Slashdot Mirror
The Future That Hasn't Arrived
jonerik writes "MSNBC has this article on an exhibit starting this week at Philadelphia's Lost Highways Archive and Research Library. Entitled Radebaugh: The Future We Were Promised, the exhibit focuses on the artwork of the elusive A.C. Radebaugh, a commercial illustrator whose works promised us a glittering, shiny tomorrow from the '30s to the '50s; a helicopter in every garage, massive streamlined cars, vacations on Mars - in short, pretty much everything we didn't get. The exhibit collects examples from Radebaugh's portfolio, auto designs for Chrysler, DoSoto, and Dodge, ads, and 'Closer Than We Think!,' a syndicated weekly comic strip drawn by Radebaugh. I want my jetpack, dammit!"
Omigod ... you mean that vacation on Mars was just a brain implant? Quick, get me a JohnnyCab!
due to your karma level, the powers that be have decided that you dont deserve a flying car. or a pony.
Ah yes, articles on the ultimate in vaporware. Do we have a vaporware icon?
The future is down. A trouble ticket has beens submitted.
We had one, but Apple patented it :-(
Forget flying cars and vacationing on red planets, I'm still looking forward to when 640K isn't enough.
Oh, wait....
Posting as directed.
The server is from the 50's as well, so give 'em a break - they have to wait for the tubes to warm up...
Stop by my site where I write about ERP systems & more
Well, you're getting a glimpse of it today. After all, this story will probably be re-posted on ./'s front page again tomorrow. The only reason we can't say for sure is that ./ is governed by the reverse heisenberg uncertainty principle - ie: you'll never know either the (editor's) position or speed, since they're both indeterministic quantum states :-)
The future got slashdotted!
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
...here
-pyrrho
http://www.moller.com/
Good lord, most people can't handle driving in two dimensions. Give them a third and there will be anarchy. ;p
"People should be allowed to keep midgets as pets."
- Gov. Jesse Ventura
Right over there on the shelf, next to the copy of Duke Nukem Forever that it's included with.
If it's for-profit but free, you're not the customer -- you're the product (e.g., the Slashdot Beta's "audience").
It's been confiscated by the Department of Homeland Security along with your jetpack and personal helicopter. These items are too easily modified to deliver weapons of mass destruction to be left in the careless hands of the average citizen. Move along now, there's nothing to see here.
I've thought about it, and I've decided... you should really sell your computer and buy those kids some food. Every post you make, another kid dies.
(I'm logging in from the library, so neener neener neener.)
I looked into the abyss, and the abyss looked into me--and we both winked.
"You want a flying car with gas prices where they are?"
Mr. Fusion. Duh!
Fuck that, a half-decent Descent player. Hell, my CS skills would probably suffice.
Or that weird kid from Jr. High that smelled oddly of cheese and could be Afterburner on one quarter. We're a generation of video game players. Our hand eye is second to none. Hell, in theory I could run nighttime bombing ops from a F-117 and probably make it back to the base in one piece if the simulators are even half-accurate.
Finally, math books without any of that base 6 crap in them.
We have the Segway.
The jetsons promised a really cushy future where we all sit around in chairs that move us where we need to go (like a segway with a seat -- or a wheelchair?)
...and we have little to do most of the day because robots do it all for you.
...and a single salary supports a family of four!
The part where you click on "Restart mission" after smacking into the ground is remarkably inaccurate ;)
ABSURDITY, n.: A statement or belief manifestly inconsistent with one's own opinion.
Here's the thing: all those things that were promised did, indeed, come to exist. All of them.
We've got robot butlers, flying cars, rocket belts, daily shuttles to the moon (that don't blow up), cures for cancer and the common cold, cigarettes with vitamins and minerals instead of tar and nicotine, universal peace and brotherhood, slimming pills that really work (and aren't amphetamines) so that everyone looks good in their unisex leotards, teleportation, 3D TV, sex in a pill, and direct election of government officials. And we had the Internet by 1959. Actually, we sort of handed it down to you; what we've got now is... well, "virtual reality" is a crude description, but it's the closest that your unevolved "English" can come.
One other thing that we've got: big-ass cloaking devices. Next time you drive across Nebraska, or Montana... you know, those "empty" places that people started abandoning after WWII, for some reason... look off in the distance. You'll see a faint shimmering, which you'll probably tell yourself is just a "heat mirage".
Riiiiiiight.
I looked into the abyss, and the abyss looked into me--and we both winked.
Also take into account parking. Imagine a huge parking lot, as bad as they can be now, and that is just with two axes! Add in a third Z-axis and oh man would it be horrible!
Looking through the Syndicated section I see a total lack of concern for safety. Mailmen with rocket pack but no helmets or flight suits. Space hospitals with no failsafe systems. etc... Amazing.
Boobies never hurt anyone. - Sherry Glaser.
And it's been 30 years since then... and we're already 30% of the way back!
And two years ago, I was supposed to be able to take a vacation to the moon -- on PanAm!
I'm so happy to be a Beta....
;)
Farenheit 451 eh?? Sure you're not a delta or an epsilon?
Actuaries - making accountants look interesting since 1949