Does the future suck?

[Bowmaster]

I saw this quote on a different forum:

When I was a child in the 70s I thought we'd have flying cars and would tour the moon by 2004. But no, we got men marrying men and crappy Star Wars prequels instead. The future sucks!

Not only is this funny (only to me?), but it got me thinking of how I thought things would be in the year 2000. And, more to the point, how I feel things will be for my kids when they are adults.

I think I am an optimist - but whenever I see how world events seem to be playing out I fear for my kids. Sure, we had Russia vs. the USA - but we pretty much kept each other in check. Each country did stupid things, but everything as a whole seemed to be going pretty good. Sure, we had racial problems, but I think blacks were making great strides and as the new replaced the old it was going to get better for everyone.

But now - I only see us rushing headlong into a global religious war - extremists on both sides willing to destroy everything because their "God" tells them that they are right and everyone else is evil.

I don't think it's the Internet or the News that is causing the (my?) problem - I lived through Vietnam and Watergate and got my fill of the daily dose of bad news then.

I'm looking for your opinion on what you see the future like - do you think this is just a short term problem, like we have always had in the world, or do you see it as the start (continuation?) of a slide to the end?

 

[nageov3t]

we have internet porn. that's far better than any cheesy flying car that people in the 70's thought of.

 

[Siddhartha]

Originally posted by: Bowmaster
I saw this quote on a different forum:

When I was a child in the 70s I thought we'd have flying cars and would tour the moon by 2004. But no, we got men marrying men and crappy Star Wars prequels instead. The future sucks!

Not only is this funny (only to me?), but it got me thinking of how I thought things would be in the year 2000. And, more to the point, how I feel things will be for my kids when they are adults.

I think I am an optimist - but whenever I see how world events seem to be playing out I fear for my kids. Sure, we had Russia vs. the USA - but we pretty much kept each other in check. Each country did stupid things, but everything as a whole seemed to be going pretty good. Sure, we had racial problems, but I think blacks were making great strides and as the new replaced the old it was going to get better for everyone.

But now - I only see us rushing headlong into a global religious war - extremists on both sides willing to destroy everything because their "God" tells them that they are right and everyone else is evil.

I don't think it's the Internet or the News that is causing the (my?) problem - I lived through Vietnam and Watergate and got my fill of the daily dose of bad news then.

I'm looking for your opinion on what you see the future like - do you think this is just a short term problem, like we have always had in the world, or do you see it as the start (continuation?) of a slide to the end?

If same sex marriage and Star Wars movies are enough to make his life suck, he\she needs to:
1. Get therapy, there are effective antidepressants available now.
2. Turn off his\her computer, go outside, and talk to some real people.

 

[3chordcharlie]

Well the movies have been pretty bad...

I think the let-down here is what it always has been: in the 1970s, the year 2000 was pure potential. Nothing ever reaches its full potential, and there was a lot of history to create before the year 2000 came along.

*If* there hadn't been a cold war, we might never have gone to the moon. But if it had ended sooner, we might have had more interest in building rocket cars to take us there; I'm not going to 'Ayn Rand' on anyone here, but human potential is pretty massive; we just happen to be very good at directing it towards pursuits which aren't very productive. Without taking sides for a moment, think of the Einsteins and Gates(es?) and other 'potential' geniuses who have been killed in wars in the Middle East, the former USSR, Vietnam, and even the Second World War (some children killed in that war would just now be retiring). There are also the talented (and less talented) people who fall in the category that HS (no disrespect: read on) calls 'slackers'. Even if only 5% of the population is slacking, the slowdown in progress is noticeable.

This is without passing moral judgment of any kind on these activities; we quite simply have not been directing our efforts at pure technological advancement, so from that particular standpoint, we have naturally underacheived.

(maybe internet porn is to blame)

 

[alchemize]

I pretty much agree. Video phones suck. Cell phones are worse. So we've had improvements in quality convienience (Video vs DVD, games better than Pac-Man), we've seen some creeping improvements in medicine,

Probably the most important inventions since the 70's have been 1) precision guided weapons 2) the intarweb (and by that I refer to the ability to connect and transact information quickly). Really just improvements that we've had since the 70's.

Name one non-software related impactful invention since 1970...I can't think of anything that hasn't just been an "improvement". Everything else is related to data.

Edit: of couse, I was only referring to the technology. I'd say, relative to the years of the Black Plague, the future looks pretty good.

 

[cash1220]

bow, you're about as much an optimist as you are an independant

 

[nageov3t]

the thing with retrospectives, though, is that we can filter out the crap... sure, the 60's and 70's had some cool things. but they also had the pet rock, cheesy variety shows, and disco.

 

[DanceMan]

Originally posted by: alchemize
Name one non-software related impactful invention since 1970...I can't think of anything that hasn't just been an "improvement". Everything else is related to data.

Hm, these are some that I can consider:

1) Sequencing of the Human Genome
2) Cloning & Stem cell research
3) Development of Anti-HIV drugs and a possible vaccine.

 

[myusername]

This is the sort of topic that requires an all day meeting at a table in a pub.

:beer:

Edit: That's not a flippant remark

 

[Witling]

DanceMan, it seems to me that Anti-HIV drugs are a little iffy. It was in the 70's that HIV entered the human population and expanded. I think Alchemize misspoke when he said name one "development." His thrust seems to be directed at inventions. There are a ton of bummer developments since the 70s. I'd include preemptive wars as one of the biggest. There has been a twenty year war on the poor in our country. The middle class is being pressed to the wall. Education is in the toilet for the vast majority of the population. The population is politically polarized.

 

[ITJunkie]

I think we are currently just in a rut. Globalization is everywhere and people are having a hardtime figuring out their place in it (myself included). Many countries will try to erect walls to hold on to the status quo but it is only a matter of time before they fall.

I like to think that by the end of this decade, people will have a pretty good grasp on what needs to be done, do it and in the process find their place in the world.

Of course, 4 more years of Bush could blow that theory all to hell

 

[piasabird]

Buying stuff on the Internet is pretty good. You could just stay in your house and have everything delivered. Dont even have to leave your house to rent videos now.

 

[DanceMan]

Originally posted by: Witling
DanceMan, it seems to me that Anti-HIV drugs are a little iffy. It was in the 70's that HIV entered the human population and expanded. I think Alchemize misspoke when he said name one "development." His thrust seems to be directed at inventions. There are a ton of bummer developments since the 70s. I'd include preemptive wars as one of the biggest. There has been a twenty year war on the poor in our country. The middle class is being pressed to the wall. Education is in the toilet for the vast majority of the population. The population is politically polarized.

Whitling, where ya been? Hadn't heard from you in a while!

I still believe that Anti-HIV drugs drugs have been a major 'invention' because of the type of drugs they were, and have turned a certain death sentence into something that can be managed (providing that you can get access and can afford the drugs!).

Inventions nowadays are probably more incremental developments than outright new ideas or concepts. And, actually now that I think about it, maybe inventions are nothing more than a few developments put together in a unique way, especially in the modern era.

As for your statement of 'bummer developments'. I am kinda in the middle. The stuff you said about war on the poor, middle class, education, etc. is probably true back in the periods before the Civil war and before World War I and II. So, these are problems that have always been with us, and sadly, are probably going to be with us for a while.

But, I must agree with your statement on preemptive wars and the military-industrial complex. Some of the true innovations that have been made have been initially made for the military. There has been a marked shift in both funding and support for research (and I mean research for the sake of research). Industry has basically stopped supporting 'independent' research, and well know instutitions such as Bell Labs, Xerox PARC, and Sandia Labs are only a small shadow of what they formerly were. It's probably true that America's latest achievements have been being able to better fight it's battles. If that's true, then that's a sad commentary on the state of our country.

 

[JellyBaby]

The vast majority of people anywhere on earth are concerned about something very simple but ultimately the most meaningful: the welfare of their loved ones and we simply want the liberty to purse peaceful endeavors. It's when leaders and the influential--whose ego commits them to seek power, control and money--condemn the rest of us into fearful turmoil that the creative pulse of life is threatened.

I can't say what the future will bring for all of us. For my part all I can do is make the best of my little corner of the universe and help out others nearby, trying to focus on what's really satisfying to our true selves, not our egos. It begins with each of us and moves upward and outward, I think. The great thing is that this effort knows no artificial boundry of color, race, religion, or class. A smile is a smile is a smile, anyplace, anytime.

I'm hopeful our current struggle will someday result in a better world for everyone. What's confusing and clouded today will become crystal clear tomorrow but only if we keep shining our flashlights into the dark places.

 

[alchemize]

Originally posted by: DanceMan

Originally posted by: alchemize
Name one non-software related impactful invention since 1970...I can't think of anything that hasn't just been an "improvement". Everything else is related to data.

Hm, these are some that I can consider:

1) Sequencing of the Human Genome
2) Cloning & Stem cell research
3) Development of Anti-HIV drugs and a possible vaccine.

Again, all have great potential. But none really have changed much in any ways we can see.

I would say I have personally witnessed one medical advance that made an impact. In the 70's pediatric heart surgery was very limited because of the tools used (some of the arteries and veins are pencil-lead thin). With advances in fiber-optics and micro-tools, my son's surgery was made possible in the late 80's and when he was born in 2002 the surgery was well advanced.

 

[conehead433]

Yes

 

[conehead433]

Yes it did.

 

[chrisms]

Of course the future sucks. Just look out for #1 and get your seeds planted as much as possible before you leave this craphole.

 

[EmperorIQ]

I don't think the future sucks. . .
is there a great demand for flying cars? i doubt any of us are willing for fork the kind of money for that.

 

[alchemize]

Originally posted by: EmperorIQ
I don't think the future sucks. . .
is there a great demand for flying cars? i doubt any of us are willing for fork the kind of money for that.

I assumed they'd be as cheap in the jetsons also.

 

[Martin]

The future most certainly does not suck, people just suffer from the "good old days" syndrome, that's all.

 

[Moonbeam]

Moorse law means that machines will outstrip human intelligence rather soon. When that happens they will take over design and soon make things we can't understand. There will no longer be any purpose for us as far a work is concerned. The machines will do everything. They may want to go to the stars and we may ask to come along.