Re: [MLUG - DISCUSSION] predicting the future

[Jennifer Dozar <EMAIL:PROTECTED>]

That is another reason it is also Science Fiction :) 

Soylent green was an interesting movie. I don't remember the video game
they played, but I remember another movie i was watching thinking sweet,
they'll still have atari games in the future that look justl ike the
ones i played when i was 8 ;) 

Andromeda Strain was an awesome book, but the movie is very boring and
uneventful. plus you can't see all the data they are producing, like you
can in the book. 

No one can really predict the future. Of course in the 50s, they thought
we'd have flying cars and all that kind of weird stuff :) I still say,
that's why it is Science fiction. I'm sure that kind of stuff COULD
happen, just not sure WHEN!  too many issues standing in the way of that
kind of frivolous innovation! hehe. 

But all those movies are good!  well, except andromeda strain, mostly
cause the book was far far more interesting. :) I remember the moving
being pretty silent... and watching guys in white containment suits
standing around... I'll stick the book! 

On Mon, May 01, 2006 at 09:40:25AM -0500, Mike Miller wrote:
> On 60 Minutes yesterday, Andy Rooney got out an old tape of a show CBS had 
> made in 1986 predicting what the world would be like in 2001.  They were 
> pretty much wrong about everything.  Populations didn't grow as fast as 
> expected and we didn't cure cancer or mental illness.
> 
> A few weeks ago I watched "Soylent Green" and "Blade Runner."  Both take 
> place in the future -- in the 2020s or 2010s -- not too far into our 
> future, so I think it's pretty clear that they were both way off.  Why?
> 
> People seem to expect faster change in some variables than is reasonable. 
> For example, homes built today will probably still be standing in 100 
> years or more, so we shouldn't expect cities to look all that different in 
> only 50 years.  Filmmakers can only show us what they can imagine and have 
> the technology to display.  So, the computers of the "future" as shown in 
> the 1970s and 1980s were really, really lame by today's standards. 
> You'll get a kick out of the computer game in "Soylent Green."
> 
> I think our predictions about technology are driven partly by people who 
> exaggerate because they are paid to do so.  Ask a scientist what wonderful 
> things he might accomplish with a $10 million grant and he will tell you 
> that he might cure cancer and the common cold.  Or he might not, but he 
> won't tell you that.  So there is a tendency to be overly optimistic about 
> future developments in medicine.
> 
> I also watched "The Andromeda Strain."  That movie doesn't take place in 
> the future, but it uses a lot of special effects.  Back then, the computer 
> images they were showing were astounding.  Today they seem like nothing. 
> The movie is very boring to today's audience, but in 1971 it was a lot 
> more interesting.  I can't recommend it my teenage son, but I remember 
> that I really liked it when I was a teenager.
> 
> Mike
> 
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Jennifer Dozar
http://seul.org/~jennifer/osschools/
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