Just found this thread on Reddit, and since it's a topic that is often discussed (in a way) here, I thought I'd do you all the pleasure of linking it:
http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/czkt7/what_gives_you_that_holy_shit_were_living_in_the/
We aren't living in the future, Trip. We're living in the break of time out of joint, where all the cool shit never happened, and all the old horrors just pool up around us.
Y'know, I used to say that to myself a lot a while back. Now all I think is that we're not really moving anywhere. Sure, there's some new tech and whatnot, but nothing that isn't based on anything that we haven't already had.
The fact that I (can) know within minutes of a major event occurring anywhere on the planet. Or that I can educate myself in a matter of one hour about the back-story behind every political movement in any corner of the globe, or any religion. I have nearly immediate access to almost any piece of relevant information, practically for free. 150 years ago, people were still living, communicating, and organizing in more or less the same ways they had been for 500 years before that. Today, the way people communicated five years ago seems old-fashioned.
Being able to find any category of shops near here and their address, hours, and reviews from 50 people, then plot a bus route complete with time tables, all within 5 minutes.
Not nearly as amazing as Vex's answer, but it did it for me.
Quite a few things give me that feeling. On a larger level, things like the European Union, Russian Federation, and a Peoples Republic of China that is to be reckoned with.
On a smaller level, noticing how quickly things become obsolete. I still have my first cell-phone, which I was cutting edge in 2004. Or the knowledge that measuring something in kilobytes is absurd. Things like that. That, and having a bunch of gadgets has gone from being something nerdy to being a status symbol.
Quote from: Doktor Howl on August 12, 2010, 08:46:42 PM
We aren't living in the future, Trip. We're living in the break of time out of joint, where all the cool shit never happened, and all the old horrors just pool up around us.
This pretty much sums it up for me.
At this point we were supposed to have jetpacks and flying cars and that kind of thing.
Quote from: Khara on August 12, 2010, 10:11:01 PM
Quote from: Doktor Howl on August 12, 2010, 08:46:42 PM
We aren't living in the future, Trip. We're living in the break of time out of joint, where all the cool shit never happened, and all the old horrors just pool up around us.
This pretty much sums it up for me.
At this point we were supposed to have jetpacks and flying cars and that kind of thing.
And space colonies. And deep sea habitats. And bionics and shit. And clean air and water, and cheap power, and a stable population, and big fucking robots. And maglev trains everywhere. And a self-managing house.
But what I got instead was a fucking Ipod and a laptop. Granted, the two of them represent more computing power than existed in the world when I was born, but am I supposed to be happy with that? All the developments that have gone forward have done is increase the workload of some at the expense of others, and kept everyone doped up with benzos and television.
We wimped out after the moon landings. We got a look at the universe, and ran and hid in our living rooms to watch TV until the scary universe was safely forgotten, or became religious fanatics that deny that universe even exists.
So, yeah, that's the "future". A world full of cowering primates. Sort of like the way we started out...We had a brief century or three of real progress, and now we make toys for ourselves and pretend that we're all science-fictiony.
I get that "living in the future feeling" from massive environmental disasters seemingly too numerous to count, coupled with global plutocracy masquerading as free enterprise.
Quote from: eighteen buddha strike on August 12, 2010, 10:28:00 PM
I get that "living in the future feeling" from massive environmental disasters seemingly too numerous to count, coupled with global plutocracy masquerading as free enterprise.
So, 1880.
Quote from: Doktor Howl on August 12, 2010, 10:29:25 PM
Quote from: eighteen buddha strike on August 12, 2010, 10:28:00 PM
I get that "living in the future feeling" from massive environmental disasters seemingly too numerous to count, coupled with global plutocracy masquerading as free enterprise.
So, 1880.
Well, yeah, but the sheer scope of our ability to destroy our environment has increased exponentially since then.
Quote from: eighteen buddha strike on August 12, 2010, 10:34:02 PM
Quote from: Doktor Howl on August 12, 2010, 10:29:25 PM
Quote from: eighteen buddha strike on August 12, 2010, 10:28:00 PM
I get that "living in the future feeling" from massive environmental disasters seemingly too numerous to count, coupled with global plutocracy masquerading as free enterprise.
So, 1880.
Well, yeah, but the sheer scope of our ability to destroy our environment has increased exponentially since then.
Only due to a larger population, and that's still debatable. The 1880s were the worst time for pollution in history, at least in the USA. LOL coal-powered industry.
Quote from: Doktor Howl on August 12, 2010, 10:35:21 PM
Quote from: eighteen buddha strike on August 12, 2010, 10:34:02 PM
Quote from: Doktor Howl on August 12, 2010, 10:29:25 PM
Quote from: eighteen buddha strike on August 12, 2010, 10:28:00 PM
I get that "living in the future feeling" from massive environmental disasters seemingly too numerous to count, coupled with global plutocracy masquerading as free enterprise.
So, 1880.
Well, yeah, but the sheer scope of our ability to destroy our environment has increased exponentially since then.
Only due to a larger population, and that's still debatable. The 1880s were the worst time for pollution in history, at least in the USA. LOL coal-powered industry.
Well, I'll admit that in general our attitudes have evolved a little bit since then. We're not wantonly firing into herds of buffalo from the sides of coal-powered trains, none-the-less the general increase of the human population itself is taxing on our environment. Its hard for me to imagine a future scenario where that growth over-taxes at least one of the resources we need to survive, and when a species expands beyond its ability to support itself... well,
On the other hand, I have to admit that I'm a fan of global communication and information sharing. Although, some have expressed fear that the shift from the micro to the macro will inevitably limit personal freedom, reducing the role of the individual from an independent thinking body to merely another cog in the machine, or perhaps another synapse in the macro-neural network of humanity 2.0.
I guess I find it hard to imagine a future without horror, but that same horror has always been with us, something hardwired into mankind itself. On an individual level, our empathy and our morality serves us very well, but when I try to envision our species on a macro level... it honestly terrifies me.
Only some of us are living in the future. South of the Equator, it's still the 19th Century. Except Australia, where it's 1974.
Also, I agree about space and deep-sea colonies. What pisses me off about that is it's entirely possible, but apparently nobody wants to.
Quote from: eighteen buddha strike on August 12, 2010, 10:49:55 PM
Quote from: Doktor Howl on August 12, 2010, 10:35:21 PM
Quote from: eighteen buddha strike on August 12, 2010, 10:34:02 PM
Quote from: Doktor Howl on August 12, 2010, 10:29:25 PM
Quote from: eighteen buddha strike on August 12, 2010, 10:28:00 PM
I get that "living in the future feeling" from massive environmental disasters seemingly too numerous to count, coupled with global plutocracy masquerading as free enterprise.
So, 1880.
Well, yeah, but the sheer scope of our ability to destroy our environment has increased exponentially since then.
Only due to a larger population, and that's still debatable. The 1880s were the worst time for pollution in history, at least in the USA. LOL coal-powered industry.
Well, I'll admit that in general our attitudes have evolved a little bit since then. We're not wantonly firing into herds of buffalo from the sides of coal-powered trains, none-the-less the general increase of the human population itself is taxing on our environment. Its hard for me to imagine a future scenario where that growth over-taxes at least one of the resources we need to survive, and when a species expands beyond its ability to support itself... well,
On the other hand, I have to admit that I'm a fan of global communication and information sharing. Although, some have expressed fear that the shift from the micro to the macro will inevitably limit personal freedom, reducing the role of the individual from an independent thinking body to merely another cog in the machine, or perhaps another synapse in the macro-neural network of humanity 2.0.
I guess I find it hard to imagine a future without horror, but that same horror has always been with us, something hardwired into mankind itself. On an individual level, our empathy and our morality serves us very well, but when I try to envision our species on a macro level... it honestly terrifies me.
"overpopulation" is bullshit. the earth could
easily sustain a human population of 100 billion. we're not in the least big "taxing the environment." we're careless with it and we're bad at distributing goods, but it isn't the planet's fault that our politics and economics are bottlenecking our population.
Quote from: vexati0n on August 12, 2010, 10:55:29 PM
"overpopulation" is bullshit. the earth could easily sustain a human population of 100 billion.
Utter rubbish.
Quote from: Doktor Howl on August 12, 2010, 10:56:19 PM
Quote from: vexati0n on August 12, 2010, 10:55:29 PM
"overpopulation" is bullshit. the earth could easily sustain a human population of 100 billion.
Utter rubbish.
no, it's true. i heard it on NPR.
not everybody would get an entire room to themselves, of course, and we'd all have to eat tofu and synthetic meat, but we'd be alive.
Quote from: vexati0n on August 12, 2010, 10:59:33 PM
Quote from: Doktor Howl on August 12, 2010, 10:56:19 PM
Quote from: vexati0n on August 12, 2010, 10:55:29 PM
"overpopulation" is bullshit. the earth could easily sustain a human population of 100 billion.
Utter rubbish.
no, it's true. i heard it on NPR.
not everybody would get an entire room to themselves, of course, and we'd all have to eat tofu and synthetic meat, but we'd be alive.
So is a veal calf.
Quote from: vexati0n on August 12, 2010, 10:59:33 PM
Quote from: Doktor Howl on August 12, 2010, 10:56:19 PM
Quote from: vexati0n on August 12, 2010, 10:55:29 PM
"overpopulation" is bullshit. the earth could easily sustain a human population of 100 billion.
Utter rubbish.
no, it's true. i heard it on NPR.
not everybody would get an entire room to themselves, of course, and we'd all have to eat tofu and synthetic meat, but we'd be alive.
So what kind of hurdles exist between that, the ideal, and where we are now? The gap between what is possible and what is realistically attainable is fucking enormous. As long as humans ARE ignorant monkeys, over-population is a legitimate concern, more people = more stress. Both internally, on society trying to feed and sustain itself, and externally on the environment as long as we ARE consuming resources in a grossly inefficient and destructive manner.
Hey, man, it's the Future. If the 20th Century and this decade have taught us anything, it's that humans can be just fine without outmoded things like privacy or nutrition.
Quote from: eighteen buddha strike on August 12, 2010, 11:05:29 PM
Quote from: vexati0n on August 12, 2010, 10:59:33 PM
Quote from: Doktor Howl on August 12, 2010, 10:56:19 PM
Quote from: vexati0n on August 12, 2010, 10:55:29 PM
"overpopulation" is bullshit. the earth could easily sustain a human population of 100 billion.
Utter rubbish.
no, it's true. i heard it on NPR.
not everybody would get an entire room to themselves, of course, and we'd all have to eat tofu and synthetic meat, but we'd be alive.
So what kind of hurdles exist between that, the ideal, and where we are now? The gap between what is possible and what is realistically attainable is fucking enormous. As long as humans ARE ignorant monkeys, over-population is a legitimate concern, more people = more stress. Both internally, on society trying to feed and sustain itself, and externally on the environment as long as we ARE consuming resources in a grossly inefficient and destructive manner.
The only hurdle between what is possible and what is ideal, is the Jews.
Quote from: vexati0n on August 12, 2010, 11:07:28 PM
Quote from: eighteen buddha strike on August 12, 2010, 11:05:29 PM
Quote from: vexati0n on August 12, 2010, 10:59:33 PM
Quote from: Doktor Howl on August 12, 2010, 10:56:19 PM
Quote from: vexati0n on August 12, 2010, 10:55:29 PM
"overpopulation" is bullshit. the earth could easily sustain a human population of 100 billion.
Utter rubbish.
no, it's true. i heard it on NPR.
not everybody would get an entire room to themselves, of course, and we'd all have to eat tofu and synthetic meat, but we'd be alive.
So what kind of hurdles exist between that, the ideal, and where we are now? The gap between what is possible and what is realistically attainable is fucking enormous. As long as humans ARE ignorant monkeys, over-population is a legitimate concern, more people = more stress. Both internally, on society trying to feed and sustain itself, and externally on the environment as long as we ARE consuming resources in a grossly inefficient and destructive manner.
The only hurdle between what is possible and what is ideal, is the Jews illegal aliens.
Get with the times.
I just dragged toppings onto a pizza on my netbook, ticked a few boxes (nearly at random) and 15 minutes later, a car with a couple of pizzas and sides turned up. It's not much more advanced than calling in, but it felt futurey. I'd probably let them read my mind and use my personal information to build up a complete psychological profile of me if it meant I didn't have to talk to order my McDonalds and they just knew what I wanted. That's the future.
Quote from: vexati0n on August 12, 2010, 10:53:50 PM
Only some of us are living in the future. South of the Equator, it's still the 19th Century. Except Australia, where it's 1974.
Also, I agree about space and deep-sea colonies. What pisses me off about that is it's entirely possible, but apparently nobody wants to.
Fuck you, we have carriages here now that AREN'T drawn by horse, you ignorant assholes.
Quote from: Ferka Zarco on August 13, 2010, 12:49:44 AM
I just dragged toppings onto a pizza on my netbook, ticked a few boxes (nearly at random) and 15 minutes later, a car with a couple of pizzas and sides turned up. It's not much more advanced than calling in, but it felt futurey. I'd probably let them read my mind and use my personal information to build up a complete psychological profile of me if it meant I didn't have to talk to order my McDonalds and they just knew what I wanted. That's the future.
High tech trough. Interesting.
I'm easily impressed. I hear people discussing some plain old everyday landscaping and I blurt out, "What do you fucking mean you're going to move the hill?"
And they give me this look.
Quote from: vexati0n on August 12, 2010, 09:13:41 PM
The fact that I (can) know within minutes of a major event occurring anywhere on the planet. Or that I can educate myself in a matter of one hour about the back-story behind every political movement in any corner of the globe, or any religion. I have nearly immediate access to almost any piece of relevant information, practically for free. 150 years ago, people were still living, communicating, and organizing in more or less the same ways they had been for 500 years before that. Today, the way people communicated five years ago seems old-fashioned
This.
Also, when I am connected to the internet I can still access a shitload of information. I could fit an entire library into a space the same size as my thumbnail.
Quote from: vexati0n on August 12, 2010, 10:53:50 PM
Only some of us are living in the future. South of the Equator, it's still the 19th Century. Except Australia, where it's 1974.
Also, I agree about space and deep-sea colonies. What pisses me off about that is it's entirely possible, but apparently nobody wants to.
:( it's true
Also, I think NZ might be just entering the 20th Century, but I think that's just due to Peter Jackson bringing some nice stuff over.
ETA:
Oh, and I can talk face-to-face with people anywhere in the world.
I have about 200 books in my pocket.
Oh, also that physical money is used less and less, and that the US is $100 trillion in debt.
Quote from: Requia ☣ on August 13, 2010, 07:28:26 AM
I have about 200 books in my pocket.
Really?
I just thought you were pleased to see me.
The moment of shock when my Advanced Lighting and Texturing teachers told me that in order to get photorealistic lighting, I need to have mentalRay light nodes attached to my lights and then...
... I have to clip a virtual Lens onto my virtual Camera or it doesn't work right.
Inducements into the "Holy-shit-we're-living-in-the-future" mood:
• The Large Hadron Collider - Just look at that thing, it's so intricate and monumental. It's an offering to the science gods to divine the fabric of the universe, or something I don't remotely understand. But holy shit, look at that thing.
• Quantum Nonlocality - Irrefutable evidence of it but no palatable explanation. Reading about it at great length makes me shit my pants.
• Internet - I can just fall into a vault of information about anything and snap out of it hours later. Sometimes if you follow the threads of your curiosities long enough...
• Vibrators.
• Artificial Urinary Sphincter - I don't plan on being incontinent, but I have accepted my destiny. Hopefully they will have beta-tested the anus model before I need it too.
Quote from: Doktor Howl on August 12, 2010, 10:22:54 PM
Quote from: Khara on August 12, 2010, 10:11:01 PM
Quote from: Doktor Howl on August 12, 2010, 08:46:42 PM
We aren't living in the future, Trip. We're living in the break of time out of joint, where all the cool shit never happened, and all the old horrors just pool up around us.
This pretty much sums it up for me.
At this point we were supposed to have jetpacks and flying cars and that kind of thing.
And space colonies. And deep sea habitats. And bionics and shit. And clean air and water, and cheap power, and a stable population, and big fucking robots. And maglev trains everywhere. And a self-managing house.
But what I got instead was a fucking Ipod and a laptop. Granted, the two of them represent more computing power than existed in the world when I was born, but am I supposed to be happy with that? All the developments that have gone forward have done is increase the workload of some at the expense of others, and kept everyone doped up with benzos and television.
We wimped out after the moon landings. We got a look at the universe, and ran and hid in our living rooms to watch TV until the scary universe was safely forgotten, or became religious fanatics that deny that universe even exists.
So, yeah, that's the "future". A world full of cowering primates. Sort of like the way we started out...We had a brief century or three of real progress, and now we make toys for ourselves and pretend that we're all science-fictiony.
If only there was a way for me to read the rants from certain Mad Doktors halfway across the globe to inform me that today's so-called "future" isn't all it's cracked up to be ... oh wait :lol:
Nah, if I'm being completely reasonable, I'd say there's future stuff we do have, and future stuff we didn't get, as well as future stuff we never expected to get.
Relevant to this thread: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8r1CZTLk-Gk
When i realised these old scifi novels called 1984 and brave new world actually happened.
The only reason they don't read like a contemporary news item: The writers back then were horrified at what might happen, now they don't even realize something is wrong.
Quote from: Triple Zero on August 13, 2010, 08:23:36 AM
Quote from: Doktor Howl on August 12, 2010, 10:22:54 PM
Quote from: Khara on August 12, 2010, 10:11:01 PM
Quote from: Doktor Howl on August 12, 2010, 08:46:42 PM
We aren't living in the future, Trip. We're living in the break of time out of joint, where all the cool shit never happened, and all the old horrors just pool up around us.
This pretty much sums it up for me.
At this point we were supposed to have jetpacks and flying cars and that kind of thing.
And space colonies. And deep sea habitats. And bionics and shit. And clean air and water, and cheap power, and a stable population, and big fucking robots. And maglev trains everywhere. And a self-managing house.
But what I got instead was a fucking Ipod and a laptop. Granted, the two of them represent more computing power than existed in the world when I was born, but am I supposed to be happy with that? All the developments that have gone forward have done is increase the workload of some at the expense of others, and kept everyone doped up with benzos and television.
We wimped out after the moon landings. We got a look at the universe, and ran and hid in our living rooms to watch TV until the scary universe was safely forgotten, or became religious fanatics that deny that universe even exists.
So, yeah, that's the "future". A world full of cowering primates. Sort of like the way we started out...We had a brief century or three of real progress, and now we make toys for ourselves and pretend that we're all science-fictiony.
If only there was a way for me to read the rants from certain Mad Doktors halfway across the globe to inform me that today's so-called "future" isn't all it's cracked up to be ... oh wait :lol:
Nah, if I'm being completely reasonable, I'd say there's future stuff we do have, and future stuff we didn't get, as well as future stuff we never expected to get.
Troof. We also have technology a little earlier than expected. Cell phones, iPads and automatic doors? Star Trek type technologies. Though that said, I would like me some Martian bases and underwater cities.
I dunno. We're still hopelessly addicted to fossil fuels. Modern medicine is making people live longer, and so more people are getting cancer. Cell phones, smart phones, iPads, etc., and I think people are losing connections because there is less face-to-face. Push button/remote warfare, wipe out a village without breaking a sweat.
So maybe the future is here, but I'm not convinced that it doesn't suck.
Quote from: vexati0n on August 12, 2010, 09:13:41 PM
The fact that I (can) know within minutes of a major event occurring anywhere on the planet. Or that I can educate myself in a matter of one hour about the back-story behind every political movement in any corner of the globe, or any religion. I have nearly immediate access to almost any piece of relevant information, practically for free. 150 years ago, people were still living, communicating, and organizing in more or less the same ways they had been for 500 years before that. Today, the way people communicated five years ago seems old-fashioned.
Agreed. This is the biggest thing for me. The availability of information, and communication routes. The Internet, and cellular phones, has changed the way we think, the way I think.
Seriously, this massive computer network is an extension of my neural network, my extended mind.
the haze and uncertainty of our modern life makes me realize it...
the wealth of information and dearth of understanding.
the hesitation of putting too much stock in anything, because tomorrow it's wrong.
the fact that i don't really know anything. in the past i might have actually known stuff, but not in this future, by guess and by god!
the teetering tower of unstable efficiency. the view is pretty incredible, but the feeling that we could fall back into the stone age at any moment always gnaws in the back of my head.
like, maybe we aren't just living in the future, but in the future. like this is as far as we get before the drop and we find ourselves on the next up-leg of a sawtooth pattern that we've been through before, and will do again... maybe slightly different, but pretty much the same each time, because we never quite achieve the alpha centauri victory...
Seriously, at this point there were so many "promises" about what would be.
We shouldn't be using fossil fuels, alternate fuel was supposed to be a priority back in the 60's.
Yay, we have computers and the internet. We can talk to thousands of people about useless things in the blink of an eye.
Where are the super farms that can feed thousands from an acre?
Where is the water system that ensured the whole world population has clean drinking water?
Where is the end to absolute poverty?
Why are people still starving?
Why are people still dying from diseases that have fucking cures? Why is there still disease at all?
All the excitement of yay woohoo we have internets. Really? In perspective of reality? I mean I won't lie and say I don't appreciate it, but can I live without it? Yeah.
Quote from: Khara on August 13, 2010, 02:52:39 PM
Where are the super farms that can feed thousands from an acre?
On Facebook.
Quote from: Khara on August 13, 2010, 02:52:39 PM
Seriously, at this point there were so many "promises" about what would be.
We shouldn't be using fossil fuels, alternate fuel was supposed to be a priority back in the 60's.
Yay, we have computers and the internet. We can talk to thousands of people about useless things in the blink of an eye.
Where are the super farms that can feed thousands from an acre?
Where is the water system that ensured the whole world population has clean drinking water?
Where is the end to absolute poverty?
Why are people still starving?
Why are people still dying from diseases that have fucking cures? Why is there still disease at all?
All the excitement of yay woohoo we have internets. Really? In perspective of reality? I mean I won't lie and say I don't appreciate it, but can I live without it? Yeah.
You can live without utilities too, without electricity, with out gasoline, etc. Would you?
I learned to not get excited about predictions about "the future" when I was younger. Strongly believing that shit just leads to disappointment.
If the future contains these predictions,
I desire to believe the future contains these predictions.
If the future does not contain these predictions,
I desire to believe the future does not contain these predictions.
Let me not become attached to beliefs I may not want.
And yeah, the internet isn't exciting if I were to think of it as just an extended television/stereo, rather than an information network stretched across the surface of the planet and available in seconds.
Does anyone here remember what it was like to research before the days of the internet?
First, you have an idea, want to find out something so and so, etc. So you go to the library, the physical library, and go to the card catalog, and find a little piece of paper with a title, author and call number that might be what you're looking for.
So you go to that section. And when you're in that section, you notice a bunch of other books on the topic, so you take those down and read through them. Turns out they all cite, in their bibliographies, this older source. But the library doesn't have it. So you go down to the front desk, request a loan form, and fill that out. That form either gets sent physically or phoned over to other libraries, to ask if they have a particular book, for which they have to go to their card catalog and find the piece of paper that would indicate they have it. And then if they do, that library has to fill out all kinds of paperwork so they can send over the book for your perusal. This is assuming your library can even do this. If not, you're already out of luck.
After a matter of a few months (depending on the distance), then you have the book. But the book you got isn't just any book, its a literature catalog. It's filled and filled with citations ordered by author and date, and so you go pouring through it page by page, trying to find a title with a reference to the thing you're interested in. And then, after some hours, you've found a reference, to a journal article in an obscure journal published in 1917. You check the card catalog again, to see if they have that journal in their bound periodicals. Unfortunately for you, they don't, it's too obscure or too specialist for your library.
So, you go back to the front desk and they give you another loan form, which they send out or phone over and find out if any libraries have a copy.
And again after several months you have it. You have the bound periodical which includes the journal article of your interest. Now, if you are lucky enough to live in an era with copy machines, you can just run it through and get a physical copy. If not, you either have to copy it by hand onto another sheet, or take the long and arduous trek to purchase a copy of that journal issue from old book sellers.
Months have gone by, hours and hours of work.
Meanwhile, in the future, I went to google with my idea, found references to books about the idea for sale (for low price and sent directly to my home), wiki articles on the basics with links to more references, scholarly article citations and links to pdfs of those articles, searchable literature databases, photos, links to local libraries with holdings, forums where people are discussing the idea and more. Depending on the breadth of interest and whether I need to send away for hard copies, I can find all I need between 10 minutes and a week. Written in a foreign language? No problem! Who needs to spend years learning scientific german when you can copypaste the text into google and have a rough translation in seconds. And it's all so simple that a ten year old could do it, without leaving home.
Researchers realize just how powerful the Internet is. Research, any sort of research, has been changed forever, not just by the availability of journal articles, but how fast scientists can communicate. If anyone needs to call to question the fabulousness of the Internet, just remember the days when all there was, was snail mail, rotary phones, and card catalogs, and how long it took to do something we find simple today.
I do have to agree with that. My job would definitely be a lot more tedious and cumbersome if it were, say, 20 years ago. The only real block I have now for getting research is waiting for the hospital to pay for the journal articles and e-mail them to me. Though I can frequently find free papers with Google Scholar.
The flip-side, for my particular line of work, is that the kids also have easy access to research and information. Which they don't always understand, nor, is it always very legit.
But Kai makes a very good point about how the internet has made research much more efficient.
Quote from: Khara on August 13, 2010, 02:52:39 PM
All the excitement of yay woohoo we have internets. Really? In perspective of reality? I mean I won't lie and say I don't appreciate it, but can I live without it? Yeah.
I think you might be wrong about that. we're dependent upon it. we're full steam ahead with tight tolerance from higher efficiency requirements. if we lose our internets the JIT distribution systems will fail, your grocery store will be bare in two days, and people will start eating each other. (make sure you panic before the others do, otherwise you won't get your Fair Share of the long pig)
It's like an world class runner losing a big toe during the middle of a sprint. sure, it's just a toe. she can live without it. but she's sure depending on it being there at the moment, and she'd take a pretty nasty fall if it disappeared all of a sudden...
And so we see the future ITT!
Yes research is easier. And yes, I remember the old way, believe it or not, I actually managed to get a college degree without the internet GASP OMG!
Can I liive without utilities? I did until I was 7. Could I do it again? Yes. I don't want to but I can.
I just feel that we took a wrong turn somewhere in deciding what was really important and what goals should have held priority. It's 2010 and what do we have to boast about? The internet.
People are still dying of curable diseases.
People are still starving.
We are still destroying the earth every second of every day.
But things are easier......
Quote from: Khara on August 13, 2010, 04:19:41 PM
We are still destroying the earth every second of every day.
No we aren't. The Earth will be here long after we're gone.
Quote from: Doktor Howl on August 13, 2010, 05:53:05 PM
Quote from: Khara on August 13, 2010, 04:19:41 PM
We are still destroying the earth every second of every day.
No we aren't. The Earth will be here long after we're gone.
The planet will be you are quite right. With skeletons of what man had created dotting the surface and slowly rotting away.
I don't know, I'm suddenly reminded of the original Planet of the Apes......
QuoteWhat gives you that "Holy shit we're living in the future!" feeling?
Moving pictures.
I can't be bothered to turn around while using the computer to watch the Colbert Report, so I put my netbook on the desk right next to the monitor, and am watching it there.
We arent living in the future we are living in the present.
Quote from: Kingderp on August 14, 2010, 05:21:26 AM
We arent living in the future we are living in the present.
I don't think we will be living in the future any time soon, then!
Quote from: nekk on August 14, 2010, 06:39:02 AM
Quote from: Kingderp on August 14, 2010, 05:21:26 AM
We arent living in the future we are living in the present.
I don't think we will be living in the future any time soon, then!
We're always about to live in the future, but we never get there. (I feel like there was a meme to this effect - "Tomorrow never comes, we're stuck in today" or something? If not, TRADEMARKEDCOPYRITED)
:boring:
Relevant:
Quote from: Sepia on August 15, 2010, 12:51:56 AM
We saw mrs dalloway and her horrors and we lived through them, carrying them with us for they were human horrors and no matter our desire we were still human. We realized that our civilization would end like others have in a way we can't imagine. We realized that the only thing separating us from the people that lived when jesus died is technological advances. We are not moving forward.
But as far as that technology goes: my phone which allowed me to post this faster and with more ease than my computer.
Quote from: Nephew Twiddleton on August 13, 2010, 01:07:38 PMunderwater cities.
If your looking for me, best check under the sea...
It's funny, but for me it's not anything new that gives me that feeling. As a few have mentioned, the "future" stuff we have now is shiny, and powerful, sure, but it's lacking. It's Like we interrogated some Time Travelers for technology, and only made what we could understand, and that much not so well to begin with.
What gives me that feeling, oddly, is all the old-timey stuff: a girl reading a bound book in the park; the increasing prevalence of bicyclists; pencils; Psychics... It reminds me just how antiquated so many things I was raised with have become. "That means...
wait a second, I'm in the FUTURE!"
Quote from: Evan on August 14, 2010, 07:53:42 AM
Quote from: nekk on August 14, 2010, 06:39:02 AM
Quote from: Kingderp on August 14, 2010, 05:21:26 AM
We arent living in the future we are living in the present.
I don't think we will be living in the future any time soon, then!
We're always about to live in the future, but we never get there. (I feel like there was a meme to this effect - "Tomorrow never comes, we're stuck in today" or something? If not, TRADEMARKEDCOPYRITED)
at one point, I think I posted this:
"The past is a mystery, the future is history and the present is adrift."
[edit: made a double redundancy]
Things like Skype. That I can talk to my friends in Europe and all over North America without using my landline is awesome.
That I've written about five letters my entire life - four to my grandmother and one to my best friend when she was in basic. That's it. Makes me want to write letters, though, now that I think about it.
Texting
Zotero (http://www.zotero.org/). Several people so far have mentioned the ability to research, but I've pretty much always had that. Zotero takes all the work out of keeping track of references and citations and quotes and makes my bibliography for me in any style I need.
Touch screen. Anything with touch screen. I love it so much and I remember being fascinated by it and wanting one.
Thinking about my great grandfather and all the changes he saw. 1900 to 1996 saw lots of them and I wonder what he'd think about the ones that have happened since he died.
Quote from: Khara on August 13, 2010, 04:19:41 PMAnd so we see the future ITT!
Yes research is easier. And yes, I remember the old way, believe it or not, I actually managed to get a college degree without the internet GASP OMG!
Can I liive without utilities? I did until I was 7. Could I do it again? Yes. I don't want to but I can.
I just feel that we took a wrong turn somewhere in deciding what was really important and what goals should have held priority. It's 2010 and what do we have to boast about? The internet.
People are still dying of curable diseases.
People are still starving.
We are still destroying the earth every second of every day.
I'm trying to see how this is relevant in my thread, but all I can come up with is that it is something that really bothers you (me too btw) and you really need to vent about it, no matter how much people try to get the discussion back on track? :?
I dunno, it started out wrong right away.
Is that it now? Not "this is why we can't have nice things", but the flat out refusal of the fact that there actually
might be some nice things?
The subject of this thread was a simple question, a positive one. It wasn't supposed to be about how we do NOT have jet-packs or flying cars and talking toasters. It was supposed to be about hwo the iPad (no matter what I personally think about the thing) how much it is almost nearly
exactly like the portable computing info pads they used to be carrying around in Star Trek:TNG. I read that in an article a couple of days ago (probably linked from that Reddit thread), I thought it was really cool, they have the same rounded shape, curves, and lack of buttons but a touch screen.
I mean what is it with that? So we didn't get a lot of stuff, my question was, what DID we get?
And what does it say about you, and your mood perhaps, if your first reaction you have to that is to start arguing about how the things some of us think are really nifty, what things we DID get that were predicted from SciFi (no flying cars and jet-packs booo) and what things
surpassed the dreams of most SciFi writers, when the only thing you can think of is to argue how they are in fact worthless and useless in the grand scheme of things we did NOT get?
I mean, even if it's about bad things like the atom bomb or global surveillance / ECHELON (and I got some funnier examples but I'm saving it for my letter to Dok), even if you want to focus on the Horrors that make you feel like living in the future (it doesn't need to be bright, after all), but being all antagonistic like this, exclusively, I'm sorry but it feels to me kind of like you're trashing my thread. And I understand that it bothers you that we didn't just not get jet-packs but we didn't even get a solution to global hunger and preventable disease. That totally sucks. Share your visions of the post-apocalyptic future if you want.
But please don't go arguing that the Internet doesn't count as it only makes a little difference to doing research (especially right after Kai gave a detailed explanation how it makes a HUGE difference and speeds up certain parts of scientific research by several orders of magnitude), just because people are dying, or something.
[oh and btw different subject, out of curiosity, what kind of college degree did you get?]
BUMP
Because I was driving home recently from work and was stricken by the fact that no longer do I see unravelled audio and VHS tapes strewn about as litter.
tons of stuff. I get that feeling several times a day. Most recently, my girlfriend's band mate was complaining about how expensive music software is. It would take him months to save up for a copy of Logic. I suggested he pirate it. He didn't know how to do that. 1 minute and 45 seconds later, he was downloading a free copy all by himself.
Don't you love that you can just DO that? It almost overwhelms me sometimes, how much potential each of us have. And it just keeps climbing.
Quote from: Cramulus on August 25, 2010, 09:04:02 PM
tons of stuff. I get that feeling several times a day. Most recently, my girlfriend's band mate was complaining about how expensive music software is. It would take him months to save up for a copy of Logic. I suggested he pirate it. He didn't know how to do that. 1 minute and 45 seconds later, he was downloading a free copy all by himself.
Don't you love that you can just DO that? It almost overwhelms me sometimes, how much potential each of us have. And it just keeps climbing.
Yep. I just stunned the fuck out of myself after only a few weeks' work, and now I'm planning to share it with hundreds of holiday shoppers!
Oh dude
You could stage an "alien" encounter, then show up as MIB agents and use your "neuralizer" on the witnesses.
Quote from: Doktor Howl on August 25, 2010, 09:21:16 PM
Quote from: Cramulus on August 25, 2010, 09:04:02 PM
tons of stuff. I get that feeling several times a day. Most recently, my girlfriend's band mate was complaining about how expensive music software is. It would take him months to save up for a copy of Logic. I suggested he pirate it. He didn't know how to do that. 1 minute and 45 seconds later, he was downloading a free copy all by himself.
Don't you love that you can just DO that? It almost overwhelms me sometimes, how much potential each of us have. And it just keeps climbing.
Yep. I just stunned the fuck out of myself after only a few weeks' work, and now I'm planning to share it with hundreds of holiday shoppers!
A few weeks? I thought you've been working on it for months now? Or maybe you meant cumulative time working on it. Anyway, it WORKS and that is AWESOME!
:awesome:
you said you were gonna post videos, right?
Cops following people with GPS trackers is pretty damned future.
Quote from: Triple Zero on August 25, 2010, 10:02:51 PM
Quote from: Doktor Howl on August 25, 2010, 09:21:16 PM
Quote from: Cramulus on August 25, 2010, 09:04:02 PM
tons of stuff. I get that feeling several times a day. Most recently, my girlfriend's band mate was complaining about how expensive music software is. It would take him months to save up for a copy of Logic. I suggested he pirate it. He didn't know how to do that. 1 minute and 45 seconds later, he was downloading a free copy all by himself.
Don't you love that you can just DO that? It almost overwhelms me sometimes, how much potential each of us have. And it just keeps climbing.
Yep. I just stunned the fuck out of myself after only a few weeks' work, and now I'm planning to share it with hundreds of holiday shoppers!
A few weeks? I thought you've been working on it for months now? Or maybe you meant cumulative time working on it. Anyway, it WORKS and that is AWESOME!
:awesome:
you said you were gonna post videos, right?
Yep. Just as soon as it's portable.
Quote from: Requia ☣ on August 25, 2010, 10:11:01 PM
Cops following people with GPS trackers is pretty damned future.
:lulz:
Quote from: vexati0n on August 12, 2010, 10:55:29 PM
Quote from: eighteen buddha strike on August 12, 2010, 10:49:55 PM
Quote from: Doktor Howl on August 12, 2010, 10:35:21 PM
Quote from: eighteen buddha strike on August 12, 2010, 10:34:02 PM
Quote from: Doktor Howl on August 12, 2010, 10:29:25 PM
Quote from: eighteen buddha strike on August 12, 2010, 10:28:00 PM
I get that "living in the future feeling" from massive environmental disasters seemingly too numerous to count, coupled with global plutocracy masquerading as free enterprise.
So, 1880.
Well, yeah, but the sheer scope of our ability to destroy our environment has increased exponentially since then.
Only due to a larger population, and that's still debatable. The 1880s were the worst time for pollution in history, at least in the USA. LOL coal-powered industry.
Well, I'll admit that in general our attitudes have evolved a little bit since then. We're not wantonly firing into herds of buffalo from the sides of coal-powered trains, none-the-less the general increase of the human population itself is taxing on our environment. Its hard for me to imagine a future scenario where that growth over-taxes at least one of the resources we need to survive, and when a species expands beyond its ability to support itself... well,
On the other hand, I have to admit that I'm a fan of global communication and information sharing. Although, some have expressed fear that the shift from the micro to the macro will inevitably limit personal freedom, reducing the role of the individual from an independent thinking body to merely another cog in the machine, or perhaps another synapse in the macro-neural network of humanity 2.0.
I guess I find it hard to imagine a future without horror, but that same horror has always been with us, something hardwired into mankind itself. On an individual level, our empathy and our morality serves us very well, but when I try to envision our species on a macro level... it honestly terrifies me.
"overpopulation" is bullshit. the earth could easily sustain a human population of 100 billion. we're not in the least big "taxing the environment." we're careless with it and we're bad at distributing goods, but it isn't the planet's fault that our politics and economics are bottlenecking our population.
By what measure are you calling overpopulation "bullshit"? Are you taking standard of living and biodiversity into consideration? You know what happens when you increase density and decrease biodiversity, right?
Also, a lot of people make the mistake of thinking that the planet's land is mostly arable. It's not. Very little of it is.