Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

“Toward the Year 2018”, a speculative book from 1968

newyorker.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 95 posts

Re: “Toward the Year 2018”, a speculative book from 1968

#11

Post by goatlover »

Danihan wrote: post #5
melling wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The world feels wildly futuristic? Can you explain? I was born in 1966. Computer games and the special effects in movies look better, but to claim the world looks wildly futuristic is an exaggeration.

You're an example of not orienting your perspective properly.. ;) The internet, a global communications network that everyone carries with them in their pocket on a mini touchscreen PC, is fucking incredible. Even prisoners who go away for 10-15 years have been blown away by the advancements in cell phone technology and adoption when they get out.

It is incredible, and most people didn't see it coming, but compared to the scifi stuff I read and watched as a kid, the future doesn't feel all that mind-blowing, at least so far.

Part of it is living through it and adjusting to the changes, but I was also born into a world that had TVs, telephones, microwaves, VCRs, satellites, space programs, and personal computers. Computer networks and games existed back then. Miniaturization and Moore's law was known about.

I think living through the early 20th century might have been more mind blowing.

Re: “Toward the Year 2018”, a speculative book from 1968

#13

Post by melling »

aidenn0 wrote: post #10
melling wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Internet is about 5 decades old. I shot the shit almost exactly like this on Usenet decades ago. Cell phones? They’re smaller, great. http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2010/09/23/gordon_gekko_... Everyone expects the world to change, and advance. It’s not fucking incredible. Even John Sculley saw it coming. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cultofmac.com/120716/apple-...

Cell phones were still futuristic in the 80s, and they were science fiction in the 60s.

No one is that progress hasn’t been made. We expect progress. Moore’s Law.

What is being said is that the world is not wildly futuristic.

Re: “Toward the Year 2018”, a speculative book from 1968

#14

Post by melling »

aidenn0 wrote: post #9
melling wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The world feels wildly futuristic? Can you explain? I was born in 1966. Computer games and the special effects in movies look better, but to claim the world looks wildly futuristic is an exaggeration.

When was the last time you used a paper map? When was the last time you used the yellow pages? How much money have you spent buying encyclopedias in the last 20 years? How much time searching for someone who has a mediocre copy-of-a-copy of bootleg tapes of that one amazing concert by the band you liked? How many hours have you spent on the phone with a company because you lost the user's manual to their product? How…

“When was the last time you used a paper map?”

We need to define “wildly futuristic”. I think we have “wildly” different definitions.

Re: “Toward the Year 2018”, a speculative book from 1968

#16

Post by ghkso »

melling wrote: post #14
aidenn0 wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When was the last time you used a paper map? When was the last time you used the yellow pages? How much money have you spent buying encyclopedias in the last 20 years? How much time searching for someone who has a mediocre copy-of-a-copy of bootleg tapes of that one amazing concert by the band you liked? How many hours have you spent on the phone with a company because you lost the user's manual to their product? How…

“When was the last time you used a paper map?” We need to define “wildly futuristic”. I think we have “wildly” different definitions.

Do you think the people of the 1960's wouldn't find wildly futuristic this: http://www.mobileshop.eu/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/goo... ? This is almost like The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which was sci-fi in 1978.

Re: “Toward the Year 2018”, a speculative book from 1968

#18

Post by daanlo »

melling wrote: post #4
Nav_Panel wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many future predictions from the 1950s were based on the promise of unlimited electricity. Once this comes to pass, we can have hovercars and whatnot. Instead, we got "unlimited" information. Although this doesn't translate as well into physical products, the world still looks/feels wildly futuristic if you orient your perspective correctly.

The world feels wildly futuristic? Can you explain? I was born in 1966. Computer games and the special effects in movies look better, but to claim the world looks wildly futuristic is an exaggeration.

How about a "robot" beating the world's best chess player after 1/2 days worth of training or the ability to virtually cure HIV/AIDS (that certainly seemed impossible in the eighties) or music without instruments or singers and only wildly flashing lights (the value of EDM is debatable, but it would certainly feel futuristic to someone from the 60ies) or the ability to speak in real time video to someone on the other side of the world while taking a stroll through the park (star wars had holigrams, but they were pre-recorded material and not real time)

Re: “Toward the Year 2018”, a speculative book from 1968

#20

Post by planteen »

aidenn0 wrote: post #9
melling wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The world feels wildly futuristic? Can you explain? I was born in 1966. Computer games and the special effects in movies look better, but to claim the world looks wildly futuristic is an exaggeration.

When was the last time you used a paper map? When was the last time you used the yellow pages? How much money have you spent buying encyclopedias in the last 20 years? How much time searching for someone who has a mediocre copy-of-a-copy of bootleg tapes of that one amazing concert by the band you liked? How many hours have you spent on the phone with a company because you lost the user's manual to their product? How…

"When was the last time you used a paper map?"

"When was the last time you had to spend 15 minutes planning out where and when you would meet when because your group is splitting up when on a trip?"

I do these things all the time as many of my hobbies are outdoor activities. For example, at Arapahoe Basin, a ski area in Colorado near Denver, cell reception is non-existent. So you need to have a plan for people to meet up when we get on the mountain, where to meet for lunch, where at the end of the day. And even at ski resorts with cell coverage, it is far easier in a group to discuss how you are going to meet after the run because people will invariably get separated. E.g., if I'm at Vail, "Meet on the skier's left side of Northwoods, do not go all the way to the base."

I always bring paper maps when backpacking and hiking. Sometimes when you are going camping, you have to have this all planned ahead of time since once again cell coverage may be non-existent. And someone always knows where I am going and when I should be back in case I need a rescue. I also go caving as a hobby, and all of these things are especially important there.

Post reply on HN