Why does every day life still feel like the 80s, 90s? (general, 1990s)
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I would like to know, why is it that many of our daily lives still feel like the 1980s or 1990s at most? I have expected the 2010s would have jetpacks, flying cars, futuristic robots, food pills, moon vacations, cure for cancer, 3D holograms, and so on by now. Yet we still seem like we are in the 80s or 90s with our level of technology? Why is that? When will we hope to see those technologies like the futurist had promised us?
we are in the future. its just that the last generation had higher expectations than what the outcome churned out. we do have smartphones that do just about everything except pleasure you sexually
I would like to know, why is it that many of our daily lives still feel like the 1980s or 1990s at most? I have expected the 2010s would have jetpacks, flying cars, futuristic robots, food pills, moon vacations, cure for cancer, 3D holograms, and so on by now. Yet we still seem like we are in the 80s or 90s with our level of technology? Why is that? When will we hope to see those technologies like the futurist had promised us?
In one word -- never (at least as far as the most "off the wall" ideas are concerned). The moon landing -- the one example of a government-funded-and-breaucratized endeavor that actually met its goal -- was a lucky anomaly.
But from that point onward (and downward) things no longer went according to plan. The skylab and space shuttle programs appear to have fallen into the bureaucratized orbit, and to have been doctored for public-relations such as the "Teacher in Space" idea. In the process, the pressure to meet deadlines and cut corners grew -- until it all blew apart one morning in 1986.
And ironically, but likely for the best over the long run, American private contractors now are primarily engaged in suppliying the international space station -- someone else seeks the glory and runs the risks, while we make a process we already do well run more efficiently.
The scientific community cant "decide what it wants and then go get it". If it could, we would long ago have cured and prevented cancer, enjoy artificially-prolonged life-spans, and have a substitute for gasoline at 25 cents a gallon. But Nature gives up her secrets grudgingly, and many times, what we want most just isn't there.
Any of you perpetual malcontents who seek to attribute these disapointments to some "Big Business" or "right-wing", or "New World Order" conspiracy somewhere may now rant as much as you like.
I would like to know, why is it that many of our daily lives still feel like the 1980s or 1990s at most? I have expected the 2010s would have jetpacks, flying cars, futuristic robots, food pills, moon vacations, cure for cancer, 3D holograms, and so on by now. Yet we still seem like we are in the 80s or 90s with our level of technology? Why is that? When will we hope to see those technologies like the futurist had promised us?
Having lived through the 1980s and 1990's our technology has advanced quite a bit. Most of the things on your list except for the cure for cancer are just not practical or too expensive(moon vacations).
Cure for cancer, Cancer is complex and it isn't of one type. There are more medications available now than there were in the 80ies or 90ies and you have a better chance of beating it. There is even an vaccine to prevent genital warts which cause a kind of cancer. Expecting a cure for cancer at this time is like expecting penicillin to be able to cure all infections(it doesn't). Right now our increased knowledge of genetics and gene engineering is providing more tools in the fight against it.
We have robots, but until we have much greater artificial intelligence capability then they will be a bit limited. A voice controlled robot is possible with current tech., just perhaps not very useful, more expensive and possibly unsafe. Our robots are adapted to do a few tasks such as sweep, mop, vacuum rather than the Jetson's type general purpose robot. Computers have advanced and are quite powerful but they don't yet match the human brain in terms of complexity.
If you want to know what isn't 80ies or 90ies:
1. Tablets they were sci fi in Star the Next Generation. They do not exsit in the 80ies or 90ies.
2. Nobody seems to have figured the camera phone or smart phone. They make the communicator in the 1960's Star Trek seem primitive and the tapping the star-fleet embalm of the latter series seem strangely too limited(it only contacts the ship or another person). With current blue tooth tech and voice control, we could easily simulate that but no point. And on that subject most people didn't have cell phones in the 80ies or 90ies.
3. The internet and it's greatly enhanced access to information and communication. Want to go on vacation to somewhere you have never been in the 80ies you will need a travel agent or lots of time calling around and searching for information about your destination at a library. How about the cost of the phone call to Moscow(a lot). Or, how long it would take regular mail to get there(Days). Don't want to go to the store to get something, you are limited to what is in an catalog(a lot less than what a typical store sells online) and maybe the home shopping network.
I would like to know, why is it that many of our daily lives still feel like the 1980s or 1990s at most? I have expected the 2010s would have jetpacks, flying cars, futuristic robots, food pills, moon vacations, cure for cancer, 3D holograms, and so on by now.
You have to consider the changes that took place between say 1910 and the late 60s. When that period started, electrification was very rare. Cars practically non-existant (a few around, but a novelty), airplanes were not even in their infancy. It literally was a horse and buggy era. Look what changed in that time frame. Electrification of nearly the entire country, autos owned by nearly every adult, TVs designed and became commonplace. Commercial jet airline travel. The development of nuclear power. The development of the computer and the microchip (in it's earliest form). Putting communications satellites into space, and landing a man on the moon. Supersonic airline travel. Can you imagine the changes our parents/grandparents/great grandparents lived through?
What's happened since that time, really? Virtually everything we consider "high tech" are fairly minor evolutions of things done in that time. In many cases we've gone backwards. When was the last time a man walked on the moon? Flew in a Concord? For that matter, build a new nuke plant in this country? We seem to be going through an anti-industrial revolution.
What's happened since that time, really? Virtually everything we consider "high tech" are fairly minor evolutions of things done in that time. In many cases we've gone backwards. When was the last time a man walked on the moon? Flew in a Concord? For that matter, build a new nuke plant in this country? We seem to be going through an anti-industrial revolution.
For moon trips, it wasn't practical yet and very expensive. People have been capable of flight since the 1700's. It is only the inventions of the Airplane(and maybe the Airship) that makes it very practical.
For the Concord, it maybe fast but it burned too much fuel and didn't carry much in terms of passengers. It lost out to planes that were slower but could carry more people like the 747. More passenger caring capacity allows the cost to be divided over more people which mean greater affordability.
Nuclear plants have their pluses and minuses. The waste is problematic to store.The plants themselves are not good at handling sudden variations in power demand(they are better at supplying constant amounts of power). They are also costly to build.
I would like to know, why is it that many of our daily lives still feel like the 1980s or 1990s at most? I have expected the 2010s would have jetpacks, flying cars, futuristic robots, food pills, moon vacations, cure for cancer, 3D holograms, and so on by now. Yet we still seem like we are in the 80s or 90s with our level of technology? Why is that? When will we hope to see those technologies like the futurist had promised us?
That level of technology was fantasy and completely impractical. Seriously, what's the fail safe if your jet pack breaks down while you're high in the air? Food pills? How satisfying would that be. Holograms already exist but are costly and impractical.
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