# Experiments that succeeded in the late 60s **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 5, 2005, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/experiments-that-succeeded-in-the-late-60s/302519 "2005-05-05T11:59:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ccwaterback](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@ccwaterback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ccwaterback)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2005, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/experiments-that-succeeded-in-the-late-60s/302519/1 "2005-05-05T11:59:58Z")
I think it’s inevitable that we start a mirror thread to the experiments that failed. - Tie-dye - Civil Rights (at least better than it was) - Piercing ---
**Author:** ![gaucho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c67d28/32.png) [@gaucho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaucho)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2005, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/experiments-that-succeeded-in-the-late-60s/302519/2 "2005-05-05T14:11:26Z")
Tie dye? ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2005, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/experiments-that-succeeded-in-the-late-60s/302519/3 "2005-05-05T14:18:49Z")
Star Trek: The Franchise. Hey, it lasted 36 years. Space travel. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2005, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/experiments-that-succeeded-in-the-late-60s/302519/4 "2005-05-05T15:13:17Z")
Environmentalism. And it probably saved the planet. ---
**Author:** ![ccwaterback](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@ccwaterback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ccwaterback)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2005, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/experiments-that-succeeded-in-the-late-60s/302519/5 "2005-05-05T17:32:48Z")
Ratty Blue Jeans. ---
**Author:** ![ccwaterback](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@ccwaterback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ccwaterback)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2005, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/experiments-that-succeeded-in-the-late-60s/302519/6 "2005-05-05T18:09:50Z")
Fluorescent colors. Ancient eastern medicine. ([http://www.naturesway.com/](http://www.naturesway.com/)) Long hair on men. (Not that this is overly popular these days. But if you see a man with long hair you aren’t surprised, and you don’t assume he’s leaning towards being a transsexual.) Recreational Nitrous Oxide. Skinny Fashion Models. Loud Guitars. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2005, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/experiments-that-succeeded-in-the-late-60s/302519/7 "2005-05-05T19:35:17Z")
Birth control pills Heart transplants Cheap photocopying Satellite communications ---
**Author:** ![Craneop2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6bbea6/32.png) [@Craneop2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Craneop2)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2005, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/experiments-that-succeeded-in-the-late-60s/302519/8 "2005-05-05T19:45:38Z")
I experimented with marriage in1969, and still married to the same Lady. Does that count? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2005, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/experiments-that-succeeded-in-the-late-60s/302519/9 "2005-05-05T20:49:47Z")
Halogen lamps, video games, permanent press, soft contacts, Nutrasweet, CDs, Kevlar, fuel injection, handheld calculators, the mouse, RAM, ATMs, bar code scanners, ARPAnet, astroturf. ---
**Author:** ![ccwaterback](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@ccwaterback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ccwaterback)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2005, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/experiments-that-succeeded-in-the-late-60s/302519/10 "2005-05-05T21:55:56Z")
> [@Captain Amazing](#): > > video games, CDs, handheld calculators I’m going to dispute these. Video games - Maybe invented in the late 60s, but the first video game I remember was Pong in the mid 70s. It cost around $100 and you played it on your TV. CDs - I don’t think so, we were just barely used to buying LPs instead of 45s back then. Hand Held Calculators - The first one I remember seeing was in 1973, my physics teacher had one, an HP with LED display, it cost around $300. ---
**Author:** ![ccwaterback](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@ccwaterback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ccwaterback)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2005, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/experiments-that-succeeded-in-the-late-60s/302519/11 "2005-05-05T21:58:51Z")
Music festivals. Drive-thru fast food. Mini-skirts. Transister radios. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2005, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/experiments-that-succeeded-in-the-late-60s/302519/12 "2005-05-05T22:34:09Z")
> [@ccwaterback](#): > > CDs - I don’t think so, we were just barely used to buying LPs instead of 45s back then. LPs didn’t replace 45s; they replaced 78s. In the 50s. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2005, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/experiments-that-succeeded-in-the-late-60s/302519/13 "2005-05-05T22:49:29Z")
Non-white dress shirts for men. Facial hair. Sideburns. Sexual revolution (including feminism and gay liberation). Mistrust of government as “big brother.” Lighting effects in concerts. Computerized typesetting (leading to desktop publishing) Tattoos. Female instrumentalists. Small cars. Acceptance of off-color humor. Computer-generated music. Digital data processing. ---
**Author:** ![ccwaterback](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@ccwaterback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ccwaterback)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2005, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/experiments-that-succeeded-in-the-late-60s/302519/14 "2005-05-05T22:52:05Z")
In the early 60s most people I knew bought 45s of the hot singles that were played on the radio. Then when the Beatles came along it became necessary to buy the LPs because almost all of their songs were on the radio. Yes, technically, some of the things **Captain Amazing** mentioned were probably invented in the 60s, but they really didn’t make it into mainstream society until the 70s or 80s. Mouse? - 80s. ---
**Author:** ![ccwaterback](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@ccwaterback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ccwaterback)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2005, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/experiments-that-succeeded-in-the-late-60s/302519/15 "2005-05-05T23:05:19Z")
The “brother” handshake. Prescription sunglasses. Aluminum wheels on cars. Credit cards. Braless & Tube tops. Color TV. FM Radio. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2005, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/experiments-that-succeeded-in-the-late-60s/302519/16 "2005-05-05T23:51:25Z")
> [@gaucho](#): > > Tie dye? You tied up a piece of cloth in various ways, dying it in different colors as you did so. It wasn’t invented in the 1960s; it’s actually mentioned in my vintage 1960 encyclopedia, so it must have been invented before. But wearing _clothes_ treated this way was a 60s thing. [Link](http://www.badfads.com/) (You may have to click on ‘Fashion’, and then ‘Tie-Die T-shirts’. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2005, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/experiments-that-succeeded-in-the-late-60s/302519/17 "2005-05-06T03:48:25Z")
The Charismatic Renewal- Pentecostal spiritual practices in Catholic & mainstream Protestant churches. The RCC & moderate Protty churches still have Charismatic cells while the classical Penty & new Charismatic churches have exploded as other CR Catholics & Protties shift memberships. The Jesus Movement- Jesus as Pop Culture Icon, Christian Contemporary Music, Christian political activism (Right & Left) all have roots in that The John Birch Society- While not necessarily accepted as legit concepts in popular culture, the concepts of Illuminati, New World Order & Eastern Establishment manipulation are more well known & not quite as fringy as they were 40-30 years ago. I also maintain that JBS pamphleting helped unseat several “safe” liberal Senators in 1980, resulting in the brief Republican taking of the Senate AND assisting in the Reagan Revolution. Interestingly, the JBS has officially voiced disdain & suspicion for Reagan, but I think a lot of the moderate members still saw him as the best of a questionable bunch. ---
**Author:** ![Peanuthead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peanuthead/32/360_2.png) [@Peanuthead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peanuthead)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2005, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/experiments-that-succeeded-in-the-late-60s/302519/18 "2005-05-06T05:53:42Z")
Lava lamps. (what makes you people think _tatoos_ were a '60s experiment?) ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2005, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/experiments-that-succeeded-in-the-late-60s/302519/19 "2005-05-06T14:15:47Z")
I was born in 1960, do I count? ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2005, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/experiments-that-succeeded-in-the-late-60s/302519/20 "2005-05-06T14:39:26Z")
> [@ccwaterback](#): > > Yes, technically, some of the things **Captain Amazing** mentioned were probably invented in the 60s, but they really didn’t make it into mainstream society until the 70s or 80s. > > Mouse? - 80s. The mouse was invented and first demo’d in 1967. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/experiments-that-succeeded-in-the-late-60s/302519.md?page=2)