Loose Time in Fat City, part 2

[Doktor Howl]

When you sit down and think about it, a time machine is a pretty useless idea, right now. 

You can visit the past any time you like, usually within a few minutes’ walk.  It’s all around you.  As for visiting people in the past, why bother?  They’re no different than the people you have around you today...And as far as the “interesting” people back in the year dot, there’s plenty of interesting people around you right now, if you’d just take a minute to get to know them.

As for living like it’s the past, shut off your computer and read a book.  Leave the car in the drive and go for a walk.  It’s really just that easy.

And the future, well, the future will be on your doorstep soon enough, all sticky with blood and ashen with fear, all 10+ billion of them wondering where dinner is.  No, the future isn’t worth considering, time machine-wise, because you’re already going there, at a rate of one minute per minute.

As for living in the future, you’re already doing it.  You have amenities and conveniences that were never even imagined back in 1980...Let alone 1900.  It used to take 6 weeks to get a photograph to England...Now I can take a picture with my phone and send it anywhere in the world, total time elapsed being about 30 seconds.

We are all living in a science fiction novel, each and every one of us.  We’ve managed to avoid all the really dismal predictions, like eating pills instead of real food (Why did anyone ever think food pills were a good idea?), “welfare islands”, and robots all over the damn place...Instead, we’ve managed to build a paradise of information gizmos and conveniences - the fact that it is a fool’s paradise notwithstanding - and we have no appreciation for it.  The very fact that you take reading this for granted is all the proof required to demonstrate this.

So instead of yearning for a past that wasn’t as cool as we’d like to think, or ignoring what’s happening today in favor of what might happen tomorrow (as the “transhumanists” do), perhaps we’d be better off exploring the world that we actually have, and getting to know the people that already surround us.

Okay for now,
Dok

[LMNO]

YESYESYESYESYES.


Dok, I'm really digging these.

[Adios]

Hell, Dok, I look back over the past and all the changes that have happened in just my lifetime. I don't recognize this place anymore. Somehow it mostly seems to have left me behind.

[Juana]

I still think it'd be cool to meet some dead people, but you're very right. There ARE interesting people all around us. Just gotta look for 'em.

[Dysfunctional Cunt]

Profound Horrorology?

I'm liking this new series a lot!!

So instead of yearning for a past that wasn't as cool as we'd like to think, or ignoring what's happening today in favor of what might happen tomorrow (as the "transhumanists" do), perhaps we'd be better off exploring the world that we actually have, and getting to know the people that already surround us.

This is advice that so many people really need to understand!!!

[Luna]

So instead of yearning for a past that wasn’t as cool as we’d like to think, or ignoring what’s happening today in favor of what might happen tomorrow (as the “transhumanists” do), perhaps we’d be better off exploring the world that we actually have, and getting to know the people that already surround us.

May I quote that?

[Phox]

When you sit down and think about it, a time machine is a pretty useless idea, right now. 

You can visit the past any time you like, usually within a few minutes’ walk.  It’s all around you.  As for visiting people in the past, why bother?  They’re no different than the people you have around you today...And as far as the “interesting” people back in the year dot, there’s plenty of interesting people around you right now, if you’d just take a minute to get to know them.

As for living like it’s the past, shut off your computer and read a book.  Leave the car in the drive and go for a walk.  It’s really just that easy.

And the future, well, the future will be on your doorstep soon enough, all sticky with blood and ashen with fear, all 10+ billion of them wondering where dinner is.  No, the future isn’t worth considering, time machine-wise, because you’re already going there, at a rate of one minute per minute.

As for living in the future, you’re already doing it.  You have amenities and conveniences that were never even imagined back in 1980...Let alone 1900.  It used to take 6 weeks to get a photograph to England...Now I can take a picture with my phone and send it anywhere in the world, total time elapsed being about 30 seconds.

We are all living in a science fiction novel, each and every one of us.  We’ve managed to avoid all the really dismal predictions, like eating pills instead of real food (Why did anyone ever think food pills were a good idea?), “welfare islands”, and robots all over the damn place...Instead, we’ve managed to build a paradise of information gizmos and conveniences - the fact that it is a fool’s paradise notwithstanding - and we have no appreciation for it.  The very fact that you take reading this for granted is all the proof required to demonstrate this.

So instead of yearning for a past that wasn’t as cool as we’d like to think, or ignoring what’s happening today in favor of what might happen tomorrow (as the “transhumanists” do), perhaps we’d be better off exploring the world that we actually have, and getting to know the people that already surround us.

Okay for now,
Dok

[The Good Reverend Roger]

So instead of yearning for a past that wasn’t as cool as we’d like to think, or ignoring what’s happening today in favor of what might happen tomorrow (as the “transhumanists” do), perhaps we’d be better off exploring the world that we actually have, and getting to know the people that already surround us.

May I quote that?

Certainly.

[Don Coyote]

[Jenne]

Awsomeness.  And that last paragraph--sooooo agree!  Fuck yeah.

[trippinprincezz13]

to the whole thing

We are all living in a science fiction novel, each and every one of us.  We’ve managed to avoid all the really dismal predictions, like eating pills instead of real food (Why did anyone ever think food pills were a good idea?), “welfare islands”, and robots all over the damn place...Instead, we’ve managed to build a paradise of information gizmos and conveniences - the fact that it is a fool’s paradise notwithstanding - and we have no appreciation for it.  The very fact that you take reading this for granted is all the proof required to demonstrate this.

The bolded part is very true. We went a show in Boston the other night and I was mildly surprised at the amount of hippies wandering outside still looking for extra tickets. "Tickets were pretty much sold out right after they went on sale, they should have expected that." And the thought flashed through my mind of "how did people find out about stuff before the internet?" A silly question, perhaps, since I can come up with any number of answers to that question (the internet seemed to be gaining popularity towards the middle-end of my middle school years). But even though most of my life has been (relatively) technology infused, every so often I do take a step back and am amazed at some of the everyday technology that many people don't think twice about now, that would have been inconceivable (or at least some future science-fiction dream) only a few decades ago.

Going to a concert? Well, just wait for your favorite band to post on Facebook when tickets are on sale and be sure to log online the second they do so you can compete with thousands of other computers trying to get the same tickets. No camping overnight in line and waiting hours to buy those tickets - I'm not even sure how many people still call to buy tickets as opposed to plugging it in online. I don't listen to the radio that often, so I can't speak for what kind of advertisements there were there, and I'm sure there must have been some ads on TV or posters hung up somewhere, speaking for myself, I only heard about the show online. And of course there's always word of mouth, but the reliance on the internet for news/shopping/etc. is still quite amazing to me when I think about it. And this is coming from someone who has spent most of her life in the "technology age". There was certainly no Ticketmaster online for the older generation of Deadheads there who have been following the band since back in the day.

[trippinprincezz13]

Not to mention, couldn't get a ticket and so you missed the show? No worries, pictures, set lists and videos will be all over Facebook and Youtube the next day for your viewing pleasure. No need to worry about finding someone with a videotape of the show they recorded, if one even exists. Instant access! It's like you're really there!