# You wake up five years from now. Technologically, what's the hardest thing to get used to? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 26, 2013, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-wake-up-five-years-from-now-technologically-whats-the-hardest-thing-to-get-used-to/661984 "2013-06-26T20:28:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2013, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-wake-up-five-years-from-now-technologically-whats-the-hardest-thing-to-get-used-to/661984/1 "2013-06-26T20:28:39Z")
Rip Van Winkle style, I mean. For me, it’s this confounded eyes-screen interface. STAY STILL, DAMMIT! If I wanted to scroll down I would have used my MOUSE to scroll down, as God intended! Where’s the mouse? ---
**Author:** ![JerrySTL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e274bd/32.png) [@JerrySTL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JerrySTL)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2013, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-wake-up-five-years-from-now-technologically-whats-the-hardest-thing-to-get-used-to/661984/2 "2013-06-26T20:34:10Z")
Alarm clocks - obviously. ---
**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:** [June 26, 2013, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-wake-up-five-years-from-now-technologically-whats-the-hardest-thing-to-get-used-to/661984/3 "2013-06-26T20:52:26Z")
How to get my flying car out of second gear. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2013, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-wake-up-five-years-from-now-technologically-whats-the-hardest-thing-to-get-used-to/661984/4 "2013-06-26T20:59:54Z")
> [@Koxinga](#): > > You wake up five years from now. Technologically, what’s the hardest thing to get used to? The slave-chains tethering me to my iPhone 37-assembly worktable in the WalMart Opportunity Center just outside Phoenix. (Yes, that’s right: in just five short years a combination of forces, enabled by US Supreme Court decisions, will have brought _Romney’s Dream_\* to the USA: giant living-and-working compounds, “sponsored” by the corporate giants that will now be openly ruling our society. (And yes: they DO chain comotose people to worktables…because if they do wake up, they need to start being Productive right away! :eek:) \*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQ2n6GTpQBQ](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQ2n6GTpQBQ) ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2013, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-wake-up-five-years-from-now-technologically-whats-the-hardest-thing-to-get-used-to/661984/5 "2013-06-26T21:14:21Z")
I for one will welcome our ant overlords. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2013, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-wake-up-five-years-from-now-technologically-whats-the-hardest-thing-to-get-used-to/661984/6 "2013-06-26T23:19:40Z")
I’ll never get used to the idea that [replicants](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Replicant) look exactly like people. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2013, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-wake-up-five-years-from-now-technologically-whats-the-hardest-thing-to-get-used-to/661984/7 "2013-06-26T23:24:49Z")
There’s a refreshing mix of optimism and deeply-cynical pessimism in this thread. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2013, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-wake-up-five-years-from-now-technologically-whats-the-hardest-thing-to-get-used-to/661984/8 "2013-06-26T23:37:25Z")
The Windows 12 interface. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2013, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-wake-up-five-years-from-now-technologically-whats-the-hardest-thing-to-get-used-to/661984/9 "2013-06-26T23:42:43Z")
Camera drones, printed camera stickers, camera dust. Everywhere. Privacy still exists as a technical legal concept, just not in the real world. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2013, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-wake-up-five-years-from-now-technologically-whats-the-hardest-thing-to-get-used-to/661984/10 "2013-06-26T23:44:56Z")
The Great Baby Boomer Rebellion triggered by the 2016 presidential election is really devastating and unprecedented although not completely unexpected in hindsight. It is like Woodstock all over again except the free love is a whole lot more inappropriate this time around, that brown stuff all over them isn’t just mud and it is hard to tell who is on hard drugs versus those who just have dementia. Arm yourselves now and trust no one over 65. ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2013, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-wake-up-five-years-from-now-technologically-whats-the-hardest-thing-to-get-used-to/661984/11 "2013-06-26T23:49:57Z")
Goose stepping at polling places. ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2013, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-wake-up-five-years-from-now-technologically-whats-the-hardest-thing-to-get-used-to/661984/12 "2013-06-27T02:43:57Z")
My BMW 328 Autodrive insists on taking the scenic routes instead of the highway. I would argue, but her seductive voice always cons me into going along for the ride. ---
**Author:** ![tralfamidor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@tralfamidor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tralfamidor)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2013, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-wake-up-five-years-from-now-technologically-whats-the-hardest-thing-to-get-used-to/661984/13 "2013-06-27T03:04:06Z")
People walking into things, and into me, because they are using their portable heads-up displays to interface with the internet, i.e. surf porn and make Twitter posts. Delays in transit routes because the users of heads-up displays keep walking in front of buses and getting run over. ---
**Author:** ![Scruples](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8491ac/32.png) [@Scruples](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scruples)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2013, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-wake-up-five-years-from-now-technologically-whats-the-hardest-thing-to-get-used-to/661984/14 "2013-06-27T03:21:57Z")
The iPhone 27 with holographic lifesize Siri. ---
**Author:** ![Scholar\_Beardpig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de053/32.png) [@Scholar\_Beardpig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scholar_Beardpig)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2013, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-wake-up-five-years-from-now-technologically-whats-the-hardest-thing-to-get-used-to/661984/15 "2013-06-27T03:26:35Z")
The desk-top computer as we know it, even the laptop, has ceased to exist. The iPhone 9s and Samsung S6s have so much computing power in them, to say nothing of the new tablets, that only hard-core gaming nerds bother with what I’d call a ‘real computer’ anymore. Damn it, a computer is loud, it’s heavy, and it can heat your home on a cold winter night! ---
**Author:** ![Tacit\_Knowledge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@Tacit\_Knowledge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tacit_Knowledge)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2013, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-wake-up-five-years-from-now-technologically-whats-the-hardest-thing-to-get-used-to/661984/16 "2013-06-27T04:11:03Z")
That I was able to predict what technology would be like five years into the future. Other than that, it’s hard to comment on a future that hasn’t happened yet. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2013, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-wake-up-five-years-from-now-technologically-whats-the-hardest-thing-to-get-used-to/661984/17 "2013-06-27T04:25:43Z")
> [@Scholar\_Beardpig](#): > > The desk-top computer as we know it, even the laptop, has ceased to exist. The iPhone 9s and Samsung S6s have so much computing power in them, to say nothing of the new tablets, that only hard-core gaming nerds bother with what I’d call a ‘real computer’ anymore. Damn it, a computer is loud, it’s heavy, and it can heat your home on a cold winter night! It’s a good thing nobody will ever have to write anything in the future, because composing a novel on an ipadiPad touchscreen is gonna suck. I, for one, am gonna have trouble syncing my daily food-and-medicine runs to when Skynet’s Hunter-Killers are down for refueling. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2013, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-wake-up-five-years-from-now-technologically-whats-the-hardest-thing-to-get-used-to/661984/18 "2013-06-27T13:47:16Z")
5 years from now? I’m sure nothing major; I mean, if you took 2008 me and dropped me today, I’d think “Wow, iPhones sure have gotten popular… and someone came out with some competition.” and maybe “Big TVs are a bunch cheaper.” I suspect most everything that will be commonplace in 5 years is already commercially available in some form already. I imagine I’d have to get used to an Xbox One 5 years from now, and maybe a different car, assuming that my current one didn’t make it to 13 years old, but otherwise, I’m sure 99% of the stuff I use daily would be exactly the same as it is today, and most of it would be the exact same stuff I use today. PCs in the home would be in the technical equivalent of hospice care, or at least not too commonly sold anymore, with multi-function appliances vying for the role of PC/DVR/cable box/game console. I don’t see PCs going anywhere in the workplace for a long time though. ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2013, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-wake-up-five-years-from-now-technologically-whats-the-hardest-thing-to-get-used-to/661984/19 "2013-06-27T13:51:02Z")
The mandatory pharmaceuticals to ensure societal normalcy. Oh, and Coke Three. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2013, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-wake-up-five-years-from-now-technologically-whats-the-hardest-thing-to-get-used-to/661984/20 "2013-06-27T13:57:05Z")
Wasn’t 1997 only about five years ago? I don’t see five years being a revolutionary time span. Unless the cell phone network goes sentient and bootstraps itself past the inevitable robot uprising and straight to the Singularity. Then all bets are off. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-wake-up-five-years-from-now-technologically-whats-the-hardest-thing-to-get-used-to/661984.md?page=2)