mangoe@umcp-cs.UUCP (Charley Wingate) (07/13/85)
[follow-ups will go to net.sf-lovers unless you change the header, as this isn't really a movies discussion] Here's a topic me and some friends have been bandying about: What things about 1985 would be most suprising to someone from 1955? I think you have to break this into two lines of discussion, based upon social changes versus technology. Here's my ideas: From a technological point of view, advances now haven't been too suprising-- with a few notable exceptions. No one then guessed the impact of the minaturization of computers would have; the idea of putting a computer in a washing machine! Similarly, the space program has travelled in a completely different direction than people expected, with the gain of suprising knoledge about planetary and galactic astrophysics. The two real suprises, though, are in biology and particle physics. Both of these fields have seen the advent of whole new fields. The whole notion of genetic engineering, for instance. Or (take a deep breath) quantum chromodynamics. The REALLY big changes have been social. Nobody expected the tremendous flux in almost every aspect of society; it's not just that things are massively different, it's that every 3 or 4 years, they are massively different. The world political situation would be simply incomprehensible. What we eat has changed radically; what we see on the TV even more so. So here's my apotheosis of the 1985 man: After pulling his "Light" gourmet frozen dinner out of the computerized microwave, he sits down to a tape of MTV videos. Any comments? [By the way, videos are possibly one of the most shocking things of all. Who would have guessed that people would pay to have Hallucinations and other dreams beamed into their houses?] Charley Wingate umcp-cs!mangoe "You mean to tell me, you built a time machine-- out of a DeLorean!?" "Well, I figured if you were going to build a time machine into a car, you might as well do it with some style."
datanguay@watdaisy.UUCP (David Tanguay) (07/13/85)
> Here's a topic me and some friends have been bandying about: > > What things about 1985 would be most suprising to someone from 1955? > ... > Any comments? > > Charley Wingate umcp-cs!mangoe > I think the current plastics technology would blow the minds of 1955 people. Back then plastics were synonymous with low quality (and rightly so); today everything is made out of plastic. We didn't (don't?) notice this revolution because it has happened slowly but steadily. In a related area, expoxies and composite materials (eg. graphite, kevlar) are also very impressive, if less pervasive. David Tanguay
mff@wuphys.UUCP (Swamp Thing) (07/22/85)
In article <7347@watdaisy.UUCP> datanguay@watdaisy.UUCP (David Tanguay) writes: >> What things about 1985 would be most suprising to someone from 1955? >> >> Charley Wingate umcp-cs!mangoe >> > I think the current plastics technology would blow the minds of 1955 >people. How about showing someone working on one of those monster computers a calculator-watch or a programable calculator? Mark F. Flynn Department of Physics Washington University St. Louis, MO 63130 ihnp4!wuphys!mff "There is no dark side of the moon, really. Matter of fact, it's all dark." P. Floyd
dca@edison.UUCP (David C. Albrecht) (07/24/85)
> Here's a topic me and some friends have been bandying about: > > What things about 1985 would be most suprising to someone from 1955? > ... > Any comments? > > Charley Wingate umcp-cs!mangoe > Pervasiveness of computers and hand held calculators, of course. Especially hand held calculators because practically everyone owns one and there wasn't even an inkling of such in 55 except by some SF writeres. Getting a sqroot without reference to a table would have been nirvana in 1955. In general, the revolution in electronics that has happened since 55 due to advancing technology and foreign cheap labor competition. VCRs, SLR cameras, Fancy TVs, incredibly cheap Quartz watches, all manners of boom boxes, mass market stereo, walkmans, remote phones, digital dashboards, cars that talk, coke machines that talk, video games, ... David Albrecht General Electric