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What Will Life Be Like In 2008?
tblake writes "Back in 1968, Modern Mechanix mused what life would be like in 40 years. Some things they came pretty close on: 'Money has all but disappeared. Employers deposit salary checks directly into their employees' accounts. Credit cards are used for paying all bills. Each time you buy something, the card's number is fed into the store's computer station. A master computer then deducts the charge from your bank balance.' Some things are way off: 'The car accelerates to 150 mph in the city's suburbs, then hits 250 mph in less built-up areas, gliding over the smooth plastic road. You whiz past a string of cities, many of them covered by the new domes that keep them evenly climatized year round.' And some things are sorta right: 'TV screens cover an entire wall in most homes and show most subjects other than straight text matter in color and three dimensions. In addition to programmed TV and the multiplicity of commercial fare, you can see top Broadway shows, hit movies and current nightclub acts for a nominal charge.'"
The Bugatti Veyron can hit 253 mph.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWJj8pAUu5k
I believe it's an idiom. The meaning of "all but [something]" is "almost [something]".
I think in the context of the article, "money" simply means cash (paper currency).
"Anyone who [rips a CD] is probably engaging in copyright infringement." - David O. Carson
"has all but disappeared" has the same meaning as "has almost disappeared". That particular construct is seldom used in everyday speech, but still shows up regularly in writing or speeches where dramatic effect is desired.
Don't tell me to get a life. I had one once. It sucked.
I believe you are right: all but
Thank you!
If I clone myself, can I call it a thread?
If a girl winks to us, can I call it a race condition?
here is the link if you forgot:
http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/12/04/2148215
"The New Age. The New Beginning."
> two-passenger air-cushion car /flat TV screen / Tapping a button changes the page. ... feeds/receives signals to and from all cars / keeps vehicles /apart. /from 15 to 50 mi. outside all major urban centers.
Didn't happen sadly
> national traffic computer
Read "GPS system"
> morning paper
Your basic ebook
> smooth plastic road
Still concrete, altho progress has been made in using polymers in road construction
> cities... covered by the new domes
This one didn't happen
> The traffic computer
GM has prototypes that do just this. It's creepy to see them on the road.
> attache case / draw the diagram with / infrared flashlight on what looks like a TV screen
You basic tablet
> The diagram is relayed to a similar screen in your associate's office, 200 mi. away.
Have this
> He jabs a button and a fixed copy of the sketch rolls out of the device.
The printer
> vehicle parks itself / municipal garage
Again, GM has made leaps and bounds for this
> Private cars are banned inside most city / Moving sidewalks and electrams carry the public
Your basic Arcology idea, but not yet in practice.
> With the U.S. population having soared to 350 million
Close, only 270 million
> transportation is among the most important factors keeping the economy running smoothly.
Quite true, and also where we are starting to break apart
> Giant transportation hubs / located
Some cities have done this, but not in the US to date
> Tube trains, pushed through bores by compressed air
This is ancient, but not in use
> launching pad from which 200-passenger rockets
Commercial rocketry is currently for the super-rich, and only a gimmick for now.
> SST and hypersonic planes
Concorde was retired a few years back
> jumbo jets.
The mainstay of transportation
>Electrostatic precipitators clean the air
Ionic Breeze anyone?
>climatizers maintain the temperature and humidity at optimum levels.
We have this in spades
> Robots are available to do housework and other simple chores.
Vacuuming is about all we have here with the Roomba
> New materials for siding and interiors are self-cleaning and never peel, chip or crack.
He got this one right
> Dwellings / prefabricated modules / attached speedily
Dead on here, most home construction now involves at least some prefabrication.
> job that doesn't take more than a day.
Didn't wind up this fast save for Extreme Home Makeover
> Such modular homes easily can be expanded to accommodate a growing family.
This sadly did not wind up the case.
> A typical wedding present / a fully equipped bedroom, kitchen or living room module.
Man, and all I got was 4 waffle irons....
> determines in advance her menus / prepackaged meals / automatic food utility
Didn't happen
> microwave oven and is cooked or thawed.
Did happen
> disposable plastic plates / knives, forks and spoons / so inexpensive they can be discarded
This very much happened.
> The single most important item in 2008 households is the computer.
100% bingo!
> These electronic brains govern everything from meal preparation and waking up the household to assembling shopping lists and keeping track of the bank balance. Sensors in kitchen appliances, climatizing units, communicators, power supply and other household utilities warn the computer when the item is likely to fail. A repairman will show up even before any obvious breakdown occurs.
We have not gotten to this point yet, however, it is appearing piecemail
> Computers also handle travel reservations, relay telephone messages, keep track of birthdays and anniversaries, compute taxes and even figure the monthly bills for electricity, water, telephone and other utilities.
This is now almost a decade old
> Not every family has its private computer.
Now he called it short.
Karma Whoring for Fun and Profit.
Actually, the Vehicle-to-Vehicle and Vehicle-to-Infrastructure programs at many of the leading auto industry R&D programs, are working on exactly this approach.
Certain portions of CA infrastructure have been equipped with the first generation of this equipment (DSRC 1000m range radio equipment) and there's even a traffic light in Palo Alto (Page Mill Rd & El Camino Real) where you can receive broadcast status and phase information as you approach.
You make the cars aware of each other, and aware of the road, at first for safety and driver-assistance purposes--and the you gradually phase in the AI portion as it matures.
See also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_infrastructure_integration
**AA: a bunch of mindless jerks who'll be the first against the wall when the revolution comes
three words: not in america!
:q!
Yeah, yeah. There are places on the Autobahn that have no posted speed limit. But the thing most people who've never been to Germany don't realize is that if you're going over 100 kph (about 60 mph), and you're in an accident--even if it's clearly, backed-up-by-solid-evidence not your fault-- then your insurance company will not cover damages, and the state/city can find you responsible.
It's been about 10 years since I lived there, so this may not be the case anymore...
No one stopped to think about the consequences of using thousands of ICBMs as transportation devices,
Not a problem with hydrogen or nuclear powered rockets.
or the industrial waste generated by wall-sized televisions and domed cities
Wall-sized televisions using OLEDs don't generate a lot of waste. And city domes are recyclable.
Plastic was magical - we hadn't yet realized how toxic it could be, or how addicted we would become to it.
There's nothing inherently toxic about plastic.
Just imagine how unbearably warn and clammy a dome would be under bright summer sun
That depends on how the dome is constructed and how it is cooled.
(or how quickly it would be discolored by dust storms and acid rain)
Self-cleaning surfaces avoid those problems.
or how poorly wildlife would coexist with a stream of automated bullet cars zipping along plastic roads
Well, that's easy to deal with. The real issue is that going 300mph in air just isn't very efficient no matter what you do; therefore, a ground network of evacuated tunnels may be the real answer.
Somehow, we need to figure out how to do with less - much less - while figuring out how to tread less heavily on the earth. It might be an impossible task.
I don't share your limited view of the future. There is nothing inherently ecologically unsound about domed cities or wall-sized televisions or high speed transportation. We simply need to think about environmental impact before deploying a technology widely, but we also shouldn't be afraid to try out new ideas on a limited scale to get some idea of what works and what doesn't.
First to file does not invalidate prior art. Most of the confusion here is about what does and does not constitutes prior art. Prior art includes published data and shipped products, as these are easily dated and verified. It does not include lab notebooks and internal prototypes, as they are not. The only thing that first-to-file changes is that these internal documents are no longer considered when determining who invented something first.
It would take 2 minutes 12 seconds to run into the back of him. Surely enough time for the 'don't go faster than the car in front' rule to kick in and slow you down.