# Dated references/technology/etc in media. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 16, 2018, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dated-references-technology-etc-in-media/806725 "2018-01-16T01:18:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2018, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dated-references-technology-etc-in-media/806725/41 "2018-04-29T17:57:10Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > In Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle’s novel “Inferno” (a 1970s riff on Dante’s Inferno), someone is in Hell for getting the artificial sweetener sodium cyclamate banned, thus dooming soda lovers into being a bunch of fatties. Of course, aspartame-based sodas showed up just a few years later, so it seems a little harsh now. The most recent studies indicate that artificial sweeteners actually cause weigh gain, so it seems very harsh. ---
**Author:** ![SamuelA](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@SamuelA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SamuelA)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2018, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dated-references-technology-etc-in-media/806725/42 "2018-04-29T18:57:02Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > The most recent studies indicate that artificial sweeteners actually cause weigh gain, so it seems very harsh. Some studies disagree. No study has disproven the current accepted theory that weight change is calories consumed - calories expended, and artificial sweetners have few or no calories. ---
**Author:** ![Jennshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Jennshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jennshark)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2018, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dated-references-technology-etc-in-media/806725/43 "2018-04-29T19:31:22Z")
Many movies and every “There’s Company” episode ever made would have been rendered plotless and pointless in today’s cellphone era - is Jack Tripper on a date with a foxy blonde lady at the Regal Beagle and his other love interest is on the way to make a scene? No need for Chrissy and Janet to have wacky adventures whilst racing to the Beagle to warn Jack! Just call him! ---
**Author:** ![SamuelA](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@SamuelA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SamuelA)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2018, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dated-references-technology-etc-in-media/806725/44 "2018-04-29T19:49:22Z")
Oh, here’s one. Romantic comedies where our hero runs past airport security at the airport so that he can profess his love before she boards the plane. (or, sometimes, he even gets on the plane for this scene) If you try to run past airport security these days, much less board a plane without a boarding pass…yeah that won’t end well. Just send her a text professing your love. And then she’ll just look at it, then block you as a contact. How romantic. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2018, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dated-references-technology-etc-in-media/806725/45 "2018-04-29T20:01:27Z")
I have one from real life: in about 2002, the company I worked for installed a DGM 10-tower press with two folders that had individual motors on each of its 36 units as well as each of the folders. Image registration could be adjusted by changing the timing on the units as opposed to adjusting web leads as was done on the old press, and there were cameras at the tops of the towers for capturing register marks to a screen on the console. This modern machine ran on a MS-DOS-based system on a 3.5" floppy. I mean, I can understand the DOS part, given that it can be a very low overhead OS, but my god, a floppy in 2002? It just seemed absurd at the time. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2018, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dated-references-technology-etc-in-media/806725/46 "2018-04-29T20:41:42Z")
I just read Kurt Vonnegut Jr.'s _Breakfast of Champion_ over the last couple days. Released in 1973. Lots of stuff: E.g., one character is worried that he would be outed as a transvestite and be sent to a mental hospital. Another was gay and was excluded from the draft, being sent to Vietnam. Most people didn’t call mirrors “leaks”. 😉 (I think this may have been the first hardbound novel I ever bought.) ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2018, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dated-references-technology-etc-in-media/806725/47 "2018-04-29T22:21:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Most people didn’t call mirrors “leaks”. Huh? ---
**Author:** ![dwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwyr/32/363_2.png) [@dwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwyr)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2018, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dated-references-technology-etc-in-media/806725/48 "2018-04-29T22:30:11Z")
> [@ZonexandScout](#): > > Swiping access cards to unlock a door. Pretty much nobody uses cards of this type anymore, but nearly every single movie and TV show has the characters swiping their cards to gain access to secure areas. Heck, they’re used in movies that are depicting security in the future, too. I have to swipe a card to get into my workplace every day. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2018, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dated-references-technology-etc-in-media/806725/49 "2018-04-30T02:23:25Z")
Woody Allen’s _Sleeper_ is a festival of miscast future. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2018, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dated-references-technology-etc-in-media/806725/50 "2018-04-30T05:16:38Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > Tony Stark has a flip phone in **Avengers:Infinity War**. Yeah, but mine is Retro! Not really. Just old and I have a spare. ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2018, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dated-references-technology-etc-in-media/806725/51 "2018-04-30T05:37:56Z")
> [@dwyr](#): > > I have to swipe a card to get into my workplace every day. Yeah, me too. Plus an iris scan to actually get into the datacenter. It’s certainly not state of the art, but it’s not completely obsolete yet. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2018, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dated-references-technology-etc-in-media/806725/52 "2018-04-30T06:27:10Z")
A bit of the reverse. I always assumed as a kid that westerns were all pre-automobile. But Roy Rogers and Dale Evans had a Ford woody wagon on their ranch. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2018, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dated-references-technology-etc-in-media/806725/53 "2018-04-30T06:46:54Z")
> [@snfaulkner](#): > > Yeah, me too. Plus an iris scan to actually get into the datacenter. It’s certainly not state of the art, but it’s not completely obsolete yet. Ah, one of those old-fashioned, retro iris scanners. That takes me back. ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2018, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dated-references-technology-etc-in-media/806725/54 "2018-04-30T06:49:10Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > Ah, one of those old-fashioned, retro iris scanners. That takes me back. The Worst part is the the voice command “please center your eyes…in the mirror” etc, totally sounds like my mom. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2018, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dated-references-technology-etc-in-media/806725/55 "2018-04-30T07:15:31Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > Tony Stark has a flip phone in **Avengers:Infinity War**. Context: that phone was sent to him by Steve Rogers for the sole purpose of contacting each other in an emergency. It was a cheap “burner” phone Cap probably bought on a street corner somewhere. You can still find plenty of phones like that around; they cost virtually pennies. ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2018, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dated-references-technology-etc-in-media/806725/56 "2018-04-30T09:51:29Z")
Everything written from 2001 to about 2012 which depicted the mainstream media as government/corporate propaganda and that we shouldn’t trust the information of CNN and the like. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2018, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dated-references-technology-etc-in-media/806725/57 "2018-04-30T12:05:37Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > Huh? I take it you haven’t read the works of the world famous author Kilgore Trout. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![biometricks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecae2f/32.png) [@biometricks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/biometricks)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2018, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dated-references-technology-etc-in-media/806725/58 "2018-04-30T15:54:37Z")
I watched two episodes of Mr. Rogers Neighborhood with my kids over the weekend and as one might expect; it’s a little dated. On the first episode we watched, he called a neighbor on his corded phone. So I had to explain to my 2 and 4 year old kids that this is what phones\* used to look like. Then on the second episode that we watched, Mr. Rogers built a pretend TV out of a cardboard box and then taped 3 bottle caps on it as knobs. Again I had to explain, this is what TV’s used to look like and that there were no remote controls or buttons. Later in the episode they were discussing this amazing piece of new technology called a Fax Machine. \*this also reminds me of something that happened a few months ago. We were in the car and my 4 year old asked what something was as he frequently does; so I asked if he was referring to something that was on the “telephone pole”. Which was met with the question, “What’s a _Tele_phone?” So I had to explain that he knows them as simply “phones” or “cell phones”; we used to called them telephones. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dated-references-technology-etc-in-media/806725.md?page=2)