The future...

[Archamedes]

i am drunk, so if this post is pointless or boring to you then I appologise, however, if you have a spare 10 minutes and fancy reading this short novel I have now written out then please grab a coffee and read.

Me and a friend were talking about technology and the future, we soon realised this is the future. Cast your mind back 20 years, it's 1991 Michael Jackson is still black, the gulf war is nearly over, gladiators is prime time tv and I am 11 years old. If I was told that by the time I reached 30 we would be driving fueless battery powered cars and everything else mentioned below, I would be completely awestruck...

the year is now 2012

maps are a thing of the past, I can navigate with the use of a small satellite controlled device that displays a virtual 3d map and a computerised voice giving me directions...

I have have a cordless telephone that I can carry around with me in my own pocket. I can send written messages to other phones, take photos and record videos that didn't need to be developed. I can also play digital music tracks without the use of a cassette player. My phone can do everything if not more than my Amiga computer and I can fit this computer phone in my hand...

My computer can connect to a super network and I can view all kinds of media, find the answer to any question without the use of a tv programme or book. I can watch tv and videos without the use of a video cassette just by downloading (or in 1991 as downloading is not in the dictionary: So load up on your screen). I can send a letter to someone on the other side of the world and they can receive it in seconds then start a video call with that person, see them in real time & hear them talk through my speakers. We could also keep in touch with all our friends without Calling or visiting them. Send them messages chat or see what they are up to all on the computer. I can even buy things without leaving my house, just turn on the Computer and buy relativley anything I want and it will get delivered to my house.

The military have remote controlled pilotless fighter planes that have video cameras that can spy on the enemy then fire missiles at them, with the pilots sitting in a room, back at home away from the danger...

Pluto is no longer considered a planet.

I can now, pause, recored or rewind live television.

There are no longer 4 TV channels, but now over 300 of them, yet there is nothing of interest to watch.

What would amaze you if you were told 20 years ago about what we have now? If told myself all this back then I would be speechless, so this is the future and everything I mentioned is all mundane everyday things we all take for granted, can you imagine what we will have in 20 years from now or have we reached our peak for many decades to come? I can think of so much more but I am sure there are people here who can fill in the rest.

[Michael P]

What would amaze you if you were told 20 years ago about what we have now?

Yeah, but 20 years ago, I was 10. You would have amazed me if you'd shown me a dog wearing sunglasses.

[Archamedes]

dude thats only one year younger than me.

[dupont2005]

I remember watching Back TO The Future part two and seeing the hoverboard and thinking "I can't wait for that thing to come out in real life! It's gonna be so awesome!"

And then I saw the giant flat TV set into the wall of the home, and hundreds of channels to choose from. One airing cartoons at night. At that point I called bullshit.

[The Black Guardian]

My computer can connect to a super network and I can view all kinds of media, find the answer to any question without the use of a tv programme or book. I can watch tv and videos without the use of a video cassette just by downloading (or in 1991 as downloading is not in the dictionary: So load up on your screen). I can send a letter to someone on the other side of the world and they can receive it in seconds then start a video call with that person, see them in real time & hear them talk through my speakers. We could also keep in touch with all our friends without Calling or visiting them. Send them messages chat or see what they are up to all on the computer. I can even buy things without leaving my house, just turn on the Computer and buy relativley anything I want and it will get delivered to my house.

I'm a computer nerd, but I was using "download" back in the 80s. 2600 baud FTW!

There are no longer 4 TV channels, but now over 300 of them, yet there is nothing of interest to watch.

"57 channels and nothing's on." -- Bruce Springsteen (1992)

The more things change, the more than stay the same.

All I know is that I don't ever want a flying car. I don't think the average person belongs in the air, now or ever.

[Sabrina_Fried]

E-readers/tablets. 20 Years ago I was a hardcore trekkie and I loved the idea of datapads where one could have access to thousands of books at the press of a button.

Now I have one. And my to-read folder has a few hundred books in it. And counting.

[Shawn Hopkins]

E-readers/tablets. 20 Years ago I was a hardcore trekkie and I loved the idea of datapads where one could have access to thousands of books at the press of a button.

Now I have one. And my to-read folder has a few hundred books in it. And counting.

Smartphones, too. Except for the talking to spaceships part, an iPhone makes a Trek communicator (TOS) look dull.

[Sabrina_Fried]

Smartphones, too. Except for the talking to spaceships part, an iPhone makes a Trek communicator (TOS) look dull.

I would be tickled pink if I could use my smartphone to send a message to the crew of the International Space Station or something. Even if it would be through a webform on the NASA website or Facebook or something.

[mikekerrIII]

think about how I feel< i was an adult when I saw my first Scientic Calucator, Married when Cell phones came out ar huge bricks, and My bargaib basement computer has more power than the wolds combined computing power when I was born.

BUt some things have gone backwards, have you ever seen a man walking on the moon live?

[Paradox]

YES! But then again, I'm almost as old as you are, so that more proves your point than refutes it.

[dupont2005]

BUt some things have gone backwards, have you ever seen a man walking on the moon live?

I don't see that as backwards progress. We have robots on Mars now, and a space telescope that left the solar system many years ago.

[Shawn Hopkins]

I don't see that as backwards progress. We have robots on Mars now, and a space telescope that left the solar system many years ago.

Also, we have a private business that's got a real plan to mine the asteroids. With robots. We're just living in the sci-fi future where manned space-flight was largely replaced with robotics.

[Johnny P. Sartre]

I would have been 4 and practically anything would have amazed me, like now. Shit, I'm just happy to have lived through a lot of big technological revolutions.

[Iangould]

think about how I feel< i was an adult when I saw my first Scientic Calucator, Married when Cell phones came out ar huge bricks, and My bargaib basement computer has more power than the wolds combined computing power when I was born.

BUt some things have gone backwards, have you ever seen a man walking on the moon live?

The first desktop calculator I saw had the four arithmetical functions and that was it. It had a display about 20 digits long because it had to no exponential function.

It was kept chained to a desk in the computing lab of University of Queensland beacause it cost the equivalent of several thousand dollars.

[Sabrina_Fried]

think about how I feel< i was an adult when I saw my first Scientic Calucator, Married when Cell phones came out ar huge bricks, and My bargaib basement computer has more power than the wolds combined computing power when I was born.

BUt some things have gone backwards, have you ever seen a man walking on the moon live?

I wish. I really hope NASA can resurrect the shuttle program someday. Or whatever the next generation of spaceships will be called.