The thread title is in quotes because I got it from here.
So, is there anything that you would add to this list? Is there one or more items that you disagree with?
For me, I can’t think of anything to add, but I do have to disagree with: Fax machines Mail Commercial music radio
I tried a few times writing the reasons for why I think these three items won’t go away, and I couldn’t think of anything good, because it all boils down to, “They’re going strong now, and I don’t see that changing in the future.” But that’s just my gut feeling. I don’t have any data to back me up.
I would disagree with catalogs.
Online catalogs are still too cumbersome and hard to navigate.
Give me a Grainger catalog (2500+ pages) and I will find what I need in 2 minutes. Online? Might never find it (ask me how I know this)
Wires? I deliberately get wired versions of computer peripherals, because wireless peripherals are gonna have to get a lot better before I consider them better than their wired counterparts. When someone I know has to deal with dead batteries in their mouse or headphones, or their wireless router fucks up again, I laugh and laugh.
Wires. You’re still going to need to plug stuff in to power it. That’s not going to go away anytime soon. The electricity isn’t going to get to the wall either without wires.
Encyclopedias. The Wikipedia is an encyclopedia. It’s not made of paper, but so what? It’s an encyclopedia all the same. (I get that the guy means paper encyclopedias, but he got rid of books altogether in a separate listing.)
Watches. Sure, they’ll become less common because the time is on your phone, but I don’t think people born this year will ever think it’s “retro” or whatever if someone wears one. Anyone who gives presentations for a living, for example, will not want to pull their phone out of their pockets every ten minutes to see how much time they have left.
Virtually all those advances have to do with communications and media changing. I hope that isn’t the only area seeing massive advances.
Hopefully when those kids are grown up cars will easily get 300,000 miles. It used to be that cars rarely got over 100k, now getting to 200k isn’t unheard of.
Maybe heart disease will be all but gone. But who knows. I just hope there are advances outside of media and communications that change the world.
One picture to a frame - most people only want to show one or two pictures of family, and an electronic gadget to do that doesnt make much sense.
Wires. There will be less, but not none.
Handwriting. The death of paper isnt here yet.
Commercials on TV - how they’re delivered will change, but they aint going.
The thread seems to be written from the perspective of someone who is upper-middle class and doesn’t have to interact with a wide variety of people. Or an illusion that everyone will be upper-middle class and afford all the modern gadgets for them and their kids. And that everyone will be in the US or Europe.
Faxes are not going anywhere. Sure, I can send the same information by email, but the document and information I send is not going anywhere UNTIL someone opens that account. A document sent by fax is, in a business situation, likely to get noticed faster, and I may have a reply faster than by e-mail.
Travel agents will become niche, but they’ll still be around. Sure, many won’t need them to plan going from city A to city B, but what if they want to go to Disney but don’t want to do all the planning, ticket buying, and itinerary? Or what about cruises? Or whole family vacations coordinating flights between different cities to a same single destination? I’m sorry, many people don’t want to waste their time with that, and will rather pay someone else to do that, who also knows the trick of the trade.
E-readers are expensive. They’re more fragile than regular books. Not ALL the books EVER written are available in electronic form.
Commercial music radio will stay for the reasons said earlier. And the alternatives mentioned? Pandora has ADS unless you pay. Plus, you only get 40 hours free per month, and I waste those in the first week of the month.
Mail… There’s too much important stuff going by mail that cannot be sent by email.
I’m not sure if I missed the sarcasm, but I’m positive the reference to privacy was more along the line of online privacy ie facebook, twitter, photos of ever party you attend etc.
Wikipedia is a free, user-edited encylopaedia. The things people typically think of as encyclopaedias are published for profit. That’s why the author distinguishes between books and encyclopaedias.
The more I thought about this, the more I chuckled. And agreed.
Practical flying cars and jet packs, cures for cancer and HIV, teleportation, meals in pill form, colonies on the moon, and intelligent extraterrestrial life.
Everything else is certainly within the realm of plausibility. Most are pretty close to being real, or are simply a matter of money and willingness to do so.
Well if you have a bad relationship in your 20s and your ex posts offensive photos or info about you online, your grandkids will be able to find it in 5 seconds with a search engine. That kind of privacy is dying. Everything is permanent and easily searchable.
I highly doubt that a picture on the internet posted in my twenties will be around long enough for my grandkids to find, and that easily searchable.
Even so, that’s not society’s fault. One should be more careful who he lets take naughty pictures of him. Moreover, people used to post libelous information about their enemies on public fora all the time. That’s nothing new.