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French artists in 1899 envisioned what life would look like in the year 2000

openculture.com

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Re: French artists in 1899 envisioned what life would look like in the year 2000

#81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

WOULD, not "could"

to downvoters: are you suggesting it was illegal for women to wear pants back then? (and no, the paris decree does not count). There were female marketed "trousers" appearing in the 1850s, so it is clearly completely retarded to suggest that the french artists "couldnt envision women wearing pants". But carry on with the official party line, but do so knowingly that it is fake.

It's quite possible that the downvotes were expressing confusion/annoyance at the brevity and lack of context of your comment without additional explanation.

There are three different "could"s in the comment to which you're replying.

I think, had your comment included the second paragraph, it would have been much more useful.

Re: French artists in 1899 envisioned what life would look like in the year 2000

#82
post #27

One of the interesting things about these photos is that, aside from all the under-water ones, many of the contraptions exist. We just call them Roomba, Kubota tractor, Audible, Philips All-In-One Trimmer, etc. One consistent facet is that many of our modern technologies are a lot more complex on the inside, but simpler in appearance. There really is one guy pushing buttons to harvest thousands of acres. There's a co…

I didn't realize that the underwater thing was so important back then. We are all thinking about flying cars, and these drawings don't disappoint, but there is as much happening underwater as it is happening in the sky. Now, we are still fascinated with flying, machines, etc... but going underwater is boring by comparison. We have submarines, mostly for the military, a bit of scientific exploration, etc... but beside…

> We have submarines, mostly for the military, a bit of scientific exploration, etc... but besides a few passionate people, people usually don't think that much about the underseas.

BIG submarines are for the military but by far the biggest consumer of submarine technology is the oil and gas industry so people do think about it a whole lot. The underwater world is largely inaccessible to the average person because of the capital requirements (even fewer people can afford subs than boats) but we absolutely depend on that technology to power our energy infrastructure.

Re: French artists in 1899 envisioned what life would look like in the year 2000

#83

One of the interesting things about these photos is that, aside from all the under-water ones, many of the contraptions exist. We just call them Roomba, Kubota tractor, Audible, Philips All-In-One Trimmer, etc. One consistent facet is that many of our modern technologies are a lot more complex on the inside, but simpler in appearance. There really is one guy pushing buttons to harvest thousands of acres. There's a co…

Yeah, it's crazy how different things are now. My neighborhood dates from the turn of the century. The houses that date back to the original days of the neighborhood are easy to spot, because they're built up on a berm about 3 to 4 feet higher than the street level. This is because when they were built, the street was just a bunch of mud and horse manure. The standard house design would dig out a half under grade bas…

> My neighborhood dates from the turn of the century.

Note that this phrase now means “24 years ago.” Seems every day I have to correct myself to “turn of the 20th century.”

Re: French artists in 1899 envisioned what life would look like in the year 2000

#84
post #31
post #17

One of the most difficult things seems to be forecast fashion but probably the artist didn't even attempt to envision future clothing, except for technical ones. That would distract from the main point. There is even a gown in the underwater game of croquet.

They envisioned robotic tailors and even today we are far away from that it's last one this slide https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/a-19th-century-vis...

Not that we could do it but i feel like the real issue is that manufacturing a couple of univeral sizes of less form-fitting clothes is a significantly easier solution to this problem. I think they tended to expect tech to change instead of culture, while in reality our culture has adapted to what is available technologically.

Re: French artists in 1899 envisioned what life would look like in the year 2000

#88
post #46

In the midst of rapid technological progress, encompassing breakthroughs in AI, chips/semiconductors, alongside the unsettling surge in global geopolitical tensions and the transformative impact of certain social media, particularly affecting Gen Z & Alpha, I find myself constantly pondering the trajectory of our future. The relentless pace of change prompts me to question what life may entail in the next 10, 40 year…

> the notion of individuals donning AR/VR headsets.

What changed? It’s still far-fetched and not due to technical reasons

Re: French artists in 1899 envisioned what life would look like in the year 2000

#89
post #8

seems mostly right to me: 1) ok, but should be staring at iphones 2) not this one perhaps, given our treatment of whales 3) john deere tractors - it's a thing 4) could see many of our overvalued billionaires going for this 5) drone strike 6) robo hoover - available everywhere

> given our treatment of whales

Almost infinitely better than back then?

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