# What's the most "science-fictiony" thing that's a reality today? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 26, 2007, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-science-fictiony-thing-thats-a-reality-today/393760 "2007-02-26T19:58:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**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 27, 2007, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-science-fictiony-thing-thats-a-reality-today/393760/41 "2007-02-27T07:18:35Z")
[QUOTE=What Exit?] For the win, how about: The relatively peaceful end of the cold war without any nukes going off. Jim [/QUOTE] Even odder - the peaceful transition to black rule in South Africa without war or massive killing. I’d say this happening through violence was one of the things sf writers were most sure of. I’m watching the first season STs, and they all have little data cards - very futuristic then, now a bit clunky compared to even floppy disks, let alone flash memories. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2007, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-science-fictiony-thing-thats-a-reality-today/393760/42 "2007-02-27T07:39:55Z")
[QUOTE=Voyager] Even odder - the peaceful transition to black rule in South Africa without war or massive killing. I’d say this happening through violence was one of the things sf writers were most sure of. [/QUOTE] Yay Us! But I’m still voting for high-end cellphones. I mean, consider the swinging 60’s/90’s _Star Trek_ lifestyle: Onepiece skintight Uniforms - nope Interstellar Travel - nope A.I. - nope Replicators - nope Universal Translators - have you \*used \*Babelfish? Phasers - not a chance Tricorders - only on bad forensic shows Holodecks - not really Transporters - naah … _Communicators_ - hell yeah! (Even my V.3 can do a passable impresion of a two-way radio with PTT, plus it has a video/still camera, games, Bluetooth, internet, email…and it makes phonecalls. - Other models like the RZR start to approach the size of those _ST:NG_ pins) Add in “computers that don’t blow up when you bump them” and we’re living the future dream, baby! ---
**Author:** ![DellieM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/cdc98d/32.png) [@DellieM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DellieM)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2007, 8:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-science-fictiony-thing-thats-a-reality-today/393760/43 "2007-02-27T08:32:56Z")
I have used Babelfish - but it doesn’t come with a Turkish translator - much to the disgust of some of my clients today who wanted a recipe for turkish delight translated so they could make some to send back to Turkey. (I couldn’t make this stuff up!) Appart from a clothes dryer, I’m stunned we hang out washing to dry, and why hasn’t anyone invented a person dryer instead, we still rub ourselves dry with towels? But I do remember driving through a major town and having a row with my then SO, and saying, if only there was a computer that would tell us where we need to go … then I wouldn’t have to turn the map upside down. ---
**Author:** ![Noone\_Special](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noone_special/32/2863_2.png) [@Noone\_Special](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noone_Special)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2007, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-science-fictiony-thing-thats-a-reality-today/393760/44 "2007-02-27T08:53:14Z")
Something so mundane and usual it hasn’t really come up yet – the Word Processor. Even 25 years ago, let alone 50, every office still had an army of stenos on typewriters; WhiteOut/TipEx had pretty much **just** been invented, but you still had to pull the page out, cover the typo, put it back in _just so_, then retype. If you wanted graphics as well, you needed a professional printer and had to do layouts and proofs… let’s not even think about **color**! … and of course, as someone _has_ already mentioned, now you can immediately e-mail the result around the world to 527 recipients instead of sending it all out to an expensive printer to make copies and stuffing everything into 527 envelopes, addressed by hand… :smack: ---
**Author:** ![DellieM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/cdc98d/32.png) [@DellieM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DellieM)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2007, 8:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-science-fictiony-thing-thats-a-reality-today/393760/45 "2007-02-27T08:57:38Z")
Oh yes! I work for a company which sends mailouts to thousands of people at certain times, and only now we have a machine which prints, folds and stuffs. It seems not long ago that a team of 20 would be called in to print, fold, stuff, stamp and count … ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2007, 9:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-science-fictiony-thing-thats-a-reality-today/393760/46 "2007-02-27T09:07:05Z")
My coworker mentioned one: BET “They gave a _what_ to the _who_?!” ---
**Author:** ![Noone\_Special](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noone_special/32/2863_2.png) [@Noone\_Special](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noone_Special)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2007, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-science-fictiony-thing-thats-a-reality-today/393760/47 "2007-02-27T09:17:32Z")
[QUOTE=Sublight] BET [/QUOTE] 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Klaatu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Klaatu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Klaatu)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2007, 10:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-science-fictiony-thing-thats-a-reality-today/393760/48 "2007-02-27T10:11:02Z")
To me, as a long time amputee, it is [this.](http://www.ottobockus.com/products/lower_limb_prosthetics/c-legproduct.asp) Twenty years ago, I wouldn’t have imagined it. I got a new one last year, it’s a life changer. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2007, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-science-fictiony-thing-thats-a-reality-today/393760/49 "2007-02-27T12:41:54Z")
[QUOTE=Noone Special] 😕 [/QUOTE] [BET](http://www.bet.com/) ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2007, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-science-fictiony-thing-thats-a-reality-today/393760/50 "2007-02-27T14:29:21Z")
BET is science-fictiony? ---
**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:** [February 27, 2007, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-science-fictiony-thing-thats-a-reality-today/393760/51 "2007-02-27T14:32:40Z")
[QUOTE=Noone Special] Something so mundane and usual it hasn’t really come up yet – the Word Processor. Even 25 years ago, let alone 50, every office still had an army of stenos on typewriters; WhiteOut/TipEx had pretty much **just** been invented, but you still had to pull the page out, cover the typo, put it back in _just so_, then retype. If you wanted graphics as well, you needed a professional printer and had to do layouts and proofs… let’s not even think about **color**! [/QUOTE] > [@Lumpy](#): > > - PC applications: computer games, desktop publishing, automated spread sheets and word processing 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Noone\_Special](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noone_special/32/2863_2.png) [@Noone\_Special](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noone_Special)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2007, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-science-fictiony-thing-thats-a-reality-today/393760/52 "2007-02-27T14:45:12Z")
**Lumpy** – that’s why I said “not really” rather than “not at all.” You mentioned office automation / word processing briefly in your OP and few if any others elaborated on it – which IMHO is looking over a **very** major aspect. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2007, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-science-fictiony-thing-thats-a-reality-today/393760/53 "2007-02-27T14:46:37Z")
[Microchip implants to ID pets](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microchip_implant_(animal)). I’m sure that would raise an eyebrow on a person snatched from 1957. ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2007, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-science-fictiony-thing-thats-a-reality-today/393760/54 "2007-02-27T15:06:03Z")
Fiber optic cable? Using light to transmit data might have made the masses go “Oooo! Aaaah!” ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2007, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-science-fictiony-thing-thats-a-reality-today/393760/55 "2007-02-27T15:07:40Z")
[QUOTE=Klaatu] To me, as a long time amputee, it is [this.](http://www.ottobockus.com/products/lower_limb_prosthetics/c-legproduct.asp) Twenty years ago, I wouldn’t have imagined it. I got a new one last year, it’s a life changer. [/QUOTE] > [@](#): > > With just a few simple taps of the toe the C-Leg can switch between modes and go from a secure walking knee to a locked knee, such as for a surgeon to lean on during long procedures-or less resistance for a bicyclist who needs a freely swinging knee. Holy Moley! That’s better than the standard issue legs I was issued before birth! (Honestly, did you make the $6,000,000 man noise when you tried it on for the first time?) ---
**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:** [February 27, 2007, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-science-fictiony-thing-thats-a-reality-today/393760/56 "2007-02-27T15:33:21Z")
[QUOTE=Dewey Finn] BET is science-fictiony? [/QUOTE] In the 50s we still had the occasional lynching of black people in Georgia. (Last one occurred in the 50s in Monroe County) so, yeah, it would amaze black people from that era, along with the other progress that’s been made. Like movies in which black men have sexual relationships with white women, that don’t inspire riots. Not to mention hard core porn along these lines. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2007, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-science-fictiony-thing-thats-a-reality-today/393760/57 "2007-02-27T15:58:34Z")
[QUOTE=mlees] Fiber optic cable? Using light to transmit data might have made the masses go “Oooo! Aaaah!” [/QUOTE] Just like a really really fast Aldis lamp. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2007, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-science-fictiony-thing-thats-a-reality-today/393760/58 "2007-02-27T15:59:52Z")
[QUOTE=Dewey Finn] BET is science-fictiony? [/QUOTE] Racial equality and harmony are science-fictiony. ---
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2007, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-science-fictiony-thing-thats-a-reality-today/393760/59 "2007-02-27T16:36:33Z")
[QUOTE=Thirty-Nine] It’s done for location what the watch did for time! (Though I guess it’s not as useful, because we don’t tend to drift through space the way we drift through time.) [/QUOTE] ::bumps into **Thirty-Nine** :: Oh, sorry. I must have lost track of space. [QUOTE=Noone Special] If you wanted graphics as well, you needed a professional printer and had to do layouts and proofs… let’s not even think about color! [/QUOTE] And before you did that, you hired a graphic artist to lay it out with a razor blade and a straight edge. Nowadays, you do it yourself on the computer. Whether that tends towards utopia or dystopia is still undetermined. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2007, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-science-fictiony-thing-thats-a-reality-today/393760/60 "2007-02-27T16:40:30Z")
Bringing someone from 1957 into 2007 to show them the leaps we’ve made in technology I think they’d be impressed by: - Everyone, even kids, have cell phones and can be contacted pretty much anywhere at any time. - Computers in the workplace. Every single desk in an office has a computer at it. And everyones connected by them and can send info back and forth instantly. - Flat tvs and monitors. Hanging on walls and attached to mini computers with hinges. not impressed by: - Transportation. Sure the cars look different but they still run on gas, use the same roadway system, and have 4 rubber tires. Airplanes for mass transit look the same and haven’t got any faster. Trains and subways have stayed pretty much the same. - Robots. Sure they’re used for manufacturing but you don’t see them walking down the street or delivering pizzas. - Buildings and homes. No we don’t live in foam houses, still are light frame construction. While there are examples of futuristic buildings for the most part all new construction is 4 walls a roof and some doors and windows. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-science-fictiony-thing-thats-a-reality-today/393760.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-science-fictiony-thing-thats-a-reality-today/393760.md?page=4)