# Technology that was supposedly supposed to happen by now

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/technology-that-was-supposedly-supposed-to-happen-by-now/251828>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [June 23, 2004, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/technology-that-was-supposedly-supposed-to-happen-by-now/251828 "2004-06-23T17:09:33Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\
**Post date:** [June 24, 2004, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/technology-that-was-supposedly-supposed-to-happen-by-now/251828/21 "2004-06-24T14:30:51Z")

</div>

> [@dwc1970](#):
>
> In grade school (mid 1970s) I read in a book that our food would someday all come in the form of small capsules, supplying all of the nutrients we would ever need. As eating is as much a pleasure as it is necessary for survival, I could never see this actually come to fruition.

I agree; for the vast majority of people, eating is very much NOT a chore (which is why obesity is such a big problem).

In any case, the ‘food pill’ thing is an impossible dream; food is bulky because it contains the stuff our bodies need; beyond a certain point, reducing the bulk just makes it less than we would need to survive.

Even if we managed to eliminate the need for dietary fibre, I’d WAG that, using the most energy-dense foods possible, you’re still looking at two cupfulls of pills per day at least. - swallowing that lot is going to be far more unpleasant a chore than eating a double cheeseburger, side salad and shake.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**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:** [June 24, 2004, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/technology-that-was-supposedly-supposed-to-happen-by-now/251828/22 "2004-06-24T15:14:02Z")

</div>

Heh. In a grade-B SF movie called “Fatal Conflict” there was a screen labelled:

2030: Argos Women’s Prison Colony

That’s right, the film predicted that by 2030 we’d have FTL drives. Interstellar colonies. And the first thing we’d do is build women’s prison colonies in other solar systems.

Sadly, this film was made in 1998.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\
**Post date:** [June 24, 2004, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/technology-that-was-supposedly-supposed-to-happen-by-now/251828/23 "2004-06-24T15:24:09Z")

</div>

> [@Fritz](#):
>
> Flying cars! Dang it, I want my flying car.

[“It’s times like this that it occurs to me that we were lied to by _The Jetsons_.”](http://viewaskew.com/tv/leno/flyingcar.html)

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/technology-that-was-supposedly-supposed-to-happen-by-now/251828.md?page=1)