Progressive Mentality Of The 1990's

In “Nirvana’s” hit song “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” Cobain pokes fun at the idea of revolution in lines such as, “Load up on guns, bring your friends It's fun to lose and to pretend.” This sarcasm however, actually epitomizes the mindset of those who lived in The Nineties (Smells 1). Although the 1990’s are often generalized as decade comprised of cheesy TV sitcoms and delicious Dunk-a-roos, upon digging deeper into the ethos of the era’s youth we can determine that the 90’s played a crucial role in the development of The United States today. Numerous elements contribute to the progressive mentality of the 1990’s such as cutting-edge technology, a vogue and self-conscious youth, readily available media, and a longing for social justice and equality
spanning across all gender and race.
At a computer convention in Las Vegas in 1993, Bill Gates reminisced on his first experience with a computer in the late 1960s, “The computer I was using was huge and cumbersome and slow and absolutely compelling,” Bill recounted, “This computer terminal didn’t have a screen… but with each passing year, I became more certain that computers and computing were destined to be cheap and ubiquitous” (Brinkley 569-570).
In 1990, after years of work, Tim Bemers-Lee along with Robert Calliau introduced the World Wide Web composed of just 2,304 web pages. Just as Gates had predicted, the World Wide Web was becoming more “cheap and ubiquitous,” than ever before and was utilized in the homes of many Americans (Bud 220). The World Wide Web was significant because work could now be done from home at any time; day or night. However, innovation was not limited to personal use from the home, groundbreaking new technology such as the Hubble Space Telescope expanded how we view the whole universe (Hubble 1). Americans longed to discover the wide expanse of space and The Hubble assised just that. The Hubble Space Telescope is unlike any other telescope as it is positioned a staggering 353 miles above earth’s surface. Although The Hubble has returned over one hundred thousand photos, the telescopes significance actually lies in what we can learn from the captured images (Hubble 3). Astronomers have viewed new galaxies in formation, exploding stars called supernovas, and have even estimated the
age of the universe at between thirteen and fourteen billion years old! These fundamental revelations about how our universe ticks not only alter the psyche of chief researchers, but also the average Joe (Hubble 1). However, as our understanding of the complex natural world expanded, many of those who lived in this time frame questioned if there was a point at which technology becomes