# WOW! I am living in the future..... **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 5, 2007, 8:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-i-am-living-in-the-future/402864 "2007-05-05T08:48:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Full\_Metal\_Lotus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/df705f/32.png) [@Full\_Metal\_Lotus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Full_Metal_Lotus)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2007, 8:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-i-am-living-in-the-future/402864/1 "2007-05-05T08:48:46Z")
Those of us of a “certain age” will remember shows and movies and TV that was predicting what the future will bring… Today a guy showed me a phone with infrared and night vision capabilities that he could also use to browse the internet. I felt “old”… not because I couldn’t understand the technology involved, but because those sort of things were part of a "far off’ futuire when I was child… I hope I am making my self clear with this analogy, but my quetion is, to the older dopers, what makes you say "WOW!.. I am in “the future!” regards FML ---
**Author:** ![postcards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8e8cbc/32.png) [@postcards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/postcards)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2007, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-i-am-living-in-the-future/402864/2 "2007-05-05T14:27:19Z")
Still waiting for my flying car… ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2007, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-i-am-living-in-the-future/402864/3 "2007-05-05T14:44:14Z")
[wrist watch televisions](http://www.wristdreams.com/archives/2004/05/tv_wrist_watch.html) used to be the stuff of the Jetsons. ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2007, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-i-am-living-in-the-future/402864/4 "2007-05-05T17:23:02Z")
It doesn’t have to be recent to be high-tech… About 25 years ago when cable TV got popular,I said the future had arrived. I remembered a scene in the movie ‘2001 A Space Odyssey’ where the astronauts see televison from earth, and they were watching BBC 12…_Twelve_, yes 12, channels!!! Everybody in the audience (in London, 1967) laughed out loud–BBC had just expanded and started a 2nd channel, which was obviously all anyone needed. ---
**Author:** ![Nancarrow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c37758/32.png) [@Nancarrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nancarrow)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2007, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-i-am-living-in-the-future/402864/5 "2007-05-05T18:09:41Z")
My new notebook computer. It’s hardly the most advanced of its kind… but it’s got two strips of blue LED lighting on it, with a gradient so they’re bright towards the middle of the machine and fade out towards the edges. Utterly pointless, but utterly ‘It is the year… 2007!!’ ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2007, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-i-am-living-in-the-future/402864/6 "2007-05-05T19:03:04Z")
[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic] [wrist watch televisions](http://www.wristdreams.com/archives/2004/05/tv_wrist_watch.html) used to be the stuff of the Jetsons. [/QUOTE] Of course you have to ask how useful a wristwatch TV is. Hey! Lawrence Of Arabia’s on TCM in letterbox. Cool! let’s watch it on my 2-inch screen. ---
**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:** [May 5, 2007, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-i-am-living-in-the-future/402864/7 "2007-05-05T19:42:39Z")
It’s worse when the future stuff is now obsolete. Remember Dick Tracy’s two way wrist radio? Or Maxell Smart’s shoephone for that matter! ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2007, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-i-am-living-in-the-future/402864/8 "2007-05-05T20:20:11Z")
[QUOTE=postcards] Still waiting for my flying car… [/QUOTE] I want to book a room at the Luna City Hilton. ---
**Author:** ![Barrington](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Barrington](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barrington)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2007, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-i-am-living-in-the-future/402864/9 "2007-05-06T00:32:55Z")
[QUOTE=chappachula] I remembered a scene in the movie ‘2001 A Space Odyssey’ where the astronauts see televison from earth, and they were watching BBC 12…_Twelve_, yes 12, channels!!! Everybody in the audience (in London, 1967) laughed out loud–BBC had just expanded and started a 2nd channel, which was obviously all anyone needed. [/QUOTE] You were already living in the future back then in 1967? _2001_ wasn’t released until 1968. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2007, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-i-am-living-in-the-future/402864/10 "2007-05-06T00:44:15Z")
[QUOTE=chappachula] I remembered a scene in the movie ‘2001 A Space Odyssey’ where the astronauts see televison from earth, and they were watching BBC 12…_Twelve_, yes 12, channels!!! Everybody in the audience (in London, 1967) laughed out loud–BBC had just expanded and started a 2nd channel, which was obviously all anyone needed. [/QUOTE] Well, they had a point. The BBC had, what, a half-hour episode of _Dr. Who_ a week and 17 espisodes of _The Prisoner_. How many documentaries about cheesemaking and the fall of the Roman Empire do you need before you’ve filled up the bandwidth of two channels? Now we have 500 channels…and proportionally less actual content. Ain’t progress grand? Stranger ---
**Author:** ![BobPi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3da27b/32.png) [@BobPi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobPi)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2007, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-i-am-living-in-the-future/402864/11 "2007-05-06T00:45:14Z")
[QUOTE=postcards] Still waiting for my flying car… [/QUOTE] Damn, that means I can’t get one. It’s a great idea when you’re the only one up there, but once there’s two, you know what’s gonna happen. ---
**Author:** ![BobPi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3da27b/32.png) [@BobPi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobPi)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2007, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-i-am-living-in-the-future/402864/12 "2007-05-06T00:47:58Z")
[QUOTE=Full Metal Lotus] Those of us of a “certain age” will remember shows and movies and TV that was predicting what the future will bring… [/QUOTE] This only goes to show you that the future isn’t what it used to be. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2007, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-i-am-living-in-the-future/402864/13 "2007-05-06T01:19:50Z")
[Domestic](http://store.irobot.com/family/index.jsp?categoryId=2501652&cp=2174940) and [yard maintenance robots](http://www.friendlyrobotics.com/). ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2007, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-i-am-living-in-the-future/402864/14 "2007-05-06T01:27:19Z")
Many commercial airliners can fly from departure runway center-line to arrival runway center-line on autopilot. That is pretty cool although it doesn’t much to the passengers except for the occasional landing that couldn’t be done before. They still haven’t made all that progress with cars though. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2007, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-i-am-living-in-the-future/402864/15 "2007-05-06T01:30:26Z")
[QUOTE=postcards] Still waiting for my flying car… [/QUOTE] Dude, the 1940’s called and they want their anticipation back. > **[Aerocar](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerocar_Aerocar)** > > Aerocar International's Aerocar (often called the Taylor Aerocar) is an American roadable aircraft designed and built by Moulton Taylor in Longview, Washington in 1949. Although six examples were made, it never entered large-scale production. It is considered one of the first practical flying cars. Taylor began designing a roadable aircraft in 1946. During a trip to Delaware, he met inventor Robert E. Fulton, Jr., who had designed an earlier roadable airplane, the Airphibian, with detachable wing... ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2007, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-i-am-living-in-the-future/402864/16 "2007-05-06T01:55:53Z")
In what way is that anything other than a 4-wheeled airplane? ---
**Author:** ![Shamozzle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shamozzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shamozzle)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2007, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-i-am-living-in-the-future/402864/17 "2007-05-06T02:18:03Z")
When I was a kid we had one TV channel and a b/w TV. 25 years later, I can follow the 3D path of a commercial jet on Google Earth in real-time. When it flies over my house, I can go out on the patio and look up and see that exact same jet in real life. I find that compelling. ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2007, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-i-am-living-in-the-future/402864/18 "2007-05-06T02:22:17Z")
**CRISWELL PREDICTS!** I predict that by the Year 2007, the Electronic Brain will be a commonplace sight in every American home! This remarkable advancement will enable you to work, bank, and browse the contents of the world’s great libraries and museums, all from the comfort of your own living room! The Electronic Brain will combine the advantages of television, radio, and newspapers, providing you with constantly updated information 24 Hours a Day! The Electronic Brain will anticipate your wants and needs, offering suggestions for goods and services from around the globe based on your individual choices and personality! The Electronic Brain will entertain you with games and fantastic recreational diversions never before imagined! Daily, people from all nations and all walks of life will interact with ease via the medium of the Electronic Brain! Travel will be easier than ever before, as the Electronic Brain will instantly provide maps of every metropolitan center, as well as space satellite photographs of the entire Earth-- including your own home! Remember this prediction! Yes, my friend, all these things will come to pass by… **the Year 2007!** ---
**Author:** ![BobPi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3da27b/32.png) [@BobPi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobPi)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2007, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-i-am-living-in-the-future/402864/19 "2007-05-06T03:44:38Z")
[QUOTE=RTFirefly] [Domestic](http://store.irobot.com/family/index.jsp?categoryId=2501652&cp=2174940) and [yard maintenance robots](http://www.friendlyrobotics.com/). [/QUOTE] Meh. You call that a robot? When they come up with a robot that will pick up, wash, fold and put away the laundry, then I’ll buy one. And pay damn good money for it too. ---
**Author:** ![Monstera\_deliciosa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monstera_deliciosa/32/109_2.png) [@Monstera\_deliciosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monstera_deliciosa)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2007, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-i-am-living-in-the-future/402864/20 "2007-05-06T03:48:02Z")
[QUOTE=BobPi] Meh. You call that a robot? When they come up with a robot that will pick up, wash, fold and put away the laundry, then I’ll buy one. And pay damn good money for it too. [/QUOTE] You’re turning up your nose at a robot that’ll mow the lawn? Sweetheart, have you looked at our backyard lately?! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-i-am-living-in-the-future/402864.md?page=2)