Why our 'amazing' science fiction future fizzled
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Re: Why our 'amazing' science fiction future fizzled
#2I don't think the future really has fizzled. Did anyone predict that I could be talking with people around the globe who share my interests, instantaneously, without leaving my bedroom? Or that I could find information on nearly any topic just by typing a couple words into a search box?
Heck, I'd much rather have cars, with their noise and pollution and gas-guzzling, than horses with their shit.
I think the problem is that we quickly become habituated to any real increases in standard of living and think they're no longer remarkable anymore. It's more a problem with human brains than with technology. I'd be pretty pissed off if I lost my computer, Internet, cell phone, car, dishwasher, and cushy job where I type code into a computer all day instead of having to do actual physical labor. They don't really register as amazing achievements on a day-to-day basis, but when you look at 1964 and what you'd have to give up to live back then, they look pretty darn good.
Re: Why our 'amazing' science fiction future fizzled
#3I disagree entirely. Who would have thought that the blackberry or iPhone would ever be possible back in the late 70's... I can get traffic information overlayed on a route from anywhere to anywhere by foot, car, train, bus, I can instantly talk or type messages to anyone on the planet, I can look up any piece of the worlds collective knowledge instantly all while walking down the street with a cup of coffee in the other hand...
The present is pretty darn amazing to me.
Re: Why our 'amazing' science fiction future fizzled
#4I don't think the future really has fizzled. Did anyone predict that I could be talking with people around the globe who share my interests, instantaneously, without leaving my bedroom? Or that I could find information on nearly any topic just by typing a couple words into a search box? Heck, I'd much rather have cars, with their noise and pollution and gas-guzzling, than horses with their shit. I think the problem i…
"Did anyone predict that I could be talking with people around the globe who share my interests, instantaneously, without leaving my bedroom?"
They had tablet PC's and the equivalent of internet blogs and forums in "Ender's Game," so I assume other authors had similar ideas.
Re: Why our 'amazing' science fiction future fizzled
#5I don't think the future really has fizzled. Did anyone predict that I could be talking with people around the globe who share my interests, instantaneously, without leaving my bedroom? Or that I could find information on nearly any topic just by typing a couple words into a search box? Heck, I'd much rather have cars, with their noise and pollution and gas-guzzling, than horses with their shit. I think the problem i…
"Did anyone predict that I could be talking with people around the globe who share my interests, instantaneously, without leaving my bedroom?" They had tablet PC's and the equivalent of internet blogs and forums in "Ender's Game," so I assume other authors had similar ideas.
Writers began "predicting" this sort of thing about the same time they started signing up for online services in the early 80s.
Re: Why our 'amazing' science fiction future fizzled
#6I don't think the future really has fizzled. Did anyone predict that I could be talking with people around the globe who share my interests, instantaneously, without leaving my bedroom? Or that I could find information on nearly any topic just by typing a couple words into a search box? Heck, I'd much rather have cars, with their noise and pollution and gas-guzzling, than horses with their shit. I think the problem i…
I think you’re missing the basic premise of the article. He’s saying there was a future that was “promised” which involved jet packs, flying cars, et al. That future never materialized and that is the topic of the article.
That doesn’t downplay what we have accomplished. In fact the author’s primary point seems to be a lot of these things didn’t materialize because people simply weren’t really interested in them. Where as they are interested in say...an iPhone.
Re: Why our 'amazing' science fiction future fizzled
#7Earlier quoted context omitted.
"Did anyone predict that I could be talking with people around the globe who share my interests, instantaneously, without leaving my bedroom?" They had tablet PC's and the equivalent of internet blogs and forums in "Ender's Game," so I assume other authors had similar ideas.
Writers began "predicting" this sort of thing about the same time they started signing up for online services in the early 80s.
Indeed; Jerry Pournelle somewhat famously predicted in _Byte_ that by 2000, anyone in the Western world would be able to ask a question and get the answer, if the answer was known by anyone.
We've pretty much had that since 1998 or so. :)
Re: Why our 'amazing' science fiction future fizzled
#8I disagree entirely. Who would have thought that the blackberry or iPhone would ever be possible back in the late 70's... I can get traffic information overlayed on a route from anywhere to anywhere by foot, car, train, bus, I can instantly talk or type messages to anyone on the planet, I can look up any piece of the worlds collective knowledge instantly all while walking down the street with a cup of coffee in the o…
I agree. Who knows what is ahead. I'm very hopeful Teleportation will be invented in our life time. If not that, thn hopefully at least a Hoverboard :)
Re: Why our 'amazing' science fiction future fizzled
#9I disagree entirely. Who would have thought that the blackberry or iPhone would ever be possible back in the late 70's... I can get traffic information overlayed on a route from anywhere to anywhere by foot, car, train, bus, I can instantly talk or type messages to anyone on the planet, I can look up any piece of the worlds collective knowledge instantly all while walking down the street with a cup of coffee in the o…
"Who would have thought that the blackberry or iPhone would ever be possible back in the late 70's..."
The TV show Life on Mars was about a present day cop who somehow finds himself back in the 70s. In one episode he tries to talk a suicidal inventor off a ledge, who is ready to kill himself because his latest idea of a phone you can carry around with you failed to get any interest. The cop tries to convince him that one day everyone will use such devices, with no luck. The other cops keep asking each other "Who would want to carry a phone around with them?"
Re: Why our 'amazing' science fiction future fizzled
#10I agree with some of the authors points but not with others. For example, I don't think you can say "people weren't interested in the Jetpack because it only had enough fuel for half a minute." But the future that was promised had Jetpacks that lasted longer than half a minute so that answer's kind of a cop out.
That said I do agree that a lot of the "future" that these visionaries put out there was impractical. Whenever anyone talks to me about a flying car I ask them if they've ever seen someone driving around in a broken down car that obviously needs maintenance. Then I ask them to imagine what the world would be like if that unmaintained car could fall out of the sky onto their house.
That alone is why I think flying cars will never be an option. Because even if you make a law that requires people to keep their flying cars maintained there will be those that will ignore it (see smog laws).