Sometimes I'm not happy being part of the human race...

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Zur

Zur

surrealistic mad cow
Jul 8, 2002
11,708
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The reason is that I used to be into a lot of scifi and all the technological stuff I read about in books and saw in movies made me hopeful. It's been fourty years since some of the great classics and there hasn't been that much advancement. In fact, it would seem that the general need to milk money from people left and right is making society go backwards.

See if you feel the same after watching this movie:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oani3-RDvHw (part 1)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ad9MSd6l1gA (part 2)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1c_zDzwmFxg (part 3)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ec_vMim65wY (part 4)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6vbnlI2ag0 (part 5)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I78vQDi-Ko8 (part 6)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqH5tDly3Kg (part 7)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QiSxXKh7Usk (part 8)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ji67t8xJF-s (part 9)

P.S: It was made by the same guy that did special effects in 2001: a space odyssey.
 
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Continuum

Continuum

Lobotomistician
Jul 24, 2005
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The flaw with old sci-fi stuff is that they always assumed things would get bigger. In reality its pretty impractical to make something bigger when you could shrink it down to the size of a coin.
 
shoptroll

shoptroll

Active Member
Jan 21, 2004
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Continuum said:
The flaw with old sci-fi stuff is that they always assumed things would get bigger. In reality its pretty impractical to make something bigger when you could shrink it down to the size of a coin.
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And cyberpunk thought we'd all be on 28.8 kbps modems in 2020 while crusing around in netspace with computers wired up to our brains.
 
theabyss

theabyss

No One Here Gets Out Alive
Dec 3, 2005
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Azura said:
P.S: It was made by the same guy that did special effects in 2001: a space odyssey.
Click to expand...

I remember crying as a little boy when the movie was over. It was such a sad ending. :( Well, that was way back then early 80's.
 
Zur

Zur

surrealistic mad cow
Jul 8, 2002
11,708
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I kind of felt sad too when I saw the end of this movie. I hope noone ends up in the position of that guy.

Continuum said:
The flaw with old sci-fi stuff is that they always assumed things would get bigger. In reality its pretty impractical to make something bigger when you could shrink it down to the size of a coin.
Click to expand...

True. Minituarization is one of the things that has worked well up until now. It sounds like microprocessor manufacturers will be hitting a brick wall soon though. That's probably why multicore processors have appeared in the mainstream.

We might not get a manned mission to Mars for a long time but there's nothing stopping us doing things by remote control as demonstrated by these robotic suits which pick up bodily impulses ( http://www.popsci.com/john-brandon/article/2008-10/rent-robotic-suit-named-hal ).

shoptroll said:
And cyberpunk thought we'd all be on 28.8 kbps modems in 2020 while crusing around in netspace with computers wired up to our brains.
Click to expand...

Cyberpunk is cool but some aspects are pretty far-fetched or not so well thought out. It's kind of a like a grease-splattered view of science fiction :p .

@Exus Tecius: Hadn't heard about Perry Rhodan up until now but it looks like a long running series. There's apparently a video game too.
 
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KaL976

KaL976

*nubcake*
Nov 28, 2003
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Cardiff | UK
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Azura said:
The reason is that I used to be into a lot of scifi and all the technological stuff I read about in books and saw in movies made me hopeful. It's been fourty years since...
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40 (forty) is the natural number following 39 and preceding 41.

Despite being related to the word "four" (4), 40 is spelled "forty", not "fourty". This is because etymologically (and still in accents without the horse-hoarse merger), the words have different vowels, "forty" containing a contraction in the same way that "fifty" contains a contraction of "five". The letters of the word "forty" are in alphabetical order; this is the only number that has this linguistic property in English.

Sorry, couldn't resist :D

I also disagree with you. The last 100 years has seen incredible changes/achievements in virtually every field.
 
Zur

Zur

surrealistic mad cow
Jul 8, 2002
11,708
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KaL976 said:
Sorry, couldn't resist :D
Click to expand...

I actually appreciate that. There's no substitute to speaking a language on a daily basis.

I also disagree with you. The last 100 years has seen incredible changes/achievements in virtually every field.
Click to expand...

You're right, but those hundred years were marked by two world wars. Making new stuff was all about getting one more than the ennemy and that only stopped recently with the fall of the Berlin wall. For example, there's still stuff the germans built during the last war that engineers are having a look at like a prototype stealth jet fighter.

I'm not sure if there's really anything pushing the technology envelope besides getting the latest miniature iPod out and making sure it doesn't blow up in people's hands :p . In fact, feeling slightly pessimistic on the question, I get the feeling that the way business is being done now is hindering any leaps in terms of knowhow. Like dvd versus blu-ray, it's more of the same thing but with more bells and whistles. In terms of science, we probably won't see space shuttles replaced with anything fancier in our lifetimes because it's simply too expensive.

With that said, it'll be 2010 soon. Maybe the next decade will bring a few interesting and life altering things with it.
 
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W

Wail of Suicide

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Apr 11, 2006
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The space shuttles are too expensive compared to unmanned satellites.

As for pushing the technology envelope, sure there are things doing that. Have you seen some of the amazing tools demoed at TED?

And I'm not sure what there isn't to get excited about when you consider how quickly our knowledge of human biology is accelerating: Sure, we're not colonizing other planets, but dramatically extending lifespans is even more important. More smart people living longer makes things better for everyone. And when we start making genuine AI in the next century? Yeah, that'll be nice.
 
JaFO

JaFO

bugs are features too ...
Nov 5, 2000
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Wail of Suicide said:
The space shuttles are too expensive compared to unmanned satellites.
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it's not the shuttles that are expensive but the people ;)
besides ... those things are so last century. Astronauts carry calculators that have more computing power than the entire shuttle.

IMHO the real problem is that no one has any interest in going anywhere in space, altough now that India, China and Japan have started their own projects there may be hope. For all we know the Chinese will go to mars within a decade. They certainly have the trackrecord for such impossible feats.

Consider that the moon-missions were cancelled once the public got bored.
In a way it's like the current wars ... the idea sounded great, but no one thought about what they wanted to do once they got there.

As for pushing the technology envelope, sure there are things doing that. Have you seen some of the amazing tools demoed at TED?
...
Click to expand...
there's plenty of inventions, but most stop right there as no one is interested in making them a reality as current tech is far too profitable, it costs too much to risk a patent and the consumer is not interested in 'better' stuff (HDTV is only advancing because the industry stopped producing the old stuff and they only did because Hollywood&co think it gives them more control ...).
 
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