X-Message-Number: 33300 Date: Tue, 1 Feb 2011 14:07:06 -0500 From: "Perry E. Metzger" <> Subject: who wants jumpsuits? References: <> MARK PLUS <> writes: > > I sympathize with Peter Thiel's desire* to hit a metaphorical "reset > button" which takes us back to the science-fictional visions of the > 1950's and 1960's, so that we can try to make more of them real this > time. > > What happened to that other 21st Century I read about as a > youngster? You know, the one where by the year 2011 we'd normally > wear unitards or jumpsuits How ugly. I'm glad we've had more fashion taste than that. On the other hand, in 1950, I'll point out that almost no one would have expected some of the wealthiest men on earth to go to work wearing jeans and T-shirts. > the one with the moon and L-5 colonies; We still lack the advanced materials to do that, and won't have them for another 30 years or so. On the other hand, in 1950, no one would have expected the sexual revolution, the Internet, or fully automated 5-axis CNC machines that could turn a block of aluminum into an arbitrary shape in minutes. > the one with the cities covered by geodesic domes; And why, pray tell, aren't you disappointed that when we went to the moon we didn't use a giant cannon embedded in the ground in Florida? After all, that's what Jules Verne said we should use. Instead we used these "rocket" things -- how sad. I read SF from 1950 and people had building-sized vacuum tube driven computers. Instead I have a far more powerful computer running my microwave oven. I don't have giant global networks of pneumatic tubes, I have email. Generally I'd say that the things we actually got turn out to be pretty alright. It appears that you are disappointed that the future some arbitrary set of SF writers anticipated didn't come out exactly as they wanted. Instead of jet packs (never feasible without MNT if you calculate the energetics), we have people sending spit samples in to 23 and Me to get their genes sequenced. Well, fine, why should we care? Anyone who actually thinks that the last 60 years haven't been a total revolution in human existence is blind. That said, there are plenty of blind people out there. I'm looking forward with great anticipation to the next decades. I won't, however, be disappointed if some arbitrary SF writer doesn't tell me exactly what it will look like. Perry -- Perry E. Metzger Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=33300