Where did this decade go and where is my Jet Pack?

[toppstuff]

My God !

It's 2009!

This is a major shock for me. It seems only weeks ago when we had the Millenium Party and all the fuss about the Millenium Bug.

This decade is nearly over and I must admit to being pretty disappointed.

When I was a kid the idea of being around in 2009 would seem incredibly futuristic.

I was convinced that, by then, some amazing changes would have happened. I was sure that life would be dramatically different. Instead, life changed incrementally and frankly, too slowly, so that things in 2009 do not seem all that different to 1989..

Here is a list of things I frankly think we should have achieved by now:

1. Personal Jet Packs or at least easily accessible Flying Cars.
2. Food in tablet form.
3. The ability to dive deep underwater with just a little metal thing fitted under my nose.
4. Only working 2 days a week and always in a really cool job.
5. Boring jobs do not exist because Robots do them.
6. Trains go at 500mph through glass tubes.
7. You CAN catch a plane which can fly to the Moon. There is a Hotel there, too.
8. I can operate remote controls with the power of thought.
9. I have a computer like HAL that I can talk to.
10. I am forever slim and look good in a stretchy suit.


But the biggest disappointment for me is the Jet Pack.

I'm gutted, I'm getting old, and the World better pull its finger out , that's all I can say !

Yours, disappointed,

TS.

[Gargamel]

Nads to that list.

I am still waiting for a proper cure for needing to sleep 8 out of every 24 hours

What a waste of time that is.

[bob1179]

I am annoyed that I can't stay in that hotel on the moon that you mention.

I can't believe how quickly it has all passed, I remember watching all the fireworks at the strike of midnight at the end of 1999, it really does only seem like last week.
Over the last decade I have neither matured or made my fortune, in fact, I am pretty much the same car loving slob I was when I was 19, the jeans and T-shirt combo I have worn since I was a teenager will never go out of fashion...

[toppstuff]

bob1179 said:

I am annoyed that I can't stay in that hotel on the moon that you mention.

I can't believe how quickly it has all passed, I remember watching all the fireworks at the strike of midnight at the end of 1999, it really does only seem like last week.
Over the last decade I have neither matured or made my fortune, in fact, I am pretty much the same car loving slob I was when I was 19, the jeans and T-shirt combo I have worn since I was a teenager will never go out of fashion...

Funny you should say that, because one of things that put this in my mind was uncovering old T shirt I wore back then. I've started wearing it again, but the weirdest thing is that for some reason I think I looked better in it back in 1999 that I do now..

So tonight I'm gonna party like its 1999...

[bob1179]

toppstuff said:

bob1179 said:

I am annoyed that I can't stay in that hotel on the moon that you mention.

I can't believe how quickly it has all passed, I remember watching all the fireworks at the strike of midnight at the end of 1999, it really does only seem like last week.
Over the last decade I have neither matured or made my fortune, in fact, I am pretty much the same car loving slob I was when I was 19, the jeans and T-shirt combo I have worn since I was a teenager will never go out of fashion...

Funny you should say that, because one of things that put this in my mind was uncovering old T shirt I wore back then. I've started wearing it again, but the weirdest thing is that for some reason I think I looked better in it back in 1999 that I do now..

So tonight I'm gonna party like its 1999...

I certainly had a lot more hair back in the 1990's...

I love finding old and nostalgic clothing around the house, especially stuff that sports logos and brands completley unknown to todays youth, ie. 'Seahorses '96 UK Tour' or 'Fat Willy's Surf Shack'.

[Hedders]

toppstuff said:

1. Personal Jet Packs or at least easily accessible Flying Cars.



But the biggest disappointment for me is the Jet Pack.


TS.

It will never happen IMO. Can you imagine flying muggers and bank robbers etc?

And how would they monitor us and control our speed generally inhibit our freedom of movement if we could all just get up and fly away!

[jeremyc]

toppstuff said:

4. Only working 2 days a week and always in a really cool job.
5. Boring jobs do not exist because Robots do them.

I remembered recently that most of my school essays about "Life in the Future" (admittedly significantly more than 10 years ago ) revolved around everyone having much more leisure time, and the problems/opportunities of finding hobbies and recreational activities to fill this time.

Whatever happened to that lifestyle then?

[anonymous-user]

On the flip side, if you could take some of the electronic gadgets we have now back to my school class in the early 80's people would say it wasn't possible...........

[toppstuff]

jeremyc said:

I remembered recently that most of my school essays about "Life in the Future" (admittedly significantly more than 10 years ago ) revolved around everyone having much more leisure time, and the problems/opportunities of finding hobbies and recreational activities to fill this time.

Whatever happened to that lifestyle then?

That is a very good point. The future has brought longer working hours, less security and less leisure time. How the hell did that happen?

I blame the gubberment.

[pmanson]

bob1179 said:

I love finding old and nostalgic clothing around the house, especially stuff that sports logos and brands completley unknown to todays youth, ie. 'Seahorses '96 UK Tour' or 'Fat Willy's Surf Shack'.

Does it mean that i'm getting old if I remember "Fat Willy's Surf Shack"? I remember the Sea Horses as well. Bah.

I've recently built a media centre PC so i've been copying over all my CDs etc... Aleesha's Attic (sp) has been playing a fair bit

[Mc Lovin]

i'm still waiting for a cure to my insanity tbh

[the snowman]

[quote=toppstuff]My God !

It's 2009!

This is a major shock for me.

Why? Have you just come out of a coma?

[Plotloss]

toppstuff said:

jeremyc said:

I remembered recently that most of my school essays about "Life in the Future" (admittedly significantly more than 10 years ago ) revolved around everyone having much more leisure time, and the problems/opportunities of finding hobbies and recreational activities to fill this time.

Whatever happened to that lifestyle then?

That is a very good point. The future has brought longer working hours, less security and less leisure time. How the hell did that happen?

I blame the gubberment.

More people do have more leisure time.

You can thank the benefit bosom for that.

[toppstuff]

This is depressing..

The Number 1 records in the charts 10 years ago. And I can still remember the video's.

1999
Jan
Chef Chocolate - Salty Balls (PS I Love You) 2/1/1999
Steps - Heartbeat / Tragedy 9/1/1999
Fatboy Slim - Praise You 16/1/1999
911 A Little Bit More 23/1/1999
Offspring Pretty Fly (For A White Guy) 30/1/1999


South Park and Steps, eh? 10 years ago.. Who's have thought it?

I quite liked Steps too...

[randomman]

the snowman said:

toppstuff said:

My God !

It's 2009!

This is a major shock for me.

Why? Have you just come out of a coma?

If not your should have seen it coming, its been heading towards 09 for years now.

[Twincam16]

jeremyc said:

toppstuff said:

4. Only working 2 days a week and always in a really cool job.
5. Boring jobs do not exist because Robots do them.

I remembered recently that most of my school essays about "Life in the Future" (admittedly significantly more than 10 years ago ) revolved around everyone having much more leisure time, and the problems/opportunities of finding hobbies and recreational activities to fill this time.

Whatever happened to that lifestyle then?

Computers happened. Computers have become the biggest con-trick of the modern age.

When computers were being developed, we were told that they'd make life easier, taking the difficult chores out of our hands whilst we swanned about being intellectual and creative.

Instead, all they have done is perpetuate the 24/7, speed-of-light culture that runs us all ragged on a daily basis. Rather than computers giving us time to think and create, they deliver the letter that would have taken a week in a matter of seconds. So instead of giving you time to think, you've instead got an endless pile of emails to open. if they were real letters, you wouldn't be able to leave your house.

Also, thanks to instant communications, if you're dealing with people on the other side of the world your business can actually go on constantly throughout every day and night, which in turn runs everyone ragged as they try to keep up with the demands of people who've just got up when they're ready to go home.

It's also worth pointing out that they aren't as intelligent as they could be, as most data input still requires an army of admin staff bored out of their minds. Of course, computers might eventually be developed to assimilate and process data as and when it arrives over the phone or fax, but that's a long way off - and when it does arrive, all the people in data processing will lose their jobs.

People often call me a Luddite for rejecting computers wherever possible, but they've clearly forgotten Ludd's aim - to rationalise the process of mechanisation and minimise the socially degenerative aspects of the industrial revolution. He had a point, so have I - the ongoing computerisation of the world is turning us all into knackered, overworked drones and must be stopped unless it can be proven that it would genuinely make life better (not necessarily easier, as that merely leads to laziness and ignorance) for the majority.

It's our world, not theirs, don't forget it.

[the snowman]

randomman said:

the snowman said:

toppstuff said:

My God !

It's 2009!

This is a major shock for me.

Why? Have you just come out of a coma?

If not your should have seen it coming, its been heading towards 09 for years now.

Time is an abstract concept and does not exist.

[BlueCello]

Being born in the early 90's means I did a great deal of growing in this decade, and for that I will never forget some stuff that happened. Not much has really happened in the way of historical stuff since '03-ish though, thinking about it...........

I've enjoyed this decade, really. Good music, good cars, good clothes, good gadgets. All stuff that will seem horribly dated in the 2020's

[BlueCello]

pmanson said:

bob1179 said:

I love finding old and nostalgic clothing around the house, especially stuff that sports logos and brands completley unknown to todays youth, ie. 'Seahorses '96 UK Tour' or 'Fat Willy's Surf Shack'.

Does it mean that i'm getting old if I remember "Fat Willy's Surf Shack"? I remember the Sea Horses as well. Bah.

I've recently built a media centre PC so i've been copying over all my CDs etc... Aleesha's Attic (sp) has been playing a fair bit

I had a Fat Willy's T-shirt when I was bounding around Cornwall in the mid-90's as a 5 year old!! I'd forgotten about that actually.....

[groucho]

Where's the hair renewing tablet? I want it.