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<>Today I experienced a kind of future feeling I had a package sent to from Amazon to an Amazon locker I was picking it up scanned my smartphone and a locker popped open with my package I looked to my right and a women was getting a copy of a key at kiosk and then I saw someone at Redbox none if us had any human interaction and did not talk to each other I took my package and thought to my self.
I think we are in the future.
Read Asimov's The Naked Sun where people live almost totally isolated from one another.
I was born in 1957, and my opinion is that everything we have today that could be considered "futuristic" is simply improvements over technology we already had in the 60's 70's and 80's. So no we are not necessarily living in the world envisioned by the science fiction writers of those eras. Some things, like communication with computers and machines, were depicted in the sixties with tv shows like Star Trek and Lost in Space. So yes we do have that in this day and age. But in order to see the future unfold as a picture of what was projected a few decades ago, we as humans need to go beyond the technology that we have simply improved and revised. There needs to be a true "AHA" moment in our current day to realize the utopia of tomorrow.
I was born in 1957, and my opinion is that everything we have today that could be considered "futuristic" is simply improvements over technology we already had in the 60's 70's and 80's.<>
I recall a great article to put this in perspective. Imagine bringing someone from 10 years ago to today. No big deal right? Biggest question might be, "what happened to the SST?" Bring back someone from 1917 they'd be impressed with electricity and airplanes, but wonder what happened to the trains?
Go back to 1817 and bring someone to now and they'd wonder about all the machines and wonder what happened to all the slaves.
Go bring back someone from 1000 years ago and they would never adjust to society at all. Basic concepts of what life is about have changed. What could change about how we live today that would make the world incomprehensible to us? I'm thinking the concept of "work" goes away. And it takes a lot less than 1000 years, maybe less than 100 years . . .maybe "Plumbing changes everything"
Science Fiction is not the "future," it's fantasy and entertainment.
I remember believing that I'd soon be using a jetpack to go to school. I've been out of school for decades, still no jetpack.
I planned to live on the moon, too, guess that's not going to happen, either.
But Dick Tracy's wrist TV is pretty much here, and the internet is the best thing since fire! or maybe the wheel. or antibiotics.
well, yeah, plumbing is pretty great, too. But without the internet, I'd have to hire a plumber for every little thing.
Thats not really what most people consider to be a 'flying car', its not something that is half car, half plane, its more like the landspeeder in star wars, not really a flying car, as much as an anti-grav vehicle.
All the sci fi movies that depict wheel-less cars floating about 12' off the ground, that is actually anti-grav or electromagnetic.
I have no doubt this technology exists, but it is suppressed for the sake of keeping certain industries viable.
N. Telsa had plans for these types of vehicles and they would have been powered by his Waycliffe towers (sort of power wifi), but this type of power cannot be metered to the public like fossil fuels or electric, so it would be too destructive to the economy.
Science Fiction is not the "future," it's fantasy and entertainment.
I remember believing that I'd soon be using a jetpack to go to school. I've been out of school for decades, still no jetpack.
I planned to live on the moon, too, guess that's not going to happen, either.
But Dick Tracy's wrist TV is pretty much here, and the internet is the best thing since fire! or maybe the wheel. or antibiotics.
well, yeah, plumbing is pretty great, too. But without the internet, I'd have to hire a plumber for every little thing.
That doesnt mean jet packs dont exist, or we dont yet have the technology. All those 'future' predictions back in the 50s and 60s failed to consider that these technologies would be suppressed and the public would never have access to them.
Kind of curious the Invention Secrecy Act came out in 1951..talk about perfect timing! LOL
I guess it's close enough. There's a space station, a rover on Mars and drones in deep space, space telescopes that can detect far-off star systems, Internet-capable computers have shrunk to pocket-size, advanced AI systems, a number of medical advancements that allow us to live longer, very affordable travel across the country and around the world.
It's incredibly underwhelming-- especially this decade where there's only been a couple significant breakthroughs-- but yeah, it's the future. None of this was available 100 or 50 years ago.
Long-term colonization outside of Earth, human enhancements (either organic/genetic or cybernetic), or that singularity thing where machines reach a level of intelligence beyond our comprehension, would be really "futuristic" in my book.
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