Skip to content
Who's in the Video
One of the most popular living poets in the United States, Billy Collins was born in New York City in 1941. Collins is the author of nine books of poetry,[…]
Sign up for the Smarter Faster newsletter
A weekly newsletter featuring the biggest ideas from the smartest people

By our technology or our behavior?

Billy Collins: That’s huge. I mean, probably as an age of technology, I think.  You know the . . . the future . . . the wars of the past quickly become wars of the past because we’re over the trauma of them.  I think Vietnam still lingers, but if you think of the enormity of World War II has been packed into historical crates and put in the warehouse pretty much.  And the wars that are going on now I think might have . . . I hope have the sense of dimming with historical perspective.  Probably technological.  You know, the microchips and technology and all of that.  But who knows? I’m not sure.  I think it’ll be measured by its inventions rather than its repetition of historical patterns.

Up Next

Related