Where is my jetpack?

T

Timshel

New member
I was thinking last night how we have not come as far as we should have. Think of sci-fi writers and where they were predicting we would be. They are usually a few years/decades early, but it does not seem like we are even any where near 2001 a space odyssey. And that was supposed to be 7 years ago.

I'll be 37 on the 28th and think about where I thought we'd be when I was a kid. Hell, look at back to the future 2 and where he was supposed to be when he was old with kids, and M J Fox is not much older than me.

I think we spend too much on the war machine. Last night I nearly got some guy to punch me, with bashing our military spending and then I sent him nearly over the edge by saying f the American auto industry. He and another guy were talking about the technology spin-offs from the military. Yeah, wow! There are spin-off techs from everything. Football and other sports have generated significant spin-offs in medicine. You could spend trillions on just about anything and come up with some spin-off techs to brag about. Think about all the techs that have died because we killed some potentially great scientist or spent money rebuilding things we blew up.

Secondary theories are our best science minds spend too much time on highly theoretical nonsense, e.g., what is dark matter, explaining a black hole, etc., and not enough time on figuring out how to build a method of testing their theories, i.e., better spaceships.

And another is we think too much about entertainment. Yeah an IPod is fun, but it does not enrich me very much.

Oh well, that's my rant or part of it. I am still optimistic, but maybe a little less so.

We have to find away off this rock. I think we will do it living in spaceship colonies, before we actually figure out how to colonize other planets. But, first we got to quit fighting over nonsense and find a way to do what the prophet Rodney King said. :)
 
At the turn of the century, into the 20th not this one, the NY Times had an article that predicted we'd all be walking "20 miles with ease"...

Journalists don't make the best science fiction writers.
 
I see the way people drive when they have the limitation of ground transportation. Jetpacks would have simply reduced the population.

Besides, I always thought they would be to quick to burn your all.
 
RStringfield said:
I was thinking last night how we have not come as far as we should have. Think of sci-fi writers and where they were predicting we would be. They are usually a few years/decades early, but it does not seem like we are even any where near 2001 a space odyssey. And that was supposed to be 7 years ago.
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Maybe in space technology and stuff, but I imagine there's some things we've accomplished today that they couldn't have even thought possible. There's a tendency for people to think things that are practically impossible (like turning mercury into gold, which we can actually do now but is more expensive than mining) are easy and will be achieved soon, and things that they think are impossible happen much more quickly. Or things that they think are boring having a million practical applications once found.
 
For instance, think about the flying car. Just not practical for a number of safety and cost reasons. Never was. Wouldn't be that useful if we actually had it.
 
RStringfield said:
Secondary theories are our best science minds spend too much time on highly theoretical nonsense, e.g., what is dark matter, explaining a black hole, etc., and not enough time on figuring out how to build a method of testing their theories, i.e., better spaceships.
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You're talking about the difference between scientists and engineers RS. I'm pretty sure there are more engineers anyway.
 
Watermark said:
And what exactly does enrich us?
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He is (I think) referring to the difference between a gadget that is fun and something that actually improves our lives, like a pc or microwave. Although, in terms of enriching our lives I would think the pc has done more than almost anything else in the last few decades.
 
Watermark said:
And what exactly does enrich us?
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Food, shelter. Though we have made some significant advances in food production.

I agree with your earlier posts. Yeah, more science minds at engineering, less at philosophical mumbo-jumbo.

The title is just a teaser, who needs a jetpack anyway when we can work from home, as I do. I think we will see much more of that in the future.

We've made some real advances. I just think we have to get off this planet if we want our species and the other species of this world to survive. Sooner or later, probably much later (but we are between ice ages) we will get hit by another big meteor and unless we want to go the way of the dinosaur...
 
RStringfield said:
Food, shelter. Though we have made some significant advances in food production.

I agree with your earlier posts. Yeah, more science minds at engineering, less at philosophical mumbo-jumbo.

The title is just a teaser, who needs a jetpack anyway when we can work from home, as I do. I think we will see much more of that in the future.

We've made some real advances. I just think we have to get off this planet if we want our species and the other species of this world to survive. Sooner or later, probably much later (but we are between ice ages) we will get hit by another big meteor and unless we want to go the way of the dinosaur...
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Meteor? The dinosaurs are extinct because they once looked at Chuck Norris wrong. Once.
 
Which is why the UFOs are here.

We are too scary and they dont want us to come and play yet.

We need some more evolvin' first.
 
Solitary said:
He is (I think) referring to the difference between a gadget that is fun and something that actually improves our lives, like a pc or microwave. Although, in terms of enriching our lives I would think the pc has done more than almost anything else in the last few decades.
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I responded with the basics, but yeah real time saving devices are great. I would bash the combustible engine as old tech, but we could not support our current population without it.

Water is right, we are moving. I am just being an old sourpuss, I guess. :)
 
Come on you know you love that new game system.

It also helps develop the interactivity of our future information systems.
 
RStringfield said:
Food, shelter. Though we have made some significant advances in food production.

I agree with your earlier posts. Yeah, more science minds at engineering, less at philosophical mumbo-jumbo.

The title is just a teaser, who needs a jetpack anyway when we can work from home, as I do. I think we will see much more of that in the future.

We've made some real advances. I just think we have to get off this planet if we want our species and the other species of this world to survive. Sooner or later, probably much later (but we are between ice ages) we will get hit by another big meteor and unless we want to go the way of the dinosaur...
Click to expand...

LOL but we've only been intelligent for like 10k years. The dinosaurs managed to continue for a hundred million years. I think in the next thousand or so years we'll have colonized the solar system, and that's the blink of an eye in a geologic time frame. Not saying that mass extinction (from non man made sources) isn't going to happen, it's just not likely.
 
RStringfield said:
I responded with the basics, but yeah real time saving devices are great. I would bash the combustible engine as old tech, but we could not support our current population without it.

Water is right, we are moving. I am just being an old sourpuss, I guess. :)
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LOL

Modern technology may be useful, it's just not that goddamn awesome.
 
Watermark said:
And what exactly does enrich us?
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Schools, libraries,medicine.
Now there is one area where we have made good strides. Medicine. Just 35 years ago with a bad heart is was only a question of when you would have the big final heart attack.
 
Of course, the best tech is kept for exclusive use by the Internationalist Fascist Global Junta for use against the general population.
 
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