I posted this on my tumblr this morning but figured I'd get a better response over here. Plus it's been ages since I've posted here, and the white space of the compose window is throwing up a writer's block right now…
More things promised to us “in the future” that haven’t showed up (yet):
- Flying cars
- The Thunderdome
- Daily depilatory cream (i.e. Nair for beards w/ no side effects)
- Hoverboards
- Toilets/bathrooms that clean themselves
- Soylent Green
- An end to disease, ignorance, and poverty
- Replicants
Big Brother- Holographic advertisements
- Multipasses
- Human-embedded computers (w/ brain interface)
- Teleportation / matter transmission
- Lunar / Mars Colonies
Others you’d like to add to the list?
Possibly related posts (auto-generated):
January 6th, 2009 on 9:55 AM
Ah, but there ARE toilets and bathrooms that clean themselves. On the street in Paris. Or there were in 1995 or 96. For a small fee you get a much better experience than some free, seatless crapper in the bowels of a train station.
Multipasses? Like you can have a pass that works on the train OR the bus?:-P
January 6th, 2009 on 10:06 AM
One word: orgasmatron.
January 6th, 2009 on 10:44 AM
Ok, make those toilets omnipresent and I'll buy into that one.Multipasses as in The Fifth Element – one ID that uniquely identifies you, acts as your credit source, etc. No need to carry around a fricking wallet with a billion cards, licenses, etc – just swipe your multipass :-)
January 6th, 2009 on 10:47 AM
Ooh, yes! But not like the "Excessive Machine" in Barbarella – although I know quite a few folks that would be willing to go out that way…
January 6th, 2009 on 10:49 AM
I believe Modern Marvels (although I could be wrong on the specific television show) discussed the technology behind currently existing self cleaning toilets and restrooms in Europe.To some degree, we do have human-embedded computers. I saw a television documentary on a legally blind woman who had computer implants in her brain to aid her in seeing shadows and shapes. I believe she never had sight, so she has to work at training her brain to understand the new neural input. Over time, scientists will improve upon the technology based on her cooperation as a test subject. Similar technology was also discussed (either in the same documentary or in a magazine; I can't remember which) regarding a paraplegic who used his brain to communicate with people and to write books.Also, don't forget Star Trek's "no more use for currency" theme. (Their representation of this concept was very poor.)
January 6th, 2009 on 10:53 AM
Oh, they have those multipasses at Spa Castle! It looks like a watch. It helps especially when you are nekkid, otherwise we might have to hold our creidt cards in our butt crack!
and I totally want one of those self cleaning toilets, they were awesome.
January 6th, 2009 on 11:23 AM
Oooh, I once watched this Disney made-for-TV movie in the 80s. Girl From Tomorrow. Set in Australia. It promised, among other things I can't remember, a shower that cleans you without water. So you step in, touch your hands to your shoulders, a timer dings, and you're clean! As a child, I thought this was brilliant. And I think parents everywhere would be on board too. Win-win.
January 6th, 2009 on 11:44 AM
I know CSI:NY is a television show, but last season they had an episode on that had self cleaning public toilets. I know the show is not real but they try to use a lot of real things in it and I think the toilets do exist in NY. I do get your point though none of the things you listed are in wide use by the majority of the population, there are only small incidences of the availability of some of the items.
January 6th, 2009 on 12:25 PM
Yes, I want one of those too!Although the option to keep the shower in there would be nice, too. Sometimes you just want hot water to sluice over you while you wake up….
January 6th, 2009 on 12:28 PM
Yeah, that's very cool. I listened to an interview on "Futures in Biotech" that talked about the Brain-Machine interface (including how they actually interface the wires with the brain!), and they're doing some really interesting stuff along those lines. Almost all of it seems to be progressing at near-miraculous rates of improvement in the technology, so I guess I'll keep hoping, but I doubt I'll be able to "jack in" to some network and hook my brain up to it in my lifetime.
January 6th, 2009 on 12:29 PM
Now I need to do some research and go to NY or Paris, just to say I used a self-cleaning potty. Something to put on my list of things to do before I die :-)
January 6th, 2009 on 12:42 PM
I wager 200 quatloos on the newcomer… oh wait… hello — Ray Guns. And no, "laser guided" doesn't count.
January 6th, 2009 on 3:16 PM
I actually met with one of the guys working on the digital vision for the blind project. Fascinating stuff. Their biggest obstacle is actually the wiring – how to power the internal digitals externally.Somewhere, I have a link to an article about batteries that can be printed like paper, cut into any shape desired, and powered by a wide variety of items, including human blood. Practical applications were that a car body could be filled with battery sheets. And for medical implantables – your own blood would provide the power to the battery to power the device. I'll try to remember to find the link (I have it at work).My MIA object: The memory recorder/replayers in Brainstorm – where you play a recording and experience like the recorder did.And, since I'm a goofball, I'd also like most of the stuff that Willy Wonka was developing!
January 6th, 2009 on 3:48 PM
Guns don't reduce people to their component atoms, Ray Guns reduce people to their component atoms!
January 6th, 2009 on 3:50 PM
That's awesome! And I totally want a memory recorder. But I guess it could have misuses, like in Strange Days!I know people who would kill for an everlasting gobstopper. The real kind, I mean.
January 6th, 2009 on 3:54 PM
milla wearing that orange thing.
giant insects to kill
January 6th, 2009 on 4:55 PM
Brainstorm takes it to that level too – the government gets ahold of it and uses it to torture people (record one person while being tortured then just play the memory for everyone else). Old movie but great concept that I absolutely believe is achievable.
January 9th, 2009 on 6:29 PM
took me forever to remember who had posted this thread. anyhoo.. the promised link to the story about paper batteries. It's a short/interesting read.
January 9th, 2009 on 8:14 PM
Very cool! Thanks!
January 15th, 2009 on 11:01 AM
I'm waiting for the Star Trek Transporter – Imagine! I can visit the Philippines for the weekend. Rather than travelling nearly 24 hours on a plane, I can get zapped over in a blink of an eye.
Self-cleaning toilets are awesome. I used one when I was in Florence, Italy a few years back. NO FUNKY GROSSNESS! I didn't mind paying a freakin' Euro to use the can.
January 15th, 2009 on 12:04 PM
Yes, transporters would be amazing! I can understand the 24 hour plane trips, but I'd also like to save the 30 mins drive to/from work every day! Step through a door and arrive at work, at the end of the day, do the same to jet home. I'd save oodles of time over the course of a year!
February 26th, 2009 on 4:22 AM
You can come to South Harrow – we have two. One large, swipe-card operated one for people with a Disabled pass and one for ordinary plebs. Clean, but cold and very metal – metal all-in-one toilet, no wood/plastic separate seat; the wash bowl / soap dispenser / hot air hand dryer are all-in-one too. I guess that makes them easier to clean.If you go in just after they have finished, they are quite steamy. However, since I discovered that the library has a huge loo for the public to use, I use that.