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All the gadgets have not surprised me. Satellite TV, cell phones, internet. I grew up in the 60's and early 70's and everything then was about technology and "The Future!
Two things that are completely different today than what they were being presented as and talked about 50-ish years ago:
1) Global Warming. As a child I actually thought that all that car and factory spew could get trapped and warm the planet but The Establishment, subject matter experts, social & scientific commentators, educators, and media nodes were talking about the possibility and associated dangers of a sudden onset Ice Age, and not a 100 year march into intractably warmer global temperatures.
2) Computers were the wonder of the age. But I recall many, many discussions and dissertations about how someday everyone in the world would have access to a computer. They would have a terminal in their kitchen or office like a refrigerator or TV. And there would be like 100 or 1000 super huge computers buried underground at various places all over the world that would do all the work and connect everyone to everything.
Well, computers went from being bigger and bigger and fewer and fewer to being smaller and smaller and numbering in the billions! Instead of a super-huge computer buried underground connecting a billion people, a billion people have a very small computer on their desk. And every household (at least in developed countries thus far) probably has two or three not counting your telephone.
Everything else like cell phones are sort of an outgrowth of what already existed in a more rudimentary form
The end of cigarette smoking.....watching old movies and tv shows, everyone smokes anywhere. When I was growing up in the 1960's/70's everyone's parents smoked. My own parents finally quit in their 50's. Watching old Barney Miller episodes lately. Funny seeing Harris light up and smoke at his desk. That and no cell phones, no computers, only typewriters. We've come a long way. Sadly, one of the episodes deals with Harris being misidentified as the criminal (due to his race) and not a detective at the scene of a crime and being shot at by the police. Something that has only gotten worse recently, not better. Still have a long way to go on that one.
While reading about the latest environmental warning that says that humanity either might be or probably will be basically doomed due to climate change in about 60 years or so, I was thinking how much has happened in the past 50 years that I either did not foresee or did not think would happen so soon.
What can you add to the following list that YOU did not foresee?
- Smartphones
- Personal computers
- The rise of Neo Nazi groups
- Legal same-sex marriages
- Kindles and other electronic books
- The International Space Station
- The Internet and social media (i.e., Facebook)
- The end of so many daily newspapers and the "dumbing down" of most nightly newscasts
- Many more highly over-protective parents
P.S. This thread is NOT meant to start a discussion about whether global warming is real or not, or to start a debate about the pros or cons of any issue or invention. There is already a thread on this in the P&OC forum about the global warming issue -- Trump Administration’s Strategy on Climate: Try to Bury Its Own Scientific Report -- and I would guess for any other issue that might come up, also!
All the things you mentioned. But one thing. Back in the 60s thru thmid 70s there was concerns about global cooling. A new ice age.
Unaffordable state college tuition. My brother graduated in 1968 and I graduated in 1975 from a University of Whatever State, and our degrees cost less than $3,000 each, a sum we both recouped within months of landing our first jobs. If my son hadn't had scholarships, it would take him several years to recover the cost of his education, let alone pay off his student loans.
One of mine got it back the first year of graduation if we didn’t pay.
I never foresaw any of these things. It's all been a surprise to me.
But I assumed there would be a cure for cancer now. I thought we would be taking trips back and forth to the moon.
My elementary school teacher told us that everything would be robots or automated and people wouldn't need arms and legs anymore.
My college earth science professor told us that no one should build in CA because it is semi arid and it's hard to get water.
Lately the one thing that I would never have expected is that the younger generation doesn't care about quality--clothing, furniture, dishes, all of it can be junk and they just don't care. No respect for good workmanship. Somehow I just can't get over it. Things that have been treasured by generations, works of art, silver and gold melted down-- trashed because they don't care.
1. bottled water. why would anyone ever PAY for that? i was SO wrong.
2. as above: "Most little boys carried a pocket knife, even to school with no problems." substitute: teen boys' deer rifles.
3. teachers - male/female/gay/whatever sexing with their students. this surpasses school shootings as WTF?
I never foresaw any of these things. It's all been a surprise to me.
But I assumed there would be a cure for cancer now. I thought we would be taking trips back and forth to the moon.
My elementary school teacher told us that everything would be robots or automated and people wouldn't need arms and legs anymore.
My college earth science professor told us that no one should build in CA because it is semi arid and it's hard to get water.
Lately the one thing that I would never have expected is that the younger generation doesn't care about quality--clothing, furniture, dishes, all of it can be junk and they just don't care. No respect for good workmanship. Somehow I just can't get over it. Things that have been treasured by generations, works of art, silver and gold melted down-- trashed because they don't care.
The thing about "quality" in the old days IMO is that the people knew it would be a long time before they could afford or even come across another item like that, so they took care of it. Nowadays, you don't have to scrimp and save to buy clothes or wait months for something to show up at the local store etc.
Or blame the parents and family for not giving them that sense of caring about the silver and gold? and old furniture??
All the gadgets have not surprised me. Satellite TV, cell phones, internet. I grew up in the 60's and early 70's and everything then was about technology and "The Future!
Two things that are completely different today than what they were being presented as and talked about 50-ish years ago:
1) Global Warming. As a child I actually thought that all that car and factory spew could get trapped and warm the planet but The Establishment, subject matter experts, social & scientific commentators, educators, and media nodes were talking about the possibility and associated dangers of a sudden onset Ice Age, and not a 100 year march into intractably warmer global temperatures.
2) Computers were the wonder of the age. But I recall many, many discussions and dissertations about how someday everyone in the world would have access to a computer. They would have a terminal in their kitchen or office like a refrigerator or TV. And there would be like 100 or 1000 super huge computers buried underground at various places all over the world that would do all the work and connect everyone to everything.
Well, computers went from being bigger and bigger and fewer and fewer to being smaller and smaller and numbering in the billions! Instead of a super-huge computer buried underground connecting a billion people, a billion people have a very small computer on their desk. And every household (at least in developed countries thus far) probably has two or three not counting your telephone.
Everything else like cell phones are sort of an outgrowth of what already existed in a more rudimentary form
I'm honestly amazed at my Alexa Dot.
Think about it. For $20 (on sale), I can train it to place a pizza order, order off Amazon, set alarms, get sports scores, get the weather, read me the news, etc. It's an incredible value and space age tech compared to what was available even a decade ago.
The thing about "quality" in the old days IMO is that the people knew it would be a long time before they could afford or even come across another item like that, so they took care of it. Nowadays, you don't have to scrimp and save to buy clothes or wait months for something to show up at the local store etc.
Or blame the parents and family for not giving them that sense of caring about the silver and gold? and old furniture??
Maybe, but with the clothing, many rich people say that they buy a few excellent quality clothing items in anticipation of having them for years. A really good blazer. A few perfectly fitting expensive pairs of shoes. A great trench coat. I guess I'm really fed up with the cheap clothing with loose threads hanging off and the flimsy material they're made of. Of course, the manufacturers might not like this trend because they want people buying new clothes all the time.
And the antique furniture, porcelain dishes, gorgeous silverware, items of gold and silver--and more--those are works of art. I'm not materialistic but I appreciate beauty and great craftsmanship and knowing that it took some brain work to design something and craftsmanship to actually make it. Of course, the decline probably started with the Industrial Revolution when formerly hand made items could be made by a machine and mass produced, but it's gone to the extreme.
I've contributed to it in my own small way by selling some silver items on ebay, knowing that they would be melted down for the value of the silver itself. But it's mostly been things that were damaged and I knew that today's generation isn't going to pay for repairs. In that case, it's no huge loss to melt it down (arrrrrrg.)
What next? Do the museums sell off their treasures because no one cares anymore? And is this just happening in the USA and other western countries, or is this the way of the entire world? I never thought I'd live to see the day when a millenial would look at a Tiffany lamp and just shrug. Maybe it's a sad commentary on the decline of our society and devaluing our heritage, but I just do not get it.
Think about it. For $20 (on sale), I can train it to place a pizza order, order off Amazon, set alarms, get sports scores, get the weather, read me the news, etc. It's an incredible value and space age tech compared to what was available even a decade ago.
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