X-Message-Number: 28879
Date: Thu, 11 Jan 2007 21:04:26 -0800
From: Olaf Henny <>
Subject: Re: Postponing the future (Mark Plus)
References: <>

In Message #28871 Mark Plus wrote:

> I guess because the 21st Century looks pretty lame so far, futurists have
> started to project all the science-fictional stuff into the 22nd Century.
>
> Case in point: The upcoming PBS show, "22nd Century":


This may be, in order not to have to defend the predictions, if they don't 
come about.

The fact of the matter is, that scientific and technological developments 
have been overwhelming during the last half century and are still 
accelerating

We are all familiar with Arthur C. Clarke's statement to the effect, that a 
technology far enough advanced is indistinguishable from magic, or similar 
such words. What he could have added is that new technology sneaks up on the 
contemporary almost unnoticed. That has obviously happened to you

I have posted here 2 to 3 years ago about my little imaginary relationship 
with my dad who died in 1962 in an essentially pre-WWII consumer economy and 
have in my mind ever since "pointed out and explained" to him all that would 
be new to him, was he revived today and I can assure you it is an entirely 
new world, which he would enter and it will be an entirely new weird and 
wonderful world we will enter, when we are revived in the future, even if 
that future should be still in the 21st century.

Indeed the wonders of today's modern life are plenty for the man from the 
mid-20th Century. There is satellite TV, which lets you watch a soccer game 
in the UK, a cricket match in Australia or the war in Iraq sitting in an 
armchair, - all as it happens. There is intercontinental direct dialing, 
laser eye surgery, surgery performed by robots, there are motion detectors, 
which turn on the spot lights or open the doors for you. There is also the 
scanner at the grocery check-out, which gives you a print-out showing the 
weight of the bag of noodles you just bought and the price you paid, while 
also subtracting your purchase from the store's inventory.

Our kitchens are equipped with microwave and dishwashers, all subjects of a 
fantastic future only half a century ago. The freezer and the air condition 
in the home were then so far removed from his reality as from ours a self 
parallel parking car. Parallel parking??? - Certainly not a problem in East 
Germany or when he owned his last car prior to WWII. You just pulled over to 
the curb and stopped. The weren't a whole lot of cars around then.

The magic of "Open Sesame" of my garage door opener is even more wondrous 
than in the fairy tale. I need no incantations, just hit the button on my 
(magic) wand and the thing opens. Solving decades old crime with genetic ID, 
genetic manipulation, stem cell research and cloning, all fantastic 
achievements from the perspective of a man/woman, who exited this existence 
half a century ago

All these little lights and beepers, which tell us what to do and what not 
to do in the car, The computer, which opens the door to information, which 
no encyclopedia could hope to convey and which permits us to send messages 
and pictures to any of hundreds of millions of other computers around the 
world in just moments.

And then all the other helpful conveniences, like the flimsy and yet strong 
plastic shopping bag, the roller tracks in kitchen drawers, the wool 
sweater, which no longer itches and the shoe, which you no longer have to 
shine each day and which no longer drives nails into your foot as the heal 
wears down, static dusters, velcro still  sticks' after thousands of uses. 
Kitty litter? - Never heard of it.

At the end of this month Margot (my wife) and I will leave for Vietnam and 
China, probably with less than $100.-in our pockets and no traveler's 
cheques, because we will be able to withdraw funds directly from our 
accounts from any ATM machine on the planet. As well we will check on our 
email from various internet cafes and stay in touch with friends.

Need I go on? We are living right now in the very exiting future of 
yesteryear

I am sure I could come up with another equally long list of everyday items, 
which would boggle the mind of a person who went into suspension fifty years 
ago and be revived today. We will probably face a suspension of a much 
longer period of time and the tickertape of technological and scientific 
achievements will only accelerate. Be prepared to be hopelessly disoriented 
at first.

Best,

Olaf

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