its list of the top 25 innovations of the last 25 years.

We can quibble about a lot here: so far it’s only 24 items, some of which were definitely invented and even fairly widely used prior to 1980. Not to mention that the criteria for inclusion stated that the items “have become widely used since 1980, are readily recognizable by most Americans, have had a direct and perceptible impact on our everyday lives, and/or could dramatically affect our lives in the future,” but several items on the list don’t fit the criteria. For example, regardless of the hype, nanotechnology(#21) is not widespread, and I highly doubt that the average American could recognize an organic light-emitting diode (#17) if it had a big red name tag on it.

However, what is interesting about this list is not how the selection panel failed to follow its mandate. Rather, this list illustrates that the pace of change for high-tech consumer goods has been accelerating pretty rapidly. In 1980 I was still listening to 8-track tapes and vinyl records - today I store my music collection on my laptop, having moved past both cassette tapes and CDs.

The popular conception of Moore’s Law says that computer hardware will keep getting better and cheaper. The corollary to this is that innovations in technologies will come faster and faster. Certainly, a quick overview of the technological changes that occurred in the 20th century seems to bear this out. As we move into an era where these developments and changes will be quicker and more powerful, we need to pay attention to what these changes are, and whether they are actually useful. It’s interesting and a little frightening that high definition television (#19) is on the same list as air bags for cars (#13). In a world where natural disasters and armed conflicts continue to threaten lives all over the globe, maybe it’s time to pay more attention to the basic necessities of life than a sharper tv image.