It refers to what happens in the present moment, whether it has started right now or some event from the past still has its effects or validity. Relevant events that occur in the world and that interest all of society are reflected as news in the different media: radio, television, internet and written press. If you want to analyze the current situation, it can be done at a global level, studying, for example, the crisis affecting the great powers; or the great influence of the United States in international politics; but it can also be done locally.
What is actuality
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Etymologically, the term "actuality" comes from the Latin " actualis ", whose meaning is "relative to the act". For its part, the word "act", in turn, comes from "actus", passive participle of "agere", which means "to do".
It is a somewhat abstract and subjective concept, from the point of view of the timeline. The current reality of a certain moment in time will be adapted or modified according to the events that occur over the years. In other words, the events and the reality of the people in the 1920s were their "actuality"; But in the 1980s, although they also referred to their present (their actuality) in the same way, the reality of it was completely different.
However, if an event that is outside the current context continues to affect the present, it can be considered part of the present. For example, technology today, since its origins date back to 1969, when the US military developed a telecommunications network called ARPANET, which a little more than two decades later after being modified, would give way to what is now known as Internet.
Despite being an event that took place five decades ago, consolidating three decades ago, it still has an impact today, since the arrival of the Internet not only revolutionized the way man communicates, but in all other areas. Its development, evolution and subsequent popularization, generated profound changes in today's society.
It generated, for example, jobs; new ways of doing business; access to information; it revolutionized education; friendship and partner relationships; interpersonal connections; allows data and resources to be shared in cyberspace, as well as downloaded; It also became a powerful and indispensable work tool; among many other utilities in which this global information network has taken ground.
Practical uses of the term "present"
Today is undoubtedly one of the most popular words in the Spanish language when referring to the present. And something similar to what happens today also happens with the word "now", because it is another of the most common ways of talking about what is currently happening. The term has several practical uses in different areas.
In the news field, the term current affairs also refers to an event that sets the tone in any aspect that affects millions of people and becomes a trend. In this credit, the term is also used with characteristics of events of the moment that concern a local population.
The Internet perfectly covers these requests for information. For example, when placing parameters such as “current temperature”, “current climate”, “current time”, among others, in a search engine, the requested information is generated, or it can even be more specific searches; for example, "current time in Mexico", "current time in Tijuana", and the result will be the desired one.
It is used to contrast people, situations or places, compared to how they looked or were in the past, to how they are today. In this sense, there has been great curiosity, for example, what Chérnobil or Chernobyl looks like today, after just over three decades of the well-known accident at the nuclear power plant in the Ukrainian city, an accident that was considered one of the environmental disasters largest in history.
When you want to know or research on a topic today, the word "current" is used to give context to the search you want to perform. For example, to learn about the conflicts that have been generated in recent years and even those that are in development, one would place "current wars", and the term will focus and delimit the search towards the wars that have happened in recent years. years.
There are even media outlets that carry this terminology in their name to emphasize the freshness of the news they provide, as in the case of the RT Actualidad medium, whose approach is oriented to the dissemination of news that, according to it, are “ of which they do not speak in the main international channels ”.
In the medical field, the term is used, for example, in what is known as "current disease", which is a summary that is contained in the medical history, where disorders, symptoms or some other element that helps to have a clear idea of the current situation of the patient, since these data are provided by the same.
In the field of satellite technology, specifically in GPS devices (Global Positioning System or Global Positioning System) that allow locating an object or person in the world. This system works in real time, which allows, for example, a person who has a GPS device, to know their current location and not get lost.
Fashion is not exempt from the term. In fact, it is one of the aspects that could have more connection with it, since its essence is to work with the trend, which is currently being used either in textiles, footwear, music, cinema, television, among others.. Actually the concept and the objective of fashion is precisely to be updated.
Other terms that refer to the concept of what is current can also be: "novelty", "now", "in vogue", "existing", "valid", among others.
But one of the most prominent is the term "present", which means current time, what happens at the moment that a certain action is spoken or performed. The concept of present indicates that it is a point that divides the past from the future, and put into practice in the concept of the present, this point can be expanded to cover a greater period of time in which events can be included in current events, forming part of the "present".
Philosophically, the term "present" outlines a question, which is how beings can feel the "now" at the same time. According to this, there is no evidence that we all experience the present "in this moment", since it cannot be proven that we have the same temporal existence. This idea is raised by metaphysics with solipsism, which maintains that the only guarantee that a person has is the existence of their own mind, since external stimuli could be generated by it.
A good complementary concept of current affairs, rather than a specific point in time right now (eg, "today"), would be the term "season", as it encompasses more than just today, this week or this month. It can even span years and decades.
