No robot servants, no flying cars, no cure for Cancer. Gene Roddenberry and The Jetsons lied to me! I want my money back!!!
Better than an apocalyptic wasteland…
Sorry, but I bet your money on Gore getting a fair deal from the Supreme Court.
Oh sure, be negative.
Just remember we have ummmm… uhhhhhhh… Lots of large 4WD SUVs on the road driven by people who don’t have a clue as to how to drive. That’s a good thing, right? :rolleyes:
“Although we may never know with complete certainty the identity of the winner of this years presidential election, the identity of the loser is perfectly clear. It is the nations confidence in the judge as an impartial guardian of the law” Justice Stevens.
It’s truly amazing to me how an innane thread about 2001 and “where are the flying cars” gets hijacked so quickly into yet another “Gore was oppressed and disenfranchised” thread. :rolleyes:
Come on guys. Get a room. We’re here to discuss why Science Fiction LIED to us.
Where are the moon colonies? Where are my “meals in a pill”? Where is my perfect, smiling, lesbian Stepford wife? Waaaaa!!! I hate the future!
[sub](Yeah, okay, it probably won’t pan out this time around either, but it looks really cool.)[/sub]
The International Space Station
[sub](Admittedly not exactly a giant rotating wheel with a Hilton Hotel on it.)[/sub]
Oh, well. Hey, c’mon, we’re all discussing this on a “message board” on the “World-Wide Web”, with people from all over the planet. And who’d want “meals in a pill”, anyway?
Uniball, you’ve been told often enough that threads like these belong in MPSIMS. If it isn’t a minor debate or a poll, please do NOT post it here!
Moving this to MPSIMS.
I hope, with all my heart, that people (in general, not just the TMs) will stop making those “Where are the flying cars” remarks. Come on people; it was only mildly funny the first time, and by now it’s become more annoying than “Wazzzzup?”.
MEBruckner and Rilchiam notwithstanding, I’d like to have meals in a pill and a flying car would really come in handy, now that traffic is so bad. Although I guess it would only be an improvement if no one else had one.
All in all, we’re not doing so badly though. Ten years ago, there essentially wasn’t even an Internet. Look at us now! The whole space thing is lagging badly, but the skylab shows some promise. Besides sci-fi authors had to bend physical laws quite a bit to realize their visions. That’s a little harder to do in real life.
Think about the bad things predicted by sci-fi authors that haven’t happened.
- No Big Brother or thought police. (Orwell)
- No rampant consumerism making this a brave new world. (Huxley)
- Firemen still put out fires. They don’t seek out and incinerate secret caches of books. Well, except in Kentucky. (Bradbury)
- Technology has not replaced the need for human effort, which would have made people as useless as a pianist at a player piano. (Vonnegut)
- We have so far avoided any nuclear disasters, either from accidents or purposeful attacks. (Knock wood.)
- Space aliens have thus far totally failed to invade Earth and subjugate its people.
Well, that’s all I can think of right now. I still hope someone’s working on those food pills though. I’m hungry!
me too - I have a bad habit of forgetting to eat & I’m lazy. Food because it tastes good is great when you have time or when you go out. Any other time, a food pill would be great…although they’d probably flavour it orange & stick yellow dye in it & make it about the size of an eraser.
**
Think about the bad things predicted by sci-fi authors that haven’t happened.
- No rampant consumerism making this a brave new world. (Huxley)** really?**
- We have so far avoided any nuclear disasters, either from accidents or purposeful attacks. (Knock wood.)** Please, define disaster**
- Space aliens have thus far totally failed to invade Earth and subjugate its people.** That’s what you think!!
Geez, we’re only into the 2nd day of the 21st century and we’ve given up hope already?
Anyway, everybody knows that flying cars have been around for the past 23 years. They were reverse-engineered from a crashed alien spacecraft and flight tested at Area 51. The thing is, they’re invisible and only owned by members of the Illuminati. Oops, I’ve said too much…
We do (kind of) have meals in a pill.
If we want not to eat (for any reason, usually weight loss), we can take a pill for it. We won’t be hungry, and then we can take another pill for all of our vitamins and minerals.
You’re being too literal. The Willy-Wonka-meal-gum is scheduled for the 22nd century.
Anyway, we’ve got boners in pill form. What more could you want? Instant Martians?
And Phobos, you will be picked up shortly.
Well maybe because im in my 40s but I for one am amazed by what we do have! I can’t believe everyone has a computer,I never im my wildest dreams thought that would be possible. I remember a star trek episode (Gary Seven I think) where he dictated to a typewritter and it typed it out for him, I remember thinking NO WAY now its available on pc’s .Information at a touch of a button, Instead of going to the libary I now go online. Cell phones, love em or hate em, they are truly a product of the 21st century. All the stuff we have now I could not possibly have imagined when I was a kid- Just my 2 cents
Okay, so there’s no flying cars as predicted by the Jetsons and other cartoons during my 1970’s childhood. But there are huge differences. To wit:
– In 1976, as part of a fifth-grade class project, I had a “pen-pal” who lived in England. The turn-around-time for letters was something like three weeks. In 2001, I can send an e-mail to my brother, who is working in China, and get a response ten minutes later. I can e-mail my cousin on his boat as he fishes for red crab far out in the Gulf of Maine and find out what he wants me to get his wife for her birthday for him, and hear back right away.
– In 1976, to make a call while on the road, most of us had to pull over and find a phone booth. In 2001, we whip out our cell phones.
– In 1976, stock trades were accomplished by calling your broker and putting in an order. In 2001 you can dump 1000 CSCO shares on your PalmPilot while sitting in traffic.
– In 1976, getting your gallbladder removed meant a hospital stay of at least two weeks. In 2001, it is all done in one day.
– In 1976, a baby born with spina bifida was almost certain to have a limited lifespan, spent in a wheelchair. In 2001, many birth defects are corrected through fetal surgery.
– In 1976, a Rand-Mcnally map was the highest-tech tool my parents had to chart our fun family car trips. In 2001, I hit a button, a signal is beamed up to a satellite and bounced back down, telling me exactly where I am and where the nearest gas station and McDonald’s is.
– In 1976, the first space shuttle hadn’t even been launched. In 2001, human beings now live in a permanent colony in space.
– In 1976, Russia was our enemy. In 2001 two Russians and an American live together in that space station built cooperatively by sixteen nations. From there humanity will soon return to the moon. In about three years, humanity will perhaps go to Mars.
Sure, there’s no flyhing cars or relaxing trips to Jupiter. But I don’t think we’ve done so badly.
Pal
Ummmm…
And I’m wearing polyester pants - and they really are comfortable 
You forget to eat?
Now, there’s been times when I’ve been too busy and can’t get away from my desk at work. But eventually things lighten up, and I can eat. Sometimes my kids keep me running and I don’t get a chance right away, but eventually they settle down, and I can eat.
How does one forget to eat? Is that like something from Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, when you’re trying to learn to fly, and you just fall but forget to hit the ground? And how does one habitually forget to eat?
Just curious. 
How about an orgasmatron, like in the movie Sleeper
persephone, it’s a bit like you said about being busy…but if I don’t have one of breakfast or lunch (I rarely have both) by about 3pm, I don’t tend to get hungry later. Suddenly, it is 10pm and I haven’t eaten. Then I tend to dig around at home for something snacky to eat, just so that I have eaten something, because I know that it is bad for me. The food pills would be perfect for that (or to actually eat during the busy stage).
Uniball, we’ll probably have a JG Ballard-like, global warming disaster by the end of the 21st century, don’t be so impatient!
IIRC, we have to wait until 2071 for that.