# It's 2014 and where's the future? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 11, 2014, 10:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-2014-and-wheres-the-future/681045 "2014-02-11T10:05:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 11
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2014, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-2014-and-wheres-the-future/681045/201 "2014-02-15T22:01:05Z")
Where are those one-piece coveralls we were all supposed to be wearing by now? ---
**Author:** ![K364](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k364/32/5_2.png) [@K364](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/K364)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2014, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-2014-and-wheres-the-future/681045/202 "2014-02-15T22:21:07Z")
Even in the future nothing works! ---
**Author:** ![Melchior](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Melchior](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melchior)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2014, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-2014-and-wheres-the-future/681045/203 "2014-02-16T01:26:53Z")
> [@K364](#): > > Even in the future nothing works! Car makers and camera makers (hell, everybody!) keeps trying to put more crap on their products, adding more and more features, when we would all prefer more _reliability_. This seems to be truer of Japanese companies than German. My Leicaflex SL2s are 35+ years old, and the shutter of one of them went out after 32 years of heavy use. It was easily repaired. Japanese cameras of 1975 are junk now. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2014, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-2014-and-wheres-the-future/681045/204 "2014-02-16T01:29:32Z")
> [@Mk\_VII](#): > > Where are those one-piece coveralls we were all supposed to be wearing by now? \*Metallic Silver \*one-piece coveralls! ---
**Author:** ![Melchior](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Melchior](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melchior)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2014, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-2014-and-wheres-the-future/681045/205 "2014-02-16T01:34:47Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > \*Metallic Silver \*one-piece coveralls! Oh hell no! [http://www.fancydressshack.co.uk/admin/ProductImages/rsz\_f6fd965c1ee14f2aa85a65185a81c27b.jpg](http://www.fancydressshack.co.uk/admin/ProductImages/rsz_f6fd965c1ee14f2aa85a65185a81c27b.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2014, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-2014-and-wheres-the-future/681045/206 "2014-02-16T02:19:17Z")
> [@Melchior](#): > > I want my rocket-delivered mail, now! LOL Your point is? ---
**Author:** ![Melchior](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Melchior](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melchior)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2014, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-2014-and-wheres-the-future/681045/207 "2014-02-16T02:23:16Z")
> [@Mijin](#): > > Your point is? Some ‘future’! Hah! ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2014, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-2014-and-wheres-the-future/681045/208 "2014-02-16T03:56:42Z")
> [@Melchior](#): > > I want my rocket-delivered mail, now! LOL You have e-mail. Which travels much faster than any rocket has ever gone. ---
**Author:** ![sweat209](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@sweat209](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sweat209)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2014, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-2014-and-wheres-the-future/681045/209 "2014-02-16T04:50:48Z")
> [@Earth001](#): > > More specifically: it’s 2014 and what happened to the future I was promised? I remember growing up during the 90s reading old 1950s magazines that by the 21st century we will be having: flying cars, jetpacks, food in pill form, robots, holograms, virtual reality, rockets, moon bases, and so on. 2014 doesn’t impress me now. What ever happened to the future we were promised? The problem is the past 20 years there been lots of money going into research and development into computers ,internet and electronics. But very little research and development into robotics and space program.That is why the space program and robotics are over 20 years behind every thing else. ---
**Author:** ![sweat209](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@sweat209](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sweat209)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2014, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-2014-and-wheres-the-future/681045/210 "2014-02-16T04:56:21Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Who care that “the cameras look almost identical”? Right now, people can take a photo with a smartphone and almost immediately share it with people all over the world. Sure before, you could take a picture with your Leica, wait for it to be developed and printed, publish it in a newspaper, share the photo via the AP/UPI/AFP and then publish it around the world. But the immediacy that smartphone cameras and digital images allow is a huge shift. Yes they did not predict this. And I’m sure this year and very much so next year you going to see 4K still cameras and 4K video cameras for the public. The picture quality is going to look very good. ---
**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:** [February 16, 2014, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-2014-and-wheres-the-future/681045/211 "2014-02-16T05:46:51Z")
> [@Mijin](#): > > Count me in the disillusioned camp. > > I can remember threads just like this 10+ years ago (not on the dope, I wasn’t here yet). The defence given was of course the internet + mobile phones. Plus, importantly, a bunch of other techs that, if they panned out, could make a massive change to our health and quality of life. > > Well, none of those speculative techs really has panned out yet, and again in 2014 the defence is internet and phones. > Oh, but this time, instead of portable computers _and_ portable phones we have portable phone / computers. No disrespect to the many people (smarter than me) that were involved in that development, but it’s not surprising that many people feel like the OP. You need to be a bit patient, because we don’t have really smart phones yet. Remember, it took over 10 years for PCs to make much of a difference in people’s lives. Before people got connected they played games, they wrote, they save recipes, and that was about it. Once they got connected things exploded. When phones get smart enough to know where you are and anticipate your needs, then things will change. It will be a few years yet. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2014, 9:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-2014-and-wheres-the-future/681045/212 "2014-02-16T09:26:27Z")
> [@Mijin](#): > > Your point is? > [@Melchior](#): > > Some ‘future’! Hah! So as I thought: you don’t have any point. Whenever there’s a thread or discussion on something negative, there’s always people who come in with “Oh, stop your whining”, or words to that effect, because they don’t like the downbeat message but can’t respond to the actual content. The last 30 years have been great in many ways: the fastest rise out of poverty the world has ever seen, fewer conflicts (yes, even with the war on terror) etc. But I think it is fair to say that technologically it has been disappointing, that’s all. I’m not blaming anyone; it’s simply that many things have proven far more difficult than we anticipated. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2014, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-2014-and-wheres-the-future/681045/213 "2014-02-16T11:26:12Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Spaceship Earth at Epcot used to show something that looks very much like a child Skyping with a friend in Japan. I think they’ve gotten rid of that now since nobody is very impressed anymore. I visited the Innoventions exhibition at Disneyland in about 2008 with my wife and one of the Fantastic Inventions of THE FUTURE! on display was a car satellite navigation system that was _less_ advanced than the ones I sold every day in my job at the time. In fact, I don’t recall there being anything in the exhibition that made me go “Cool!”, and I _love_ all that World Of Tomorrow stuff. ---
**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:** [February 16, 2014, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-2014-and-wheres-the-future/681045/214 "2014-02-16T12:08:58Z")
> [@Mk\_VII](#): > > Where are those one-piece coveralls we were all supposed to be wearing by now? You mean Onesies? Unfortunately, they’re [everywhere](http://magazine.topman.com/category/fashion/celebrities-in-onesies-gallery/), though [not quite](http://www.debsonesies.com.au/) as predicted. ---
**Author:** ![Melchior](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Melchior](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melchior)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2014, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-2014-and-wheres-the-future/681045/215 "2014-02-17T01:40:21Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > You have e-mail. Which travels much faster than any rocket has ever gone. Was the irony lost on you? LOL ---
**Author:** ![Melchior](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Melchior](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melchior)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2014, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-2014-and-wheres-the-future/681045/216 "2014-02-17T01:45:20Z")
> [@Mijin](#): > > So as I thought: you don’t have any point. > > Whenever there’s a thread or discussion on something negative, there’s always people who come in with “Oh, stop your whining”, or words to that effect, because they don’t like the downbeat message but can’t respond to the actual content. > > The last 30 years have been great in many ways: the fastest rise out of poverty the world has ever seen, fewer conflicts (yes, even with the war on terror) etc. > > But I think it is fair to say that technologically it has been disappointing, that’s all. I’m not blaming anyone; it’s simply that many things have proven far more difficult than we anticipated. Anything that is not capable of being accomplished or enhanced by computers is no closer to realization than ever. Of course, a lot can be accomplished faster and easier with computer assistance, and that’s what’s happening now. Miniaturization and portability are driving product design. Instead of flying cars, we have Denalis driven by rude women drivers. LOL ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2014, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-2014-and-wheres-the-future/681045/217 "2014-02-17T02:18:16Z")
This is probably more appropriate for IMHO than GQ by now. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2014, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-2014-and-wheres-the-future/681045/218 "2014-02-17T05:07:57Z")
> [@Melchior](#): > > I have been saying that between 1880 and 1930 most of our modern way of life was established, with hardly any changes except for refinements: > > Electricity, aeroplanes, electric lights, telegraph, automobile, telephone, radio, motion pictures (sound by 1930, also color by 1930), television, etc… Except for music (going from scratchy low-fi 78s to digital music), computers (nonexistent in 1930), mobile phones, the internet, etc. etc. Plus a lot of “refinements” were massive. Television existed in 1930–as a sixty line monochrome picture on a postage sized screen. Even as late as the 80s, problems with tint/vertical hold/ghosting were commonplace, and “big screen” was bigger than 25 inches. ---
**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:** [February 17, 2014, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-2014-and-wheres-the-future/681045/219 "2014-02-17T05:28:52Z")
> [@installLSC](#): > > Except for music (going from scratchy low-fi 78s to digital music), computers (nonexistent in 1930), mobile phones, the internet, etc. etc. > Plus a lot of “refinements” were massive. Television existed in 1930–as a sixty line monochrome picture on a postage sized screen. Even as late as the 80s, problems with tint/vertical hold/ghosting were commonplace, and “big screen” was bigger than 25 inches. Televisions themselves haven’t changed much. What has changed is the distribution mechanism. Movies were a few things “broadcast” to people in a central location. Early television was a few things broadcast to lots of people in their homes. In both cases people had little control over what they received. Cable was just more stuff. But then VCRs and DVRs let people watch when they wanted. As we move to demand, TV becomes more like a library, where we can check out what content we want at any time. Netflix is already like this. As a 1956 TV watcher, I can say this is fundamentally different. And it would be even if we had the crappy little screens you mention - still better than watching on a phone! ---
**Author:** ![Melchior](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Melchior](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melchior)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2014, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-2014-and-wheres-the-future/681045/220 "2014-02-17T17:14:10Z")
> [@installLSC](#): > > Except for music (going from scratchy low-fi 78s to digital music), computers (nonexistent in 1930), mobile phones, the internet, etc. etc. > Plus a lot of “refinements” were massive. Television existed in 1930–as a sixty line monochrome picture on a postage sized screen. Even as late as the 80s, problems with tint/vertical hold/ghosting were commonplace, and “big screen” was bigger than 25 inches. I have said there were refinements, yes, but the framework for our contemporary existence was in place by 1930. You did not go to the movies, listen to records or radio, or ride in an aeroplane or car in 1880. Some things were in their infancy, some less so, but they existed. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-2014-and-wheres-the-future/681045.md?page=10) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-2014-and-wheres-the-future/681045.md?page=12)