# What Did You Think The Future Would Be Like? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 4, 2012, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-think-the-future-would-be-like/627247 "2012-07-04T22:35:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2012, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-think-the-future-would-be-like/627247/21 "2012-07-05T18:05:17Z")
I haven’t really started thinking about the future until recently. At least, not in broad terms–I thought about my future, and I was way off. Did you know I was voted “most likely to succeed” in high school? Ha! ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2012, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-think-the-future-would-be-like/627247/22 "2012-07-05T18:36:32Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > I’m a child of the 60’s too, and I agree with the above expectations. > I thought it’d be about as widespread as it is. Which is pretty damn widespread. Not according to Cecil: > **[Are college students promiscuous?](https://www.straightdope.com/21344152/are-college-students-promiscuous)** Now if you’ll excuse me. I have to take my hovercar to pick up my sex-robot from the shop. We’re going to a coctail party at a restaurant in the Westin Lagrange 1 and I want to get there before the only thing left to eat is Soylant Brown (mostly clone-grade dog entrals IIRC). ---
**Author:** ![FloatyGimpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/floatygimpy/32/7750_2.png) [@FloatyGimpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FloatyGimpy)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2012, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-think-the-future-would-be-like/627247/23 "2012-07-05T18:41:31Z")
I truly believed that there would be moving sidewalks by now. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2012, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-think-the-future-would-be-like/627247/24 "2012-07-05T18:49:03Z")
> [@johnpost](#): > > …land line noncomputer picture phone. We sold those back in the 80s. The problem, of course, is that the quality was crap, the frame-rate was terrible and the monochrome CRT made the telephone huge. But of course the worst problem was that nobody else had one. What, Chatroulette not good enough for you? ---
**Author:** ![shiftless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9c0ed/32.png) [@shiftless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shiftless)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2012, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-think-the-future-would-be-like/627247/25 "2012-07-05T18:52:56Z")
In the 60’s I envisioned a world where TV shows could actually be recorded and played back when I got home from choir practice. Plus, in the future I wouldn’t have go to choir practice. I never imagined the wealth of TV channels there would be or the many options to record and replay those shows or just how little difference that would make in everyday life. I expected there to be more space flight involved in everyday life. Now I won’t even get on a plane unless I have to. I expected cars and car travel to be very different. Maybe not flying cars exactly but cars these days do the same basic function as 1960’s cars. Modern cars don’t fly or fold into a briefcase or hook together into trains. All things I was promised. I remember a “Weekly Reader” from maybe 6th grade listing exciting new things about the future. One item was a plastic spoon (plastic was not so common in those days) with instant coffee in it, with a peel off covering. Coffee on the go for the future. Everyone would carry these around so they could have coffee anywhere! Predictions about the future are often mundane compared to the real thing. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2012, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-think-the-future-would-be-like/627247/26 "2012-07-05T19:06:54Z")
Things are pretty much as I imagined they’d be, except for the cancellation of F-Troop. That threw me. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2012, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-think-the-future-would-be-like/627247/27 "2012-07-05T19:11:17Z")
> [@FloatyGimpy](#): > > I truly believed that there would be moving sidewalks by now. I think that is a good thing. One thing I didn’t foresee is just how large the average person would become and how many obese people there are. You never saw that it drawings of the future. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2012, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-think-the-future-would-be-like/627247/28 "2012-07-05T19:13:27Z")
I’m 52 years old, and relative to my expectations from 40 years ago, I’m _stunned_ at how peripheral space flight is to human existence. As a child I assumed it would follow a trajectory similar to airplane flight, so that space flight would be about where aviation was 50-60 years after the Wright brothers. At a minimum I was certain that we would have had manned flight to Mars by now, plus regular travel to and from the moon, and large numbers of people living and working in low-Earth orbit. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2012, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-think-the-future-would-be-like/627247/29 "2012-07-05T20:20:29Z")
> [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](#): > > I’m 52 years old, and relative to my expectations from 40 years ago, I’m _stunned_ at how peripheral space flight is to human existence. As a child I assumed it would follow a trajectory similar to airplane flight, so that space flight would be about where aviation was 50-60 years after the Wright brothers. > > At a minimum I was certain that we would have had manned flight to Mars by now, plus regular travel to and from the moon, and large numbers of people living and working in low-Earth orbit. I like to say that space flight is about where aeronautics was 50 years after the invention of the hot-air balloon. The Wright brothers of space haven’t come along yet. ---
**Author:** ![jasg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2012, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-think-the-future-would-be-like/627247/30 "2012-07-05T20:30:32Z")
> [@FloatyGimpy](#): > > I truly believed that there would be moving sidewalks by now. The roads must roll. ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2012, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-think-the-future-would-be-like/627247/31 "2012-07-05T20:34:33Z")
I can’t get past the fact that I don’t have the flying car I was promised. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2012, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-think-the-future-would-be-like/627247/32 "2012-07-05T20:43:10Z")
At the very least I had thought the funiture would have improved more than it has. We peaked at bean bags and have only regressed from there (kinda like the lunar landings). ---
**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:** [July 5, 2012, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-think-the-future-would-be-like/627247/33 "2012-07-05T21:06:53Z")
Child of the '50s. By the time I was in high school in the late '60s I had read so much sf that I knew there was a wide range of futures. In fact in 1968 I wrote a story which more or less predicted the net, Amazon (buying stuff online) and Skype. Also automatic updating but of hardware, not software. I missed the impact of intelligence through processors in everything. Well almost - when I was in grad school, in 1976, I turned in an assignment about an application of the then new microprocessor by proposing a microprocessor driven vibrator. (I knew the guy teaching the course quite well.) I see now that I nailed this one. 😃 ---
**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:** [July 5, 2012, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-think-the-future-would-be-like/627247/34 "2012-07-05T21:09:03Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > We sold those back in the 80s. The problem, of course, is that the quality was crap, the frame-rate was terrible and the monochrome CRT made the telephone huge. But of course the worst problem was that nobody else had one. > > What, Chatroulette not good enough for you? I used one at the Bell System pavillion at the NY World’s Fair in 1964, and when I worked for Bell Labs we gave two (of course) away as a prize at our exhibit booth. I’m not surprised they are available, I’m more surprised that we actually use them. We often do video calls with our daughter in Germany, when there is something to show each other. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2012, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-think-the-future-would-be-like/627247/35 "2012-07-05T21:18:05Z")
We were pretty much sold the moon vacations as a foregone conclusion. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2012, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-think-the-future-would-be-like/627247/36 "2012-07-05T21:19:20Z")
> [@UncleRojelio](#): > > I can’t get past the fact that I don’t have the flying car I was promised. I don’t think anyone ever claimed they would be free but you can pre-order one now for delivery around the end of this year for just $279,000 (base price). [http://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/features/science/jan-june12/flyingcars\_05-30.html](http://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/features/science/jan-june12/flyingcars_05-30.html) ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2012, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-think-the-future-would-be-like/627247/37 "2012-07-05T21:23:23Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > I don’t think anyone ever claimed they would be free but you can pre-order one now for delivery around the end of this year for just $279,000 (base price). > > [http://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/features/science/jan-june12/flyingcars\_05-30.html](http://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/features/science/jan-june12/flyingcars_05-30.html) The flying car I was promised didn’t need a runway. It also didn’t need a pilot. You simply hopped in and told it where to go and, bingo, there you were. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2012, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-think-the-future-would-be-like/627247/38 "2012-07-05T21:33:35Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > I used one at the Bell System pavillion at the NY World’s Fair in 1964. My God, I was there too! :eek: Did you see a presentation called “It’s a Great Big, Beautiful Tomorrow (And It’s Only a Dream Away)!”? ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2012, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-think-the-future-would-be-like/627247/39 "2012-07-05T23:56:31Z")
I guess I never gave it a thought. I figured that what will be will be. I never gave much thought to nuclear war either. If it came, it came. I just tried to live my life as well as I could. One thing that astonished me, though, was microcomputers. Computers cast a million bucks and here came this thing that cost $300, even it was basically a toy. But then came the Apple and all the rest and they were more than toys. ---
**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:** [July 6, 2012, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-think-the-future-would-be-like/627247/40 "2012-07-06T00:04:34Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > My God, I was there too! :eek: Did you see a presentation called “It’s a Great Big, Beautiful Tomorrow (And It’s Only a Dream Away)!”? I’m sure I did. I was only one bus ride than subway stop from the fair - my friends and I went a lot. Bet lots of people don’t know that Small World, the dinosaurs, and Abe Lincoln now at Disneyland all got their start at the Fair. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-think-the-future-would-be-like/627247.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-think-the-future-would-be-like/627247.md?page=3)