The worldview of industrialized societies appears to be slowly changing. This gradual change is occurring because people have begun to see the consequences of the technology that they demanded. So, just as the worldview of industrialized society affected the technology that has developed, so the technology is now affecting society's worldview. Every culture thinks of time in certain ways and uses time in certain ways. But the way a culture understands time is seldom made obvious.
People simply absorb and accept their culture's understanding of time without even realizing it.
This can present difficulties when people from different cultures interact. Cultures differ in the way that they view both the past and the future. For example, many cultures in the Middle East have existed for thousands of years. The people of Iran have a cultural history going back to the days of the Persian Empire, some 2,500 years ago. Contemporary Iranians develop a sense of history that is both deep and proud.