Back in the day did you think the future would be better ?

[MIB41]

What a great topic. What I thought the future would look like, and what it has become are virtual contradictions. Where do I even start? Okay, let's start with our kids and the school system. Our public school system is a JOKE. Kids can go from an F to an A like nothing. They get tons of credit points for simply having a grade sheet signed. The teachers and kids get more ridiculous days off than ever before and almost never assign the kids homework. I guess they just show up for a paycheck. Do you know I had to teach my kids how to read a clock? Seriously! And not when they were small. When they were teenagers! The school system assumed everything was digital so they were never taught. And we pay unGodly amounts of money for supplies. The schools do NOTHING. So education is a pale shadow of what we had.

Television is almost unwatchable. We are so buried in sexual innuendo, you think the writers never get out of the sack to create a script. It's embarrassing. And the cultural 'sensitivity' to shows is laughable, if not down right hypocritical. Our society enjoys lying to itself. Oddly most shows that were popular in the 70's could not survive today, without riots in the streets! Could you see 'All in the Family', 'The Jefferson's' or 'Sanford & Son' on prime time? All of those shows talked about cultural differences and biases. They made you think. Today no brain is required.

Now movies are something else. In the day when we watched Spider-man and the Hulk on TV, no one would DARE dream of the technology and subsequent industry we have today. THAT has been an incredible surprise and one I don't take for granted. I'm still in awe when I see Spider-man fighting Doc Ock. That just blows my mind because I never expected to see an image quite that convincing in my life time.

Computers have been both a blessing and a curse. It goes without saying Ebay (and other online auctions) completely changed the face of my collection. What was once thought unreachable and not likely to be seen anymore, have found it's way to my shelves again, and again, and again. Most of the Holy Grails of my childhood have been restored and once incomplete collections are now whole. And the Mego Museum is quite frankly a blessing. I love this forum. I actually don't participate on any other forum than this. No interest. This one covers everything from vintage and current toy lines to current events. Heck I get my news here or report it myself! No better site in the world! Of course I could go on and on about other aspects of the here and now. But I'll leave it on a good note.

[clemso]

I thought everything would be like Back To The Future 2 and Blade Runner by now, oh well.

[Mikey]

I never expected the future to be like Star Trek, but I did expect at least some things might change ...

Take a man's suit ....

Besides the lapels and tie width the basic modern man's suit could have passed 60 years ago.

[SlipperyLilSuckers]

I was really into science fiction as a kid, and yeah, I did have great expectations. And I especially wanted a jet backpack.

[Adam West]

Star Trek is technologically more advanced than the Star Wars universe.

Can Darth Vader beam from ship to planet?

Can he time travel?

No...didn't think so...

But didn't Star Wars occur in the past (at least our past as we know it) and Star Trek occurs in the future? With that said, doesn't it make sense that Star Trek would have the technological edge over Star Wars?

[Adam West]

I really never thought much about technological advances of the future. As others have already stated, I never would have imagined anything as great as the internet, cell phones, HDTV, or even the choices of cable programs (some really good and others not so good). These are all technologies that I actually use and I would say that the internet is one of the best pieces of technologies ever created if used properly. I never thought in my wildest dreams that I could look up almost anything by typing something into a search engine and finding an answer. It also is for the most part available to anyone who wants to use it in the U.S. If you can't afford internet, there are many places like the public library that allow you to use it at no cost.

[Adam West]

I will also add that I fully expected that I would be involved as a combat soldier in a war during my lifetime. Maybe it was because my father is a Korean War veteran. When the first Gulf war broke out; I literally just graduated from college and with all sincerity thought it was going to break out into a major World War and my draft card would get pulled. True, we are involved in two wars today but it is an all volunteer army. Some may be reservists and might not have expected to be called to active duty but they did sign up for it. My father didn't have a choice, nor did most people going to Vietnam which is a big difference to me.

[Brazoo]

I never thought in my wildest dreams that I could look up almost anything by typing something into a search engine and finding an answer. It also is for the most part available to anyone who wants to use it in the U.S. If you can't afford internet, there are many places like the public library that allow you to use it at no cost.

Yeah - Mike I completely think you're underestimating the importance of being among the first generation to step through the doors of the internet age.

It's Gutenberg's printing press meets the industrial revolution. It's technology that socially, politically and physiologically changed the entire planet in under 20 years.

[Brazoo]

Star Trek is technologically more advanced than the Star Wars universe.

Can Darth Vader beam from ship to planet?

Can he time travel?

No...didn't think so...

Yeah - but why is it that in our wildest fantasies we can't picture a future without male pattern baldness?

[Gorn Captain]

Honestly, I think we are in a modern kind of Dark Ages, and it just gets darker and darker. Pollution, wars, diseases (AIDS, cancer,...) that are out of control.
Yeah, we've got loads of gadgets (do we need them?), kids are used to getting everything they want, and in the end we get hyperactive kids that only know videogames (where they blow people's brains out) and cell phones (when you're ten, you really need a cell phone).
A large part of the world is at war, with state-of-the-art stuff (so we can kill better), The Third World is drowning in violence and AIDS.

I grew up with films like POTA, Omega Man, Soylent Green (The Holy Trinity of Chuck Heston), and you know what? Those guys were right.
We're ruining our very home, the only planet that sustains life here, and we just go on doing it.

I used to believe in the vision of Star Trek, but that is a long way off. I think we're still heading for WWIII first.
In a world where Paris Hilton is a celebrity, what can I say?

[johnmiic]

Why did I think Star Wars was more advanced that Star Trek. Hmmmm. Warp drive vs. Hyperspace. These are 2 different concepts. The Enterprise generates a field around the ship to propel it faster than light thru space. We see the stars whiz by as it travels.

The Mellenium Falcon jumps into a different space, Hyperspace, to take a short-cut to it's destination, (Battlestar Galactica does this too). So when it flies somewhere we see a tunnel. Both methods are beyond what we have now but I think the SW version is more advanced. I think both are hundreds of years in the future if at all.

The transporter is more advanced but I doubt a transporter will ever be built. I don't think it will ever happen. You can transfer data but not matter. I don't think Time Travel will ever be possible. It won't happen. If it could-where are the time travelers? Where is the evidence hey were here? The footage of the woman in 1920's using a cell phone? Nahhhhhh. It should be easier for us to switch from fossil fuels to cleaner energy like solar/electric. I just saw a program last month about some new energy device that uses a sandwich structure of ceramics and sand. Google has one installed on their premises to generate electricity. I doubt we'll ever get to use it in our homes. It will not be backed but more likely surpressed.

In the next 10-20 years there are going to have to be some major fixes in education, transportation, environment, pollution, and energy if we ever want to try to get to where Star Trek is. We have to make big advances but right now no one wants to go forward. We're not making any progress. We've stalled out. Personally I think the Human Race will be gone in the next 100-200 years. We're done for.

[Mikey]

I used to believe in the vision of Star Trek, but that is a long way off. I think we're still heading for WWIII first.
?

I really can't see a WWIII in the foreseeable future.

The EU, UK, US, Canada, Australia, Latin America and much of Asia will always be on the same side.

That only leaves the midde east and north Africa as opponents.

I can't see that ever turning into WWIII - at least not in the near future.

The midde east and north Africa are pains in the butts, but nothing that can't be TAKEN CARE OF quickly if we REALLY wanted to.

[Brazoo]

Honestly, I think we are in a modern kind of Dark Ages, and it just gets darker and darker. Pollution, wars, diseases (AIDS, cancer,...) that are out of control.
Yeah, we've got loads of gadgets (do we need them?), kids are used to getting everything they want, and in the end we get hyperactive kids that only know videogames (where they blow people's brains out) and cell phones (when you're ten, you really need a cell phone).
A large part of the world is at war, with state-of-the-art stuff (so we can kill better), The Third World is drowning in violence and AIDS.

I grew up with films like POTA, Omega Man, Soylent Green (The Holy Trinity of Chuck Heston), and you know what? Those guys were right.
We're ruining our very home, the only planet that sustains life here, and we just go on doing it.

I used to believe in the vision of Star Trek, but that is a long way off. I think we're still heading for WWIII first.
In a world where Paris Hilton is a celebrity, what can I say?

I worry about that cycle too. Seems unavoidable to some degree.

If our standard of living goes up it makes sense that our concerns and pass-times would be more frivolous. Hell - we don't have to look far - there's NO WAY my grandfather had the time to ever think about his childhood toys when he was my age - let alone sit around collecting and talking about them.

As we become less concerned with real issues we maybe get caught in a trap and missing the big picture - as you're suggesting - and taking our place in the world for granted too.

Science has always kept leading societies ahead - and my main fear is that Western popular culture and our education system totally devalues science right now. In North America kids are doing worse in science and math, and our standards are slipping.

It's one of the reasons I've been getting really concerned about science and science issues the last few years.

[Brazoo]

I really can't see a WWIII in the foreseeable future.

The EU, UK, US, Canada, Australia, Latin America and much of Asia will always be on the same side.

That only leaves the midde east and north Africa as opponents.

I can't see that ever turning into WWIII - at least not in the near future.

North Korea + China + Iran + variables that may include other countries = ?

The midde east and north Africa are pains in the butts, but nothing that can't be TAKEN CARE OF quickly if we REALLY wanted to.

I've heard people suggest nuking the Middle East as a "solution" before.

You really think that America blowing up half a continent of people is a solution? Plus - what do you think is going to happen when half or Europe Africa and Asia is exposed to massive doses of radiation and covered in fall out?

Even if we're ignoring the fact that blowing up that many people might be a morally wrong thing to do - and inflicting Europe, Asia and Africa with radiation poisoning causing millions of more innocent deaths - ASSUMING there's no military repercussions at that point and America has "taken care" of a problem - the whole reason the conflict exists is over oil. If you're going to just blow up the oil - or make it impossible to get near it for centuries then what's the point?

[saildog]

North Korea + China + Iran + variables that may include other countries = ?

I served in the Far East/Mid-East in the early to mid 1990s and it amazes me that nothing has happened to this point. When I read the news today, I swear someone is just re-running an article from that time frame.

All of this technology that those nations have now, they were acquiring it then and everyone knew it. It just passes out of the news cycle and when it re-emerges, people have forgotten that it's all been going on for a while.