Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
The other thread (Catch a glimpse into what the future *may* look like) got me thinking about all the technological advances comming down the road that I honestly do not want. In the immortal words of a certain dinosaur-plagued chaos theorist:
"They got so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should..."
For example:
I don't want an automated "thinking" house. I am quite capable of turning the lights on and off myself and of adjusting a thermostat. I don't need the house to talk to me and/or give me advice. It's a house damnit, it's there to give me shelter.
I don't want a car that drives itself. I like to drive.
I don't want meat grown in a tube. That whole idea just seems wrong... even with barbecue sauce.
I don't want giant billboard advertising everywhere with full animation. They are obnoxious enough as it is.
I don't want a robot. There is no way I would actually purchase a robot, even if I was an invalid. I hate robots, perhaps irrationally, but I still hate them!
I don't want a cashless world. It's just too easy for me to blow money with a card, and it would be no different if I could just show up at the store and get scanned as I make my purchases. Cash makes me feel loss with my purchase, which keeps my spending under control.
What future technologies are comming that you have no desire to see as part of your life?
My greatest fear is technology encroaching on our privacy, liberties and freedoms from both private parties and the government. It's not just anyone tech but the whole.
"I don't want an automated "thinking" house. I am quite capable of turning the lights on and off myself and of adjusting a thermostat. I don't need the house to talk to me and/or give me advice. "
Oh it will do more than that. It will decide what temperature will be allowed for you. It will also control how many lumens of light you are allowed as well as acceptable lighting technology you can use.
I don't want a car that drives itself. I like to drive.
What you like is of no consequence. Your car will be controlled at a specified distance from the car in front of it.
I don't want meat grown in a tube. That whole idea just seems wrong... even with barbecue sauce.
That is just gross.
I don't want giant billboard advertising everywhere with full animation. They are obnoxious enough as it is.
The billboard will scan you and change the advertising to something you may be swayed to buy right on the spot.
I don't want a robot. There is no way I would actually purchase a robot, even if I was an invalid.
They make a robot that looks like Salma Hayek and I am a buyer.
I don't want a cashless world. It's just too easy for me to blow money with a card, and it would be no different if I could just show up at the store and get scanned as I make my purchases.
They will scan the chip that was injected into your neck.
What future technologies are comming that you have no desire to see as part of your life?
Two for me are:
Getting vaporized by the ABL when you are walking down the street.
Having nano-bots loose in your body reeking havoc.
I think one of the main reason futurists are always so off on their predictions is not necessarily because of a failure to predict that a technology will be available; they fail because they wrongly predict a technology will be marketable.
For example, they bombed the robot thing because it is a whole lot cheaper to get real human immigrants and third world labor than it is to build robots to do the job...
I don't want an automated "thinking" house. I am quite capable of turning the lights on and off myself and of adjusting a thermostat. I don't need the house to talk to me and/or give me advice. It's a house damnit, it's there to give me shelter.
I like this idea, but only if it doesn't cost any more than having manual controls. What I really want is a more efficient house. I am currently stuck in a monstrosity with a single climate zone and no functional timed thermostat. Whoever built it clearly had no idea how to control the internal airflow, so parts of it bake while other parts are frigid. The only way to get to a comfortable temperature is to brute-force-it with fans and constant furnace/ac operation, which costs way too much, so I just suffer through the temperature extremes. I'd like a house which at least has zonal climate control. Having the lights/fan/heat shut off when I'm not in a room seems like a fine convenience to me, so long as there's a manual override for when the computer glitches.
Quote:
I don't want a car that drives itself. I like to drive.
You're on your own there. Driving is the biggest waste of time I can imagine. It's generally cheaper than flying or the train if you can put at least 2 people in the car, but controlling the vehicle is a huge pain. I would LOVE to be able to set the destination, recline my seat, and take a nice 12 hour nap on the way to NYC, or even do 30 minutes of reading/typing/whatever on a daily commute.
Quote:
I don't want meat grown in a tube. That whole idea just seems wrong... even with barbecue sauce.
I don't care where my food comes from so long as it tastes good and is reasonably healthy. If I can get GM meat fresh from a tube in my garage rather than buy bits of a cow who grazed on clear-cut rainforest, then got slaughtered, irradiated, frozen, wrapped in polymer, shipped 3000 miles, thawed, unwrapped, chopped up by illegals, dropped on the floor, gnawed by rats, re-wrapped in polymer, irradiated again, re-frozen, shipped another 500 miles, thawed again, and finally bought by me, then that's just grand.
Quote:
I don't want giant billboard advertising everywhere with full animation. They are obnoxious enough as it is.
Don't care. They're there already. So what if they move? Would prefer the billboards go away and get replaced with ads beamed onto everyone ELSE's smartphone while my stupid phone ignores them.
Quote:
I don't want a robot. There is no way I would actually purchase a robot, even if I was an invalid. I hate robots, perhaps irrationally, but I still hate them!
Robots are expensive. I'll do it myself. If robots are cheap, sure, I'd be happy to have them sweep the floor, clean the dishes, etc.
Quote:
I don't want a cashless world. It's just too easy for me to blow money with a card, and it would be no different if I could just show up at the store and get scanned as I make my purchases. Cash makes me feel loss with my purchase, which keeps my spending under control.
Agree there. I also like that nobody can track my purchases made in cash. Not that I'm buying anything illicit, but if you want my data, then you can damn well PAY me for it. Same deal with filling out online surveys/customer feedback. You want my time and input? PAY UP.
Quote:
What future technologies are comming that you have no desire to see as part of your life?
Already here, but I don't like smartphones. They are simply a conduit for money to flow out of your account faster for a service you don't really need. I thought new technology was supposed to be cheaper. When I can get a free smartphone and pay $30/month/phone for unlimited talk/text/web/navigation/etc. then I'll change my tune.
Location: God's Gift to Mankind for flying anything
5,921 posts, read 13,855,132 times
Reputation: 5229
Quote:
Originally Posted by sponger42
Same deal with filling out online surveys/customer feedback. You want my time and input? PAY UP.
Just as an observation, years ago,
too long for most to remember,
we used to get these surveys.
They came in an envelope ...
delivered by a person,
who lugged pieces,
of whatever,
all day long ...
Anybody remember mail in an envelope ???
And in that strange package,
there was this form,
and a crisp,
new dollar bill !!!
Or a ballpoint pen !
Ahhhh the good ole days ....
the good ole days ...
the good ...
ole daaaayyysss ...
Geesj, I just realised I am really old !
Now if we just get one of those entertainment dudes,
add music to this, we may have something going here, no ???
If you went back and told someone 100 years ago that there would be a time when you could be tracked where you were, what you shopped for and how you spent your money ....they probably would've been a little apprehensive also.
We slowly grow into things that seem like the norm because we don't know any different. Same will probably be true for any future technology. They may not make sense now, but they will make sense then.
The other thread (Catch a glimpse into what the future *may* look like) I don't want an automated "thinking" house. I am quite capable of turning the lights on and off myself and of adjusting a thermostat. I don't need the house to talk to me and/or give me advice. It's a house damnit, it's there to give me shelter.
As someone who has an automated house, I really like that my house talks to me and reminds me of things I need to do, I like that the lights shut themselves off in unoccupied rooms or that I can see at a gance from a touchscreen everything that is on. As people get older the benefits of automation increase, if you become disabled it might not be so easy to get
up and turn on the lights.
I don't even think you can buy a TV without a remote anymore, I remember the old days when people used to get up to change the channel,
I doubt most peope would want to give up their remote. In the near future
fully automated houses will be just as excepted as a remote controlled TV.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
