# The future that never was **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 25, 2011, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-that-never-was/594068 "2011-08-25T18:39:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Scuba\_Ben](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/278dde/32.png) [@Scuba\_Ben](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scuba_Ben)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2011, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-that-never-was/594068/41 "2011-08-26T13:44:33Z")
> [@Don\_Draper](#): > > On “Doctor Who” - The Cybermen invaded Earth twice during the late 20th century - in London circa 1972, and Antarctica in 1986. Oh, those actually happened. The invasions were quickly smashed. ---
**Author:** ![ruh-roh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ruh-roh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruh-roh)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2011, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-that-never-was/594068/42 "2011-08-26T13:57:23Z")
You know - a starship circlin in the sky - it ought to be ready by 1990 They’ll be buildin it up in the air ever since 1980 People with a clever plan can assume the role of the mighty and HIJACK THE STARSHIP Carry 7000 people past the sun And our babes’ll wander naked thru the cities of the universe Cmon free minds, free bodies, free dope, free music the day is on its way the day is ours Kanter/Slick, 1970 ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2011, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-that-never-was/594068/43 "2011-08-26T15:52:04Z")
1980: Oregon, Washington, and Northern California secede from the United States and form the new nation of Ecotopia. _Ecotopia_ (1975) Ernest Callenbach ---
**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:** [August 26, 2011, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-that-never-was/594068/44 "2011-08-26T17:24:17Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > Was it a Russian/US mission, or a Soviet/US mission? Actually, it was a Soviet mission with a few US passengers, because the US didn’t have a spacecraft ready. So Clarke was pretty accurate in that regard, anyway. And while we’re on the subject, HAL is already old technology - and there should have been an HAL plant in Urbana, Illinois (where I used to live) 15 years ago or so. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2011, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-that-never-was/594068/45 "2011-08-26T17:26:21Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > Actually, it was a Soviet mission with a few US passengers, because the US didn’t have a spacecraft ready. So Clarke was pretty accurate in that regard, anyway. Well, except for the “Soviet” part. ---
**Author:** ![Corner\_Case](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/corner_case/32/234_2.png) [@Corner\_Case](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corner_Case)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2011, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-that-never-was/594068/46 "2011-08-26T18:27:49Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > [QUOTE=monkeylucifer] > How does a VW Bug last for thousands of years? Maybe it was a Woody. [/QUOTE] 200 years, but it _is_ a Volkswagen, after all. _Sleeper, 1973_ Dr. Melik: This morning for breakfast he requested something called “wheat germ, organic honey and tiger’s milk.” Dr. Aragon: [chuckling] Oh, yes. Those are the charmed substances that some years ago were thought to contain life-preserving properties. Dr. Melik: You mean there was no deep fat? No steak or cream pies or… hot fudge? Dr. Aragon: Those were thought to be unhealthy… precisely the opposite of what we now know to be true. Dr. Melik: Incredible. [sup]So where’s my healthy deep fat?! In the glove box of my flying car?![/sup] _Collossus: The Forbin Project, 1970_ “The voice of World Control” is broadcast to the general population of all countries. It declares that Man has a choice between the peace of a human millennium under its authority or one of “unburied dead”. In a final remark, addressed to Dr. Forbin, the machine says, “In time, you will come to regard me not only with respect and awe, but with love.” _Paris in the Twentieth Century, Jules Verne, 1863_ Verne predicted in 1960 “Mutual assured destruction”, Skyscrapers, Gasoline-powered automobiles, High-speed trains, Calculators, The Internet (a worldwide “telegraphic” communications network), Electric chairs (criminals “executed by electric charge”), and Computers. However, he also predicted all of Europe entering a winter of unprecedented ferocity. All agriculture is compromised and food supplies are destroyed, resulting in mass famine. The temperature drops to thirty degrees below, and every river in Europe freezes solid. All industry grinds to a halt. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2011, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-that-never-was/594068/47 "2011-08-27T01:30:46Z")
> [@Raguleader](#): > > [Avery Brooks](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzm6pvHPSGo) has been demanding to know that for over a decade. The link is in a spoiler box, NSFW due to language. **Tim Wilson** - “Jetpack” [YouTube link](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1SCu9yiBlo) ---
**Author:** ![monkeylucifer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@monkeylucifer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monkeylucifer)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2011, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-that-never-was/594068/48 "2011-08-27T02:00:03Z")
> [@Corner\_Case](#): > > 200 years, but it _is_ a Volkswagen, after all. Watch the video clip I quoted. The narrator absolutely says two thousand years later. Ookla is totally throwing a VW Bug in that. There is no way that a car like that would be physically intact after 2,000 years. I know it’s a silly cartoon from my childhood and I’m okay with that…but two thousand years!!! P.S. If I still was part of an RPG group I would totally run a campaign based on Thundarr using [Labyrinth Lord](http://www.goblinoidgames.com/labyrinthlord.html) and [Mutant Future](http://www.goblinoidgames.com/mutantfuture.html) to simulate that type of future. It would be so f-ing EPIC!!! ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2011, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-that-never-was/594068/49 "2011-08-27T13:30:00Z")
We’re getting pretty close to 2015, and while we could theoretically get cracking on ubiquitous flying cars while abolishing all lawyers and cranking out a dozen JAWS sequels in time to match the holographic billboard in BACK TO THE FUTURE PART II, it’s looking like Queen Diana is already off the table. ---
**Author:** ![Phea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e274bd/32.png) [@Phea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phea)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2011, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-that-never-was/594068/50 "2011-08-27T13:48:11Z")
Forget science fiction, what about the stuff that SCIENCE has been wrong about? Y2K… never caused any problems. The killer bees never got here. Aids hasn’t infected a third of the population. There are more, but I gotta run. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2011, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-that-never-was/594068/51 "2011-08-27T14:06:15Z")
> [@Phea](#): > > Forget science fiction, what about the stuff that SCIENCE has been wrong about? > Y2K… never caused any problems. > The killer bees never got here. > Aids hasn’t infected a third of the population. > > There are more, but I gotta run. Well, Y2K did cause some problems. Notably, with the “Y2K Countdown” timers on everybody’s websites that invariably seemed to not be Y2K compliant. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2011, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-that-never-was/594068/52 "2011-08-27T14:24:53Z")
1998: President Chet Roosevelt holds a telethon to save the American economy. _Americathon_ (1979) ---
**Author:** ![Gray\_Ghost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c0e974/32.png) [@Gray\_Ghost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gray_Ghost)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2011, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-that-never-was/594068/53 "2011-08-27T15:25:26Z")
I love the novelization of [Logan’s Run](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logan's_Run), that **WotNot** alludes to with hir quote. My contribution to the OP is that October (27 IIRC), [1988’s limited nuclear exchange](http://www.amazon.com/Warday-Whitley-Strieber/dp/0446350354) between the USA and Soviet Union never occurred. It’s still one of the most terrifying books I’ve ever read, just because of how _plausible_ Streiber and Kunetka made it all seem. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2011, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-that-never-was/594068/54 "2011-08-27T18:51:55Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > August 1985: [Warsaw pact forces invade West Germany, Norway and Turkey.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Third_World_War:_The_Untold_Story) After the Soviet Union launches a nuclear strike at Birmingham, England, and suffers a retaliatory strike on Minsk, a rebellion overthrows the Communist government. > > But there’s a more important, more fundamental issue here: > > _WHERE THE HELL IS MY FLYING CAR???_ Never mind that, [I Want My Jetpack!](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/IWantMyJetpack) ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2011, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-that-never-was/594068/55 "2011-08-27T18:55:02Z")
In 1999, (illegal) neural-electronic-interface technology exists, capable of recording and playing back humans’ subjective sense-experiences. _Strange Days,_ 1995 (!). ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2011, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-that-never-was/594068/56 "2011-08-27T19:11:44Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Never mind that, [I Want My Jetpack!](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/IWantMyJetpack) I remember the oft-reprinted Superman comic linked there: in the year 2000, the President of the United Worlds is doing his best to look out for the suffering folks on Earth, where the oceans have all been dissolved. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2011, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-that-never-was/594068/57 "2011-08-27T19:27:18Z")
1982: Nuclear war. - Where the Wind Blows. 1984: Nuclear war and a horrific aftermath. - Threads. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2011, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-that-never-was/594068/58 "2011-08-27T19:38:55Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Never mind that, [I Want My Jetpack!](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/IWantMyJetpack) ::Ahem:: See post 47. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2011, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-that-never-was/594068/59 "2011-08-28T01:32:10Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > I remember the oft-reprinted Superman comic linked there: in the year 2000, the President of the United Worlds is doing his best to look out for the suffering folks on Earth, where the oceans have all been dissolved. But… aren’t the oceans dissolved already? ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2011, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-that-never-was/594068/60 "2011-08-28T02:30:31Z")
2005: Earth Defense Command helps the [Autobots](http://tfwiki.net/wiki/The_Transformers_%28cartoon%29#Season_3) wage their battle to destroy the evil forces of the Decepticons. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-that-never-was/594068.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-that-never-was/594068.md?page=4)