# Futuristic technology from old TV shows **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 18, 2013, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futuristic-technology-from-old-tv-shows/653258 "2013-03-18T14:51:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2013, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futuristic-technology-from-old-tv-shows/653258/21 "2013-03-19T01:43:44Z")
I’m glad they finally added the ‘stun’ setting to phasers. It’s much easier than clubbing someone over the head, like you had to do with the old models. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2013, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futuristic-technology-from-old-tv-shows/653258/22 "2013-03-19T07:02:04Z")
Back in the 80s, Larry Niven predicted flash mobs. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2013, 10:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futuristic-technology-from-old-tv-shows/653258/23 "2013-03-19T10:02:44Z")
_Max Headroom_ was Matt Frewer in makeup in front of a bluescreen. Now virtual characters like him are everywhere you go, even if not independently intelligent. ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2013, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futuristic-technology-from-old-tv-shows/653258/24 "2013-03-19T16:18:29Z")
in one of the earliest James Bond movies , Bond was chasing a bad guy and had a screen in his car that showed a red dot moving along a map, tracking the guy’s moves. Incredible! ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2013, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futuristic-technology-from-old-tv-shows/653258/25 "2013-03-19T17:22:41Z")
> [@Evil\_Captor](#): > > Back in the 80s, Larry Niven predicted flash mobs. He didn’t just predict them – he created the idea and named it. It’s pretty clear to me that the recent “flash mob” craze was directly inspired by his ideas. Of course, heis idea was that widespread teleportation technology allowed the rapid accumulation of mobs, whereas the recent fad was of assembling large groups of similarly-acting or interested people through the widespread use of social media. ---
**Author:** ![Kinthalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kinthalis/32/16084_2.png) [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2013, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futuristic-technology-from-old-tv-shows/653258/26 "2013-03-19T18:02:43Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > There was a later season episode of ST:VOY were the crew made contact with the Alpha Quadrant, but because of bandwith limitations could only communicate via letters (essential email). So far so good, but then after they got their first batch of letters from home Neelix proceeded to distribute them to the crew by carrying a bucket full of PADDs all over the ship. :smack: I choose to believe that the people from that century were simply more enlightened than us. They realized that all this reliance on digital networks made us fat and lazy. The pads are essentially a cultural thing that made them get off their butts once in a while 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2013, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futuristic-technology-from-old-tv-shows/653258/27 "2013-03-19T18:20:15Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > The dog walking treadmill from the Jetsons[turned into reality](http://www.hammacher.com/Product/11374?cm_cat=ProductSEM&cm_pla=AdWordsPLA&source=PRODSEM), well sort of. It was reality long before[the Jetsons](http://www.efitology.com/expertadvice/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/dog-treadmill.jpg). They were actually predicting medieval technology. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2013, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futuristic-technology-from-old-tv-shows/653258/28 "2013-03-19T18:55:25Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > It was reality long before[the Jetsons](http://www.efitology.com/expertadvice/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/dog-treadmill.jpg). They were actually predicting medieval technology. Lady Jane! Stop this crazy thing! ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2013, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futuristic-technology-from-old-tv-shows/653258/29 "2013-03-19T22:20:07Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > There was a later season episode of ST:VOY were the crew made contact with the Alpha Quadrant, but because of bandwith limitations could only communicate via letters (essential email). So far so good, but then after they got their first batch of letters from home Neelix proceeded to distribute them to the crew by carrying a bucket full of PADDs all over the ship. :smack: The idea of [Memory Alpha](http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Memory_Alpha) kind of bugged me too when I started using the internet. I guess they didn’t think about subspace internet in DARPA back then. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2013, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futuristic-technology-from-old-tv-shows/653258/30 "2013-03-19T23:07:25Z")
They still haven’t invented the combination washer/drier featured in one episode of _Lost In Space_ that actually folded the clothes for you. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2013, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futuristic-technology-from-old-tv-shows/653258/31 "2013-03-19T23:38:44Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > They still haven’t invented the combination washer/drier featured in one episode of _Lost In Space_ that actually folded the clothes for you. Didn’t it also wrap them in plastic? ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2013, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futuristic-technology-from-old-tv-shows/653258/32 "2013-03-19T23:39:42Z")
I remember an episode of the Jetsons in which George went to his doctor for an examination and the doctor gave him a pill to swallow. The pill had a miniature TV camera and a transmitter which gave the doctor a video picture of George’s insides as it traveled through his digestive system. This technology is often used in medicine today. I also remember an episode in which one of Elroy’s friends had a wristwatch TV and was watching the Flintstones during class. Those became a reality first in the 80s, although it wasn’t self contained. You had a separate tuner which was connected to the display on your wrist like [this one](http://retrothing.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/seikotv.jpg). Then, a few years ago, there was a fully self contained wrist TV with a color LCD like [this one](http://www.mobilemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/image_54440_largeimagefile.jpg). As they had analogue tuners only, they are now obsolete since nearly all TV stations have switched over to digital broadcasts. And I remember George reading the news on a large video monitor instead of reading an actual newspaper. Nowadays the Internet is one of the factors cited in the closings of newspapers across the country. ---
**Author:** ![Lasciel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e79b87/32.png) [@Lasciel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lasciel)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2013, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futuristic-technology-from-old-tv-shows/653258/33 "2013-03-20T00:18:51Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > They still haven’t invented the combination washer/drier featured in one episode of _Lost In Space_ that actually folded the clothes for you. Hell, it’s still nearly impossible to get a combination washer/dryer that DOESN’T fold the clothes for you! If I ever win the lottery, I’m quitting my job and working out how to make one of those in some affordable way. Now that 3D printers are getting to be more widely available, all I have to do is create it, patent the designs, and just sell the designs to people and they can build it (or mod it) on their own. I’m also a little pissed that we can “replicate” organs now, but I still have to make my “Earl Grey, Hot” the hard way, damnitall. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2013, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futuristic-technology-from-old-tv-shows/653258/34 "2013-03-20T00:23:07Z")
> [@Miss\_Woodhouse](#): > > The interesting thing about the ST:TNG Pads was how a file was stuck in the pad it was originally entered into. You see all the time characters handing pads over to each other so the other character could read them. The portable data device was thought of, but not the idea that data could transfer from one device to another seamlessly. It was even more interesting when you consider that the computerized stations and desktop screens were all networked together and could call up any file, but their portable devices couldn’t. On ST:TOS both Spock and Uhura used wireless earpieces (Bluetooth?) at their stations. And they also had lots of little data drives like very small hard floppy disks (or even oddly-shaped USB drives.) William Windom fidgeted with them on The Doomsday Machine. As for the bucket of PADDS, maybe the crew members didn’t want their subspace phone sex calls from back home on the network… ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2013, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futuristic-technology-from-old-tv-shows/653258/35 "2013-03-20T00:49:59Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > William Windom fidgeted with them on The Doomsday Machine. Like [Captain Queeg](https://www.google.com/search?q=captain+queeg+humphrey+bogart&hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=5GT&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=WAdJUbW5FMKUqgH0y4CwAw&ved=0CAoQ_AUoAQ&biw=1366&bih=624#imgrc=S53obXU6fg-pxM%3A%3BhN1Y69rQk2mUjM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.nolandalla.com%252Fwp-content%252Fuploads%252F2012%252F10%252Fcainecolor1.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.nolandalla.com%252Fmitt-romneys-captain-queeg-moment%252F%3B498%3B313) with ball bearings in [The Caine Mutiny.](http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ming-tsai/scallion-pancakes-with-ginger-dipping-sauce-recipe/index.html) ---
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2013, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futuristic-technology-from-old-tv-shows/653258/36 "2013-03-20T00:57:32Z")
> [@Lasciel](#): > > Hell, it’s still nearly impossible to get a combination washer/dryer that DOESN’T fold the clothes for you! Really? I’ve got one in my kitchen. I just walked into a shop and bought it – I had a choice of models, too. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2013, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futuristic-technology-from-old-tv-shows/653258/37 "2013-03-20T12:01:52Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Lady Jane! Stop this crazy thing! **Lady Jane?** Was George married to the nine-day Queen of England? > **[Lady Jane Grey](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_Jane_Grey)** > > Lady Jane Grey (1536/1537 – 12 February 1554), also known as Lady Jane Dudley after her marriage, and nicknamed as the "Nine Days Queen", was an English noblewoman who was proclaimed Queen of England and Ireland on 10 July 1553 and reigned until she was deposed by the Privy Council of England, who proclaimed her cousin, Mary I, as the new Queen on 19 July 1553. > Jane was the great-granddaughter of Henry VII (through his youngest daughter, Mary), a grand-niece of Henry VIII, and cousin to Edwar... [http://video.search.yahoo.com/video/play;\_ylt=A2KLqIMQpUlRUEIAv7v7w8QF;\_ylu=X3oDMTBvcTJzcm5xBHNlYwNzcgRzbGsDdmlkBHZ0aWQDVjEzMQ--?p=YouTube+Jane+Stop+this+Crazy+Thing&vid=5c8b10d1cfec556bdf0200d9ef4e461b&l=&turl=http%3A%2F%2Fts4.mm.bing.net%2Fth%3Fid%3DV.4705717428879575%26pid%3D15.1&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DgTZ91YtKLN4&tit=Stop+This+Crazy+Thing&c=2&sigr=11aj9g90v&age=0&&tt=b](http://video.search.yahoo.com/video/play;_ylt=A2KLqIMQpUlRUEIAv7v7w8QF;_ylu=X3oDMTBvcTJzcm5xBHNlYwNzcgRzbGsDdmlkBHZ0aWQDVjEzMQ--?p=YouTube+Jane+Stop+this+Crazy+Thing&vid=5c8b10d1cfec556bdf0200d9ef4e461b&l=&turl=http%3A%2F%2Fts4.mm.bing.net%2Fth%3Fid%3DV.4705717428879575%26pid%3D15.1&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DgTZ91YtKLN4&tit=Stop+This+Crazy+Thing&c=2&sigr=11aj9g90v&age=0&&tt=b) ---
**Author:** ![si\_blakely](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@si\_blakely](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/si_blakely)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2013, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futuristic-technology-from-old-tv-shows/653258/38 "2013-03-20T12:50:10Z")
> [@Lasciel](#): > > I’m also a little pissed that we can “replicate” organs now, but I still have to make my “Earl Grey, Hot” the hard way, damnitall. That will always be the case because the Sirius Cybernetics Corp _Nutri-Matic Drink Synthesizer_ will always produce a drink that is **almost but not entirely unlike** Tea. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2013, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futuristic-technology-from-old-tv-shows/653258/39 "2013-03-20T18:27:41Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > On ST:TOS both Spock and Uhura used wireless earpieces (Bluetooth?) at their stations. That was something I really missed in the later series. It made sense that the Communications station in particular would be getting tons of information that Uhura needed to be aware of but which would be unduly distracting for the rest of the bridge staff. Spock might have needed it less – I don’t recall Chekov ever bothering with it, and he was clearly Spock’s default relief – but I can imagine lots of people preferring to receive auditory rather than visual input. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2013, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futuristic-technology-from-old-tv-shows/653258/40 "2013-03-20T18:34:40Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > **Lady Jane?** > Was George married to the nine-day Queen of England? Maybe when they make the Jetsons meet the Tudors movie. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futuristic-technology-from-old-tv-shows/653258.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futuristic-technology-from-old-tv-shows/653258.md?page=3)