What's Always Next?

bettiwettiwoo writes "In its 'What's Next' issue, Time has a charmingly silly piece called What's Always Next? , in which is provided '[a] sampling of the future that wasn't': things that have been predicted since day dot, but have somehow never materialized. The examples they give are: videophones; moon colonies; food in pills; cars that drive themselves; jet packs; and moving sidewalks. ... There are, after all, so many and varied things -- ranging from the very serious to the down-right silly -- that are predicted time and again, yet seem curiously absent in our daily lives. Examples: global catastrophies of the Armageddon kind (be they population overload, total environmental disasters, plagues, asteroids, or nuclear wars); a secure and bug-free Windows; the end of Madonna's singing career (her 'acting' career was, I believe, still-born)." So what are you waiting for?

Comments

Re:Um, the big one?

[EvilTwinSkippy]

Ask greenpeace the next time they play footsies with a nuclear waste shipment. Let's face it, we have an entire generation of people that sheepishly believe whatever anti-nuke rhetoric someone can spew with a straight face. Is nuclear power dangerous: yes. Any more dangerous than other forms of industrial production? Not really.

The only people suffering long-term health problems from Hirosima, Nagasaki, and Chernobyl are/were those who where younger than 4 years old at the time of radiation exposure. Most of the long term illnesses, even in those cases, where treatable forms of thyroid cancer. Compare that to the hundreds of thousands killed or blinded by the Union Carbide accident in Bhopal, India.