I think 2013/2014 will be a marker where I can look back and say "that's where things started to get futuristic".

There are now electronic tablets at my old junior high (grade six to eight) and we didn't have that back in 2000-2003 when I was in Junior high. School has gone high tech people!

We're not close to the Jetsons yet, but it's definitely heading in that direction.

Definitely by 2013/2014, things are now even more high tech than it was fifteen years ago.

What ya think?

Meh.  We still don't have flying cars and hoverboards.  We were promised at least that by 2015.  We also don't have holograms yet, which virtually every 21st Century sci-fi movie have.

Meh.  We still don't have flying cars and hoverboards.  We were promised at least that by 2015.  We also don't have holograms yet, which virtually every 21st Century sci-fi movie have.


I think you're thinking of the 24th century.  :o

It has been feeling like the 21st century since it began on January 1st 2001.

It has been feeling like the 21st century since it began on January 1st 2001.


I should have gotten a tattoo that day! I was only 12 though.  :-\\

I think the 21st century started in 1994. That was the year the last Russian troops left eastern Europe and also the year that the White House got a web site. So essentially the last direct aftermath of the World Wars ended and the Internet had become mainstream enough that people in high places were taking note.

I think the 21st century started in 1994. That was the year the last Russian troops left eastern Europe and also the year that the White House got a web site. So essentially the last direct aftermath of the World Wars ended and the Internet had become mainstream enough that people in high places were taking note.


Great observation!

Meh.  We still don't have flying cars and hoverboards.  We were promised at least that by 2015.  We also don't have holograms yet, which virtually every 21st Century sci-fi movie have.

We've had holograms for a long time...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thOxW19vsTg

The 21st century started after I got internet access in 2000 (even though the 21st century didn't start until 6 months later). I personally do not (only) associate the 21st century with futuristic gadgets. It's also the way how people communicate and act nowadays, and this was something which indeed got big between 1995 and 2010 (internet, e-mail, social media, smartphones...).

Most of the stuff that has been predicted for the year 2000 in the 1960s was pretty much way off and is probably something that will not be common before the end of this century.

We've had holograms for a long time...


Indeed. I have a computer magazine from 1988 which features a hologram on the top page.

The 21st century started after I got internet access in 2000 (even though the 21st century didn't start until 6 months later). I personally do not (only) associate the 21st century with futuristic gadgets. It's also the way how people communicate and act nowadays, and this was something which indeed got big between 1995 and 2010 (internet, e-mail, social media, smartphones...).

Most of the stuff that has been predicted for the year 2000 in the 1960s was pretty much way off and is probably something that will not be common before the end of this century.


What I find interesting about predictions of the future from the 50s/60s is that they expected people to act the same way they did in the mid 20th century. They couldn't predict the rise of casual fashion starting in the '70s and the deep sense of irony we feel today about pretty much everything. They were sort of right about Big Brother (Facebook, Google and Twitter) but it turned out to be something brought to us by market forces and not by big government. I imagine the future won't be anything like Wall-E either, which assumes that we will get more fat, vain and capitalistic forever and that we'll continue to destroy the biosphere until there's nothing left. It's just as likely there will be a nuclear war or even a massive cultural backlash against materialism and excess which to some extent is already happening. For example fast food and soda are becoming less popular in Western countries.

That gets me to thinking, wasn't Minority Report with Tom Cruise really one of the last classic 20th century style traditional sci-fi films? That was released in 2002 and come to think of it, we are a lot closer to Minority Report now than we were 12 years ago.

Yes, predictions about the future often focus on trchnology, and not on culture shifts. I mean, in The Jetsons, the dad works and the mom stays at home (if I remember it correctly) in a 50s way.

Meh.  We still don't have flying cars and hoverboards.  We were promised at least that by 2015.  We also don't have holograms yet, which virtually every 21st Century sci-fi movie have.


I've read about flying cars, they're still making them, probably won't be available for the next 5 years.

I imagine the future won't be anything like Wall-E either, which assumes that we will get more fat, vain and capitalistic forever and that we'll continue to destroy the biosphere until there's nothing left.

So, we won't be like The Jetsons either?

I can't wait until I can call people up and leave them nasty "voice mails" on my smell phone.  :D

What I find interesting about predictions of the future from the 50s/60s is that they expected people to act the same way they did in the mid 20th century. They couldn't predict the rise of casual fashion starting in the '70s and the deep sense of irony we feel today about pretty much everything. They were sort of right about Big Brother (Facebook, Google and Twitter) but it turned out to be something brought to us by market forces and not by big government. I imagine the future won't be anything like Wall-E either, which assumes that we will get more fat, vain and capitalistic forever and that we'll continue to destroy the biosphere until there's nothing left. It's just as likely there will be a nuclear war or even a massive cultural backlash against materialism and excess which to some extent is already happening. For example fast food and soda are becoming less popular in Western countries.

That gets me to thinking, wasn't Minority Report with Tom Cruise really one of the last classic 20th century style traditional sci-fi films? That was released in 2002 and come to think of it, we are a lot closer to Minority Report now than we were 12 years ago.


Isn't the internet more than anything about communication and information? The marketing aspect is secondary, I think.

I can't wait until I can call people up and leave them nasty "voice mails" on my smell phone.  :D


I'd like to see them make smell phones.

Isn't the internet more than anything about communication and information? The marketing aspect is secondary, I think.


It's also about looking up stuff.

Isn't the internet more than anything about communication and information? The marketing aspect is secondary, I think.


And that's the difference between the internet before (I'm not sure where I'd draw the line, but I'll tentatively sketch it around 2000-2005, plus or minus a year or two) and the internet of the present day.

Old communication methods like email, USENET, and IRC (and FTP for file transfer) were open communication protocols that every machine could run and that no one company owned.  There was no marketing aspect.  Anyone who didn't like the existing offerings could read the RFC and build their own mail, news, chat, or file transfer client.

New "communication" methods like webmail (email provided via Hotmail, Yahoo, Gmail), Friendster/MySpace/Facebook/Snapchat (and Dropbox for file transfer) are walled gardens where all traffic runs through servers owned and operated by a single company.  Track the user's social graph, dig through the data to figure out what they're interested in buying, and sell ads delivered through the web browser.  The marketing aspect is not merely primary; it is often the sole reason the company exists.

I can't wait until I can call people up and leave them nasty "voice mails" on my smell phone.  :D


Fart phone.  :-\\