Isaac Asimov's predictions for what the world will be like in 2014

Post by wildgift » Wed, Aug 28, 2013, 5:27 AM UTC

wikiburner wrote: post #63

tokenadult wrote: post #23

"Even so, mankind will suffer badly from the disease of boredom, a disease spreading more widely each year and growing in intensity. This will have serious mental, emotional and sociological consequences, and I dare say that psychiatry will be far and away the most important medical specialty in 2014." It is a striking finding of cross-cultural studies of suicide that many of the places with especially high suicide r…

The suicidal in lower income situations could succumb to it in more subtle ways, for example heroin, crack, or meth overdose, suicide by gang, suicide by cop, etc.

Post by singingfish » Wed, Aug 28, 2013, 5:32 AM UTC

zanny wrote: post #31

ricardobeat wrote: post #29

Round-up: ✗ EL panels (not yet) ✗ Smart glass (unless you own a ferrari) ✓ Frozen meals + programmable microwave ✓ Lame robots ✓ 3D movies ✗ Fusion power plants ✗ Radioactive batteries ✓ Solar power ✓ Self-driving cars (in progress) ✗ Moving sidewalks (do airport conveyors count?) ✓ Video calls ✓ Mobile data, sharing, e-books ✓ Global mobile phone network ✗ Moon colonies (double fail since he just takes them for gran…

On some of the missing ones: 1. We have at least one fusion plant I know of, the UK Joint Torus, which I know have been operating for decades. It just consumes more power than it generates. But Asimov suggests one or two, which is strikingly accurate. 2. We could probably make radio-decay batteries (maybe not AA size, but car batteries running on Thorium or some such, albeit an extremely expensive containment for som…

Post by barbs » Wed, Aug 28, 2013, 5:44 AM UTC

Post by improv32 » Wed, Aug 28, 2013, 5:51 AM UTC

taitems wrote: post #15

Syros wrote: post #11

I think it's important to note here that Asimov was never a big proponent of the "science fiction author as Nostradamus" theory. He was always very clear that neither his nor any other writer's predictions should be given any more credibility than the average Joe off the street. In fact, I'm pretty puzzled as to why this article was written at all.

Intentional or not, he has certainly predicted technology that has only recently come into existence. They may seem obvious now, but I wonder how inevitable they seemed during the 50s and 60s? Take for instance the Multivac: it is essentially Wolfram Alpha, even down to the pro-tier pricing he mentions in one short story.

Post by olalonde » Wed, Aug 28, 2013, 6:03 AM UTC

speeder wrote: post #58

saraid216 wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> ✗ Smart glass (unless you own a ferrari) I used to have corrective glasses that did what he described. I can't remember what the type of lens was called, and Google is being unhelpful. But walking in and out of shade was definitely a bit annoying because it kept repolarizing. > ✗ Moving sidewalks (do airport conveyors count?) I'd say so. Open question: how would we put benches on moving sidewalks? P.S. I am amused…

Here in Sao Paulo there is a moving sidewalk connecting two major metro stations, it is really cool for most part, but sometimes shit happens, like when one asshole decide to stop at its exit, or when someone fall, or when it breaks.