01/01/2025

[NW Wheeze]

I'm optimistic about the future. I'm jealous of kids growing up today. Little kids have tablet computers that are orders of magnitude faster than my first PC I got in middle school.

Kids growing up today will invent new technologies we haven't even thought of yet. Who would have thought 20 years ago that we'd all be carrying around tiny computers that will change our lives for the better? A little screen you hold in your hand can give you access to the total sum of human knowledge, and anyone can afford it. You can press a few buttons on a screen to hear pretty much any song ever recorded. Read pretty much any book ever written, learn more about any subject than you could ever learn at a library 20 years ago. Communicate with people anywhere in the world whenever you want, all from a little thing you hold in your hand. Kids who grow up with this kind of technology will take it to places we haven't imagined yet.

I wrote a paper analysing this subject. My conclusion is that we as a whole are screwed. We have all this great technology allowing us to communicate ideas instantly anywhere. Instead of doing great things to improve our world with this. We choose to use our technology for entertainment purposes, or warfare.

Todays youth would rather have something done for them, than learn how to do it themselves. I find this especially disturbing given the amount of information that is available on damn near any subject you can think of. I really hope my experience with 'the younger generation' are an exception and not the rule. But it sure seems there is a whole-lotta stupid running around these days.

Grumpy old man rant complete.

 

[Max Headroom]

as a species we are at a turning point and it is up to us where the future will take us.
we can use our technology and switch to a humane, ethical system of living, or we can continue to ride the dragon of greed until the virus of capitalism will destroy everything, including us.

to me the choice seems obvious, but then again, i'm not a greedy sociopath like most political & business leaders.

 

[waveguide]

a virus at first jokingly known as "the squirrel" chomps all the nuts, so the only survivors are female or very young or old. (thanks to a sex crazed scientist trying to eliminate the competition)

a mileu of post apocalyptic scantily clad all female road warrior kinda deal ensues, some MIT wasp wipes out most of the remaining population by taking control of the MENTOR satellite network until an EM pulse destroys them and most of the remaining tech.

much of the remaining populace in the u.s.a. form a cult, which goes into homes looking for anything with a picture on it and turns all the houses into a giant exhibition for the upcoming generation.

of course, by this time, people don't own a lot of non-electronic pictures or texts, so the kids get all retarded on spongebob and shit and reinvent the same totally useless servile society, except the masters aren't around any more.

beats me go with it

 

[stig]

...hopefully, I will be on a catamaran, a year into a 5 year trip, sailing the Caribbean crescent...

 

[Catatafish]

We have all this great technology allowing us to communicate ideas instantly anywhere. Instead of doing great things to improve our world with this. We choose to use our technology for entertainment purposes, or warfare.

Entertainment = dick pics and poon shots

 

[m314]

I wrote a paper analysing this subject. My conclusion is that we as a whole are screwed. We have all this great technology allowing us to communicate ideas instantly anywhere. Instead of doing great things to improve our world with this. We choose to use our technology for entertainment purposes, or warfare.

Todays youth would rather have something done for them, than learn how to do it themselves. I find this especially disturbing given the amount of information that is available on damn near any subject you can think of. I really hope my experience with 'the younger generation' are an exception and not the rule. But it sure seems there is a whole-lotta stupid running around these days.

Grumpy old man rant complete.

We will be fine as a whole even if most people use technology for entertainment. There are lots of smart young people out there who apply themselves at what they do and have dreams of changing the world.

I get to interview college kids for software engineer internships with my current job. I meet so many bright kids who remind me of the computer geeks of my generation. They love coding, they grew up reading science fiction, and they're interested in building something new that the world hasn't seen. The difference is they have access to the modern internet. I was on the internet in 1990, but it wasn't like it is now.

Of course something could happen that ruins everything. Nuclear war, a global pandemic, something like that.

 

[El_Kabong]

@ 12:01am? the idiots will be lining up for the new iPhone 37, because, you know, you can't be seen with that old iPhone 36 shit

 

[m314]

@ 12:01am? the idiots will be lining up for the new iPhone 37, because, you know, you can't be seen with that old iPhone 36 shit

The exponential pace of technological advancement is a good thing. It won't always be like that. Moore's Law won't last forever.

 

[Max Headroom]

The exponential pace of technological advancement is a good thing. It won't always be like that. Moore's Law won't last forever.

a new iphone every year isn't an indicator of technical advancement. it's an indicator of monetizing something over as long a period as possible. they could have easily made the iphone1 as "good" as the 6. but then they wouldn't have been able to sell all the generations in between to those morons who think a new phone every year is something that's necessary.

 

[blastfrompast]

Honestly...

Solar flare causing a grid collapse worldwide and some really bad shit to follow.

Or

Some seriously bad virus that gets loose and knocks the population down by 1/3rd (avg...with some countries losing much more)

OR

Some sort of racial or religious war that pits fellow american's against themselves....

OF COURSE
I hope everything is just tickety-boo and my son is all grown up and working and society has changed for the better...but that is just the POT talking.

 

[Dropped Cat]

10 years from now:

Manned mission to moon, not by U.S.
Legal cannabis widely accepted.
Smartphone/Facebook widely regarded as passe.
Kim Kardashian Oscar for Best Actress.
First Latino U.S President.
Re-introduction of "dumb" cars.
Continued decrease of biodiversity, increase of invasive species.
Rolling Stones 60th anniversary tour.
Disco will still suck.

 

[m314]

a new iphone every year isn't an indicator of technical advancement. it's an indicator of monetizing something over as long a period as possible. they could have easily made the iphone1 as "good" as the 6. but then they wouldn't have been able to sell all the generations in between to those morons who think a new phone every year is something that's necessary.

Computing power roughly doubles every two years. The best smartphone you can buy is twice as powerful and capable as the best one from 2 years ago. That's why people who follow the technology are excited about getting the latest model.

Do you really think Apple has been holding back features all this time while they're losing market share to Android phones? Apple, Samsung, Motorola, Google, Microsoft, they're all trying as hard as they can to bring the best technology to the marketplace. They're all fighting for survival. If Apple held back, they'd be out of business in a few years. Tech companies that don't innovate go the way of Research in Motion (Blackberry).

 

[hunt4genetics]

I really think virtual reality will take off.
Most pics today are digital, it is rare to develop and hold a physical photo.

Given a choice between cramming into a plane and flying to Fiji, a person will just put on their VR set and experience Fiji that way. Many will favor that, than actually going there in person.

 

[shithawk420]

Probably

 

[floralheart]

I think idiocracy will take a little longer to kick in then 11 yrs, you need few more gens of breeding stupid. I do picture this happening, but it will probably be close to 100+ years till you see the full effect.

Keep 'baitin scrote

It already kicked in 50 years ago.

 

[stoned-trout]

well I know one thing .. things are getting worse... path to self destruction.......yeehaw

 

[_tessarecting]

Smart dust records all biometrics through quantum tunneling encryption which gets sold to the feds to control human populations like larvae.

 

[Green lung]

Flying cars man.









/

 

[Catatafish]

Robots that diddle ya wont be too much further out im guessing.

 

[iTarzan]

Same as it always was.

That is only tens years stoned trout. You will still be toking and fishing.