I was born in the 1980s. I remember growing up, I always had the impression that by this time in the 21st century, we’d have figured out some way to break the established laws of physics. Maybe it was because of watching so much sci-fi, but I feel like I’m not alone in this. The media seemed to reflect the same line of thinking. “Back to the Future 2” with its hoverboards and flying cars is now set several years in the past.
Be it anti-gravity, interstellar travel, teleportation, whatever, I always kind of assumed that by now, we’d at least have a working theory of how we might implement it in the next few decades. I think a lot of that has to do with the start of the “information age.” Computers and the way they could connect us were so revolutionary, it seemed like “magic” to the layperson. More “magic” would only be a few years away, right? If we could fit all this power into a box that sits on your desk, then it wasn’t beyond the scope of reason to think that anything was possible; it’d just take a few more years for us to figure it out, then we’d be planning the first NASA mission to another solar system.
What I never would have predicted is just how rapidly computer technology would advance. We now have supercomputers in our pockets, powered by CPUs that are well into the realm of nanotechnology and are now starting to run into limitations imposed by quantum physics. As a technological society, we’ve probably progressed farther than I would have ever imagined, just not in the way I expected.
High speed rail.
It’s insane Amtrak is the best we got. You should be able to go from Orlando to New York in hours, cheaply.
Reasonable justice reforms for social media used as public alert and communication systems, AI, crypto, gaming, etc to regulate new markets emerging from new tech to prevent predatory monetization policy and monopolies causing increased wealth centralization and patent trolling slowing down technical innovation in general.
Bluetooth that works. The ability to email large files. Low cost broadband. The right to repair. Not lose the ownership of digital media.
Digital media just kills me. Back in the CD and DVD days I sent back a bunch of discs that were too scrarched to use and i would get coupons to replace them. Often times the publishers included an extra one just because they didn’t want you to pirate stuff. Buying physical media meant you licensed it even when you physically couldn’t so they were compelled to solve the problem.
Also printers that work
It’s been a long, long while that I’ve had any issues with any Bluetooth device.
Can you listen to music or watch a movie while on a discord call using the hands-free microphone in your Bluetooth headset? Full duplex audio still halves the nominal bitrate for both the microphone and media playback audio; same as when the HSP/HFP protocols we’re first showcased in 1999. It’s ridiculous, especially now that very few flagship devices still include a headset jack.
Universal Healthcare.
A functional healthcare system.
We have one!
Oh wait, you don’t lol
A global functional healthcare system, silly, not just for your local residents.
Not backsliding into feudalism?
You don’t like the extra steps we added?
more international cooperation for global benefit. instead we have more profit taking from everyone
Fiber to the Home Internet connectivity that was paid for 30 years ago.
We have that!
Oh wait, you don’t lol
Yup. Maybe a bit bitter at US telecoms pocketing the subsidy money from the 90s, 00s, 10s, and 20s, without delivering.
- open source software that pays for contributions
- privacy laws that protect people against corporations
- living wage
- end of sexism and mysoginy
- global democracy
This one hits different
High speed rail (USA)
#FUCKcars
Land of the free™.
You’re free to choose anything you want as long as the shareholders benefit.
The one thing I feel deprived of, is the proper sci fi aesthetic in our devices.
The beeps, the switches, the UI. All forsaken for an asinine black mirror .
TBF all those sci-fi transparent displays would be terrible to use
They’re not transparent when viewing from the front, but there’s not really any point to it being transparent either, unless it’s a holographic projection.
Member the matrix all white control room? I want that.
Not a particular technology, but I really had a little bit of hope that we’d be able to tackle climate change like we tackled ozone depletion due to CFCs/HCFCs/HFCs with the Montreal Protocol.
Yes what the fuck happened? As a planet, we came together to end CFCs but now everyone just shrugs and says, “nah”
One problem is a bit easier then the other. No one’s economy is entirely based around CFCs and CFCs have excellent alternatives.
From the perspective of a kid in the 70s, I thought for sure some level of space colonization, whether it be a Moon colony or O’Neill type settlements. Along with that would be moving industry into space to tap unlimited resources and allow the Earth to heal.
Just because there are nearly unlimited resources out there, doesn’t mean we won’t keep abusing the ones down here.
Something, anything in the freaking moon.
Why haven’t we been back there in, like, 50 years? That mission was done with computers that were less powerful than my stupid phone.
Anything, a telescope, a transmitter of I-don’t-know-what shit, a lunar farm, a Coca-Cola or Disney advertising, ANYTHING!
Short answer: it’s not that we don’t have the technology, its that we don’t have a reason to. With very few exceptions, if you can do it on the moon you can do it on earth or in Earth orbit
Long answer: in the space industry/field the moon is incredibly boring, relatively expensive to get to, and adds an extra step of logistics to an already complicated mission profile. Most space related technology advancement efforts have gone into doing things in orbit and there is more to do there than on the moon, it’s logistically simpler, and cost is orders of magnitude less. Stuff is still advancing there, think Hubble vs James Web, GPS 1 vs GPS 3, the entire GOES system. In terms of technical challenges, they’re far more interesting than anything on the moon, but it’s not as flashy/headline grabbing so it’s not talked about much.
The US going to the moon in the 60/70s was a rare combination of a win for scientists, politicians, and the people. The political incentive went away since as the USSR space program collapsed so too did political pressure to continue to put men on the moon and “prove 'Murica is better than those damn commies”.
In modern times the political incentive is returning with the continued efforts by China to do more stuff in space so we get the Artemis program, but the incentives aren’t that strong which is why the program has moved so slowly.
I know all that, it’s what causes me the most frustration. In the end the “Greatest Achievement of Mankind” is not much different than a guy jumping to touch the ceiling because they told him “bet you can’t reach”, and after that, unless they find oil or some shit like that on the moon, they’re never coming back… At least the Americans, since the Chinese do plan to establish “something” there, at least to show they can.
For me, I view Apollo as the highschool quarterback winning the homecoming game.
In the context, its a great achievement. A lot of time, effort, and luck all came together at just the right moment to create an entertaining spectacle. The school is all happy and celebrating, students will remember that moment for years to come. But in the grand scheme of things, it’s not that big of an achievement since everyone there will move on to bigger and greater things, except they won’t have a student body cheering them on.
I think saying the Apollo program is one of the greatest achievements of mankind falsely puts it on a pedestal and forever sets up all other achievements as being lesser. Makes us all feel like anything that isn’t chasing that glory isn’t worth it. It’s an achievement for sure, but not the biggest. If I had to give the greatest achievement in space technology to anything, I’d give it to either GPS or GOES.
For me the one of the greatest is the Sputnik, it was the beginning of something amazing.
Yeah, there was a period in time where people were discussing Helium-3 as a source of fuel that we could very easily and efficiently farm on the moon, which was seen as a key step in becoming a space-faring species. Okay, so we know where the fuel is and we can get there, so companies can start using Earth fuel to send helium-3 extraction machines, which can then be used to collect fuel for them to use in further missions and eventually, a small amount of helium-3 will be used to fuel a mission that returns with massive amounts of it, so we have a fuel, and now we can start exploring space even further, with people. It was the clear direction to take.
It’s a bit of a fantasy, I think. There is nothing profitable about space exploration. It’s either science experiments or nationalist dick measuring.
Yeah, and then use a slingshot thingy to move a container into low earth orbit in exchange for a container being shot to the moon thingy
