Hm. So THAT's how the 21th Century looks like? How disappointing.

[Saint_Zero]

2. No rampant consumerism making this a brave new world. (Huxley)

I’d have to term this one BS. Our nation has already fallen to consumerism (How much of the “Super Bowl” is ad driven?) Christmas has become the prime retailing holiday, complete with companies striving to build this years “Must Have Toy”. Our national economy hinges on how well we consume gooods, and a discout retailer is going to displace General Motors as the biggest company in the World.

Oh yeah, there’s no consumerism. Really. :rolleyes:

[rjung]

*Originally posted by Palimpsest *
– 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 1971, you would be kicked out of the National Air Guard if you were caught using cocaine while enlisted. In 2001, you can become “President” of the United States istead…

(If I can’t make a joke about “flying SUVs,” I’ve got to get my jollies in some other way.)

[egkelly]

I really thought that things would look “modern” by now! Instead, look at us, at the dawn of the 21st century:
-Clothes-men’s clothes are straight out of 1900! Women’s clothes are a tad more modern, but the only thing that distinguishes us from 1900 are synthetic fabrics
-Houses: where I live,(NE), people want their new houses to like like they were built in 1600!! I thought we would be living innultramodern glass, plastic, and stainless steel, zero-maintainence, modern houses. Instead, we have people living (and restoring) those horrible Victorian houses!
-Cars: the retro look is IN (see VW Beetle, PT Cruiser). I thought we would be driving Lamborghini “Diablo” look-alikes!
-Transportation: where are the goddamn MONORAILS??
-I could go on and on, but Yogi Berra was right…“the future isn’t what it used to be!”…

[ReservoirDog]

21th?

21th?

Thufferin’ Thuccotash! Ith it really the twenty firth century already? Only a few more to go until Duck Dodgerth reignth thupreme!!

[Sofa_King]

Jimi Hendrix would be disappointed to learn that even at this advanced date, mermen we’ve not turned to be.

[Greg_Charles]

All right, I’m being crucified for the rampant consumerism thing. Just read Brave New World though, and you’ll see that we’re not as bad as all that. The very fact that so many people lament our voracious need to consume shows that we are better off than the characters in Huxley’s novel.

Do I really need to define a nuclear disaster? In Asimov’s Foundation and Earth, the Earth was uninhabitable because of radiation. In The Day After, nuclear war killed millions (billions?) and destroyed the fabric of society. I don’t mean to downplay the Three Mile Island and Chernobyl accidents, or the fate of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but clearly we’re not doing as badly as in these fictional accounts.

[TroubleAgain]

*Originally posted by Greg Charles *
**All right, I’m being crucified for the rampant consumerism thing. Just read Brave New World though, and you’ll see that we’re not as bad as all that. The very fact that so many people lament our voracious need to consume shows that we are better off than the characters in Huxley’s novel.
**

I’m with you, Greg Charles. I would not want to live in that Brave New World.

[douglips]

Originally posted by Palimpsest *
**
– 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.*

Just had to inject a factoid. GPS does not involve sending signals to satellites, it only involves receiving signals from satellites.

A corrected quote:

**
– 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 transmitted from a few satellites tells me exactly where I am and a little computer looks up where the nearest gas station and McDonald’s are.**

Carry on.

[Purd_Werfect]

"We missed the future, we oughta face it.
Guess we’re not gonna outer-space it.
No more robot to clean your toilet,
wash your 'tater and peel and boil it.

We missed the future, no doubt about it.
Think I’ll go watch a film about it.
Find a priest and confess my sins.
Maybe go buy a car with fins.

Now we’re looking at shades of twilight,
as the moon appears through my skylight.
Memories of the future linger.
But nothing matters, and nothing changes at all."

“We Missed The Future” - Kevin Parker