Is the future a let down?

I suppose this question is mainly for those of the age to think the chap in my avatar is THE Dr.

When I were a wee gobshite in the 70's, I figured by now we'd be holidaying on the moon and getting around in antigrav cars and shit.

Instead we've wasted science on making new products for non existing markets, then creating the markets for them, and we've spent our money, not onlife, but as ever on killing each other.

I feel fucking cheated by the Human Race.

Two quotes come to mind.......

The first is A.C.Clarke, who stated that the vietnam war would have paid for every ship, station and base seen in the movie 2001 (with the exception of HAL and of course the giant space brick everything in it is VERY tightly based on reality).

And the second is from the lips of a later Dr. "I should've told them to run - as fast as they can, run and hide because the monsters are coming; the human race. "

because I'm starting to think that when we DO finally work out that this rock is only the nurery, we'll take everything shite about us with us into the grown up universe :(

Pretty much what I expected. Never had any expectations of holidaying on the moon, eating catfood or speaking 114 languages.

Couldnt tell you, too young me thinks

Quite good actually.

Well I was raised on futuristic movies (umm, Back to the Future II ), so I was hoping for flying cars and hyperspace at least in the near future.

But sociologically, I would hope that poverty/discrimination/oppression/war/disease would abate even a little....guess that won't be happening for awhile

My quote comes from Chris Rock (paraphrased) "Remember when we were kids and we thought the future would be great? Flying cars and robots? Like "The Jetsons". Man it ain't even "The Jeffersons" !"

An original campbell, that I often trail out....

There's 2 version of the future, Star trek and Blade Runner, we all want Trek, but we know we're getting Blade Runner.

I kept my original post brief, but yes, I was rather driving at the idea that we'd have worked out the "all monkeys together" thing, fed the hungry and stopped fighting. Or at least made progress. It seems we're backsliding if anything. Science is under attack from all manner of supersticions, from whacky religious types to clueless greenies (I mean the clueless and whacky ones btw, lets not think all of those two groups are the unhelpful sort.. mind you, they all still lap up everything evil science throws to them). We're pissing lives and billions away on oil rather than make any effort to break free of it, and our space program has become, EZparkingtrashinorbit.com.

Kinda chuffed for yous'uns who weren't all misty eyed and optimistic. Captin sensible (someone can namecheck the original if they know it) may have said "if you don't have a dream, how you gonna have a dream come true" but equally, no dreams = no shattered dreams.

I shall now shush before ppl start wrist slitting :D

WANTED: one handbasket, suitable for 7.5 billion passengers; must be flame resistant.

Mr Sheds on a Plane, Martin Gore wrote the lyrics:

'Put it all down and start again,from the top to the bottom And Then,I'll have faith, or I preferTo think that things couldn't turn out worse...'

in 1983.

Lies have since spread on lies. War has continued to spread on war. Etc. has turned into Etc. Etc. Etc. Etc....

If things are really going to start heading in the direction the last generation were still hoping for before the future went up in smoke over Houston in 1986, we need a completely different manifesto, and a means of achieving its implementation in moral, legal, peaceful AND democratic terms.

Right on... Pardon my ignorance, but what happened in Houston in '86?

Sheds on a Plane wrote: Right on... Pardon my ignorance, but what happened in Houston in '86?

boom boom in sky teacher died

never a fan of the shuttle....over engineered and over complex beyond belief....it's almost an icon of the misuse of science to me.....more about greasing the right palms and lining the right pockets than the best way to get Americans into space safely. The actual death of Challenger and her brave crew was the finest example of NASA dickwittedness (right up until they deleted the results of foam impacts that were too large for their modelling software).

But the point you make about it being a watersh*d in terms of the US space program is no less valid.

The whole time of course, the Ruskies were living in an old Milk tanker above the Earth, that caught fire and had crashes and STILL had to be brought down deliberately in the end.

US money with Russian wit and we'll be back on the moon next month :D

the trouble with the future (the present) is it's impossible to keep up with.ain't got the time man.ain't got the time

How can it be, when you never know what's going to, or not going to happen?

There's 2 version of the future, Star trek and Blade Runner, we all want Trek, but we know we're getting Blade Runner.

How true. Never suprises me how stupid humanity is, especially Americans. Never preparing for the future. Burning oil like it's unlimited. The chemicalization of agriculture and food. And then the political situation of the planet.

Twist, singer of the Blessing Way wrote:

There's 2 version of the future, Star trek and Blade Runner, we all want Trek, but we know we're getting Blade Runner.

How true. Never suprises me how stupid humanity is, especially Americans. Never preparing for the future. Burning oil like it's unlimited. The chemicalization of agriculture and food. And then the political situation of the planet.

Well I've never been one to see ALL of that as ALL bad,but doing self same things with a bit of wit and responsibilty would be a good start. Sadly once again, human fuckwittedness stops that, because it's gotta be all or nothing, black or white, and anyone who steps up to say that grey would work nicely ends up with 2 sets of enemies.

ChrissMari wrote:

Sheds on a Plane wrote: Right on... Pardon my ignorance, but what happened in Houston in '86?

boom boom in sky teacher died

Right, thought that happened over Florida, but they were quite a bit away, so Houston makes sense...

Sheds on a Plane, History Buff

What's it gonna take? An ecological Pearl Harbor or 9/11 to wake the planet up? The Day after tomorrow? Will there be time? The only good thing about bad things that sometimes they restore sight and sanity.

Yes. I expected far cooler stuff by now. Though, I'll give them some breaks. I never thought gaming consoles would get this awesome. I didn't believe computers would ever be able to make the graphics in my head come to life on my screen in such realistic ways. I wasn't sure that we'd have true mobile telephones or wireless internet, either.

I'm disappointed in the space program, but I still believe in it. I know it'll get better, and I know that either through government or private funding and intelligence, we'll get some awesome technology out of it.

Cars seem stuck in the stone age, and I know manufacturers can bring us fantastic models with better fuelage and better designs. I know that Dean Kamen can bring down the price on his Segway. I know that reliable, fast mass transit will be a reality for all major cities, one day. I can see there being use for robots other than to transport medicines and lightly assist at surgery in hospitals in the future.

I guess I just have to bide my time. In the meantime, I'll read all about the wonderful inventions that are being thought of and tried today.

Twist, singer of the Blessing Way wrote: What's it gonna take? An ecological Pearl Harbor or 9/11 to wake the planet up? The Day after tomorrow? Will there be time? The only good thing about bad things that sometimes they restore sight and sanity.

in the end tho, NOTHING we can do can affect the earth in any real way. If we let off all our bombs and release all our germs and do every terrible thing we can. We'll only affect the planet for a million years or so... a mere eyeblink.

Steve Campbell wrote: If we let off all our bombs and release all our germs and do every terrible thing we can.

Steve Campbell - PROPER Viking!

it's looking so bright i just might have to put on some shades.

Be sure to add sunblock. Certain area require a bottle of O2.

AgentWood wrote: it's looking so bright i just might have to put on some shades.

Is it really? And why might that be?

i certainly didn't expect to still be tavelling around in a vehicele powered by an internal combustion engine. i thought travel would be much faster, and the working day shorter. other than things are pretty much as i thought they would be.

Uncle Liam wrote:

AgentWood wrote: it's looking so bright i just might have to put on some shades.

Is it really? And why might that be?

probably got a refund on her Scouse quest tickets ;)

Refund? It were me who paid for them!

Uncle Liam wrote: Refund? It were me who paid for them!

LOL...mail order yanks

Nah, THAT's why she's so stoked, she's not only got out of putting up with your miserable gob, she's got a wad of dead presidents as a nice bonus ;)

well in the 70's I wanted to be an astronaut, play for United and be a pop star.

Thanks to hard drugs, the PS2 and Will letting me have a minute on stage with Re: Order the future has been everything I imagined it to be :D

BA if van nis and saha are battling for a place in the team then your dream of playing aint going to happen.sorry mate rovers up for 6th place,accy stanley back in the pro league.couple of order gigs,doing well with the bird.tesco now sell havana club,getting my new double glazed windows fitted monday,better year than expected.so yea its been ace so far

bansheeman wrote: BA if van nis and saha are battling for a place in the team then your dream of playing aint going to happen.sorry mate

I've played for United on the PS2 mate. And been into space on hard drugs.

re-read the post

Technology is great but it hasn't made us better people.

People don't seem to give a shit about eachother anymore and respect for one another gets less and less.

Technology hasn't stopped crap customer service, it's got worse. 20 years ago we didn't wait in a queue on the phone with a voice saying, "your call is important to us......".

I still can't fathom why so much money is spent on space exploration when millions of people around the world are starving.

But, it's great to be able to voice my opinion on NOOL like this. :)