There's some decent predictions in there, but the flying car always gets me. How many decades has the flying car only been "one decade away?" Also, anybody who didn't see twitter/facebook bots and...
There's some decent predictions in there, but the flying car always gets me. How many decades has the flying car only been "one decade away?"
Also, anybody who didn't see twitter/facebook bots and propaganda coming in the last decade hasn't been paying attention.... propaganda has been a factor in virtually every form of communication since the dawn of civilization.
The coming jobs crisis is very real, but one factor they definitely glossed over is the ever-growing consolidation of wealth and power. If something doesn't give soon, all these wonderful tech advances won't be available to the masses, only to the oligarchs who own everything.
Maybe, but the scale and speed of propagation of information on the web (fun fact: propaganda and propagation share the same root) seems to be giving propaganda a more pronounced effect, both in...
propaganda has been a factor in virtually every form of communication since the dawn of civilization
Maybe, but the scale and speed of propagation of information on the web (fun fact: propaganda and propagation share the same root) seems to be giving propaganda a more pronounced effect, both in terms of organizations getting access to more eyes and ears, and getting feedback about its effectiveness. (Replace 'propaganda' with 'advertising' and this holds equally true.)
How can you measure this? Consider to what extent powerful people could control the entity of media back then compared to now. Sure, my gut reaction would be that's its easier to spread propaganda...
How can you measure this? Consider to what extent powerful people could control the entity of media back then compared to now. Sure, my gut reaction would be that's its easier to spread propaganda today but at the same time isn't it also easier to find not-propaganda?
It'll be one of life's great ironies that by the time the flying car actually does become a thing, we manage to obviate the need for personal vehicle ownership altogether. In the 50s I don't think...
There's some decent predictions in there, but the flying car always gets me. How many decades has the flying car only been "one decade away?"
It'll be one of life's great ironies that by the time the flying car actually does become a thing, we manage to obviate the need for personal vehicle ownership altogether. In the 50s I don't think anyone would have expected that we'd end up with ubiquitous robot drivers before flying cars with human ones. It reminds me of a Paul Krugman quote about how Sci-Fi authors in the 50s used to have people calculating paths for interstellar flights using slide rules. Nobody expected how good computers could be or how much they could do.
It's a funny thing to fixate on though. Much like regular cars, flying cars only sound cool if you imagine a world where it's just you and a handful of enthusiasts who have them. When everyone and their mom is cluttering up the sky with flying Geo Metros it very quickly starts to look dystopian, even before you consider the post-9/11 reality of maybe not wanting planes being flown by any and every fool on their 16th birthday.
Now give me skates that can glide along walls like Titanfall or a backpack with jets, though, and we might be talking.
There was a really great topic last month, with some amazingly detailed predictions in it, that may interest you: https://tildes.net/~talk/jz6/whats_gonna_happen_in_the_2020s
What else do you think might happen in the coming decade?
There's some decent predictions in there, but the flying car always gets me. How many decades has the flying car only been "one decade away?"
Also, anybody who didn't see twitter/facebook bots and propaganda coming in the last decade hasn't been paying attention.... propaganda has been a factor in virtually every form of communication since the dawn of civilization.
The coming jobs crisis is very real, but one factor they definitely glossed over is the ever-growing consolidation of wealth and power. If something doesn't give soon, all these wonderful tech advances won't be available to the masses, only to the oligarchs who own everything.
Maybe, but the scale and speed of propagation of information on the web (fun fact: propaganda and propagation share the same root) seems to be giving propaganda a more pronounced effect, both in terms of organizations getting access to more eyes and ears, and getting feedback about its effectiveness. (Replace 'propaganda' with 'advertising' and this holds equally true.)
How can you measure this? Consider to what extent powerful people could control the entity of media back then compared to now. Sure, my gut reaction would be that's its easier to spread propaganda today but at the same time isn't it also easier to find not-propaganda?
It'll be one of life's great ironies that by the time the flying car actually does become a thing, we manage to obviate the need for personal vehicle ownership altogether. In the 50s I don't think anyone would have expected that we'd end up with ubiquitous robot drivers before flying cars with human ones. It reminds me of a Paul Krugman quote about how Sci-Fi authors in the 50s used to have people calculating paths for interstellar flights using slide rules. Nobody expected how good computers could be or how much they could do.
It's a funny thing to fixate on though. Much like regular cars, flying cars only sound cool if you imagine a world where it's just you and a handful of enthusiasts who have them. When everyone and their mom is cluttering up the sky with flying Geo Metros it very quickly starts to look dystopian, even before you consider the post-9/11 reality of maybe not wanting planes being flown by any and every fool on their 16th birthday.
Now give me skates that can glide along walls like Titanfall or a backpack with jets, though, and we might be talking.
There was a really great topic last month, with some amazingly detailed predictions in it, that may interest you:
https://tildes.net/~talk/jz6/whats_gonna_happen_in_the_2020s
Hey, that's one prediction I got down I guess :p