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Why our 'amazing' science fiction future fizzled

cnn.com

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Re: Why our 'amazing' science fiction future fizzled

#11

Post by DanielBMarkham »

The one thing I've noticed about comparing sci-fi future to the actual thing is the degree that humanity is changing, not technology.

It used to be you'd think of some future tech of a hundred years from now as being some normal guy, like you, except he'd have a jetpack, a phaser, or a cool flying car. But what really happened was that we didn't get all those cool external things, instead we got things that plugged into our minds and bodies more. So instead of flying around in a jetpack, you can imagine flying around in a jetpack. Instead of using your phaser to fight Klingons, you can imagine fighting all kinds of creatures. Instead of tooling around in your flying car, we're getting more and more realistic environments where you can pretend to pilot just about anything.

It's a rehash to say we're entertaining ourselves to death, but there's no doubt that as far as impact on everyday lives, technology is moving from big, cool, sleek external gadgets to small, integrated, multi-sensory ones.

That was unexpected.

Re: Why our 'amazing' science fiction future fizzled

#12

Post by anigbrowl »

nostrademons wrote: post #2

I 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…

It's a 50/50. I quite agree that the internet is a mind-blowing thing, and I had to smile when I went to see Star Trek last week and couldn't help thinking that my phone is smaller and more functional than the Starfleet communicators (although I imagine the latter have better signal quality and the battery doesn't go flat every day).

But our physical environment changes a lot more slowly than our digital one. I don't get a 'woah' moment as often as I'd like, but things are improving slowly. Certainly, some of this is down to my individual design sensibility. As context, I felt 'disappointed in the future' a lot during the 1990s, until one day I opened a magazine and saw a picture of the new VW beetle. Actually, 10 years on I still think it looks futuristic.

Re: Why our 'amazing' science fiction future fizzled

#14

Post by swernli »

I find it interesting that no comments (as of writing this) touch on the other intersting issue the article brought up: that Americans "prefer technology, not radical politics, to propel social change." I think that's an interesting point, especially given the focus of the HN crowd. We often look to technology and innovation as the disruptive element in society, and one can find many examples in history of how it has been exactly that. But in these modern times, I'd be inclined to think that true change doesn't happen until the politics catch up to the technology and accept its disruption as the norm. Historically, it seems to me that change always flows from technology => social/cultural => political. When it reaches that last stage, that's when the change really takes hold.

Re: Why our 'amazing' science fiction future fizzled

#15

Post by arakyd »

TomOfTTB wrote: post #10

I 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. When…

Forget maintenance, what about flying drunk, or tired, or without years of training? You say "flying cars" and people think "driving in the sky," but it's not like that at all.

Basically, there are many different reasons why flying cars would be unlikely to be as common as normal ones.

Re: Why our 'amazing' science fiction future fizzled

#16

Post by DanielBMarkham »

arakyd wrote: post #15
TomOfTTB wrote: post #10

I 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. When…

Forget maintenance, what about flying drunk, or tired, or without years of training? You say "flying cars" and people think "driving in the sky," but it's not like that at all. Basically, there are many different reasons why flying cars would be unlikely to be as common as normal ones.

NASA has been working for years on aviation-for-everybody concepts. The basic idea is that the vehicles will self-navigate. See "Highway in the Sky" (HITS)

Re: Why our 'amazing' science fiction future fizzled

#17

Post by mrbgty »

keltecp11 wrote: post #8
sfphotoarts wrote: post #3

I 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 :)

Hoverboard. 2015.

Re: Why our 'amazing' science fiction future fizzled

#18

Post by stavrianos »

Semiapies wrote: post #5
coglethorpe wrote: post #4

Earlier 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.

See, I'd credit Heinlein with predicting the internet back in the fifties and sixties.

Re: Why our 'amazing' science fiction future fizzled

#20

Post by Semiapies »

stavrianos wrote: post #18
Semiapies wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Writers began "predicting" this sort of thing about the same time they started signing up for online services in the early 80s.

See, I'd credit Heinlein with predicting the internet back in the fifties and sixties.

What works are you thinking of? When I think of Heinlein in that period, I remember a protagonist talking with a trucker about the truck's antigrav propulsion, then whipping out a slip-stick to figure out how far down it would be pushed under load. (Citizen of the Galaxy, I think.)
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