Things that will be quaint and outdated by the time Gabriel graduates from college
(Alternate post title: I used to have to park my own car.)
Likely:
- passenger vehicles with internal combustion-only engines*
- Cathode Ray Tube televisions
- Wired telephones, DSL
- terrestrial over-the-air and “standard” resolution television
- exploratory surgery
- Buying music on physical media
- Dedicated personal music players (iPods, etc, that are just for playing music)
- Large desktop computers
- Incandescent lighting
Hopefully we will be using fuel cells of some sort by then, although it’s possible that we could still have some hybrid gas-electric vehicles being sold. Also as part of that: manual transmission.
i.e. your regular old type of TV. It’s almost getting hard to find them even now.
Communications circuits to the home will all be either wireless, fiber optic, or coax (cable), and all phone service will be part of network service (VOIP). Some remote rural areas will probably have old phone service.
Lots of motivation on all sides to switch everyone to cable/fiber/satellite.
Assuming continued progress in MRI-type technology.
Duh.
One iPodPhonePDA to rule them all.
If you’re still buying regular light bulbs for your home, what are you thinking?
Probably:
- Paying for network access*
- The electoral college*
- Eyeglasses
- “The War on Drugs”*
- Newspapers
- Tooth decay*
This might be optimistic, but probably not: consider televison.
One can hope. Although really there may never be enough political motivation to do this, considering the 2000 elections didn’t create any.
Genetic treatments, laser surgery, etc.
We’ll see. I think pot will eventually be legal. Not that I care.
Already on their way out.
I think if they put real effort into it, nobody would get cavities. But why would the dentists put effort into researching that?
Possibly:
- Polar ice caps
- Personal privacy
- Cash
- Genetic medical conditions
- Public libraries (at least ones with books)*
- Disposable batteries*
* Requires overcoming resistance from people who are profiting from the status quo.
This is all pretty American-/First World-centric; Plenty of people still don’t have electricity. I just mean “quaint to a middle-class American college student.” Any other suggestions?
Hey now, I’m going to have to argue that public libraries point with you. I really don’t see them going away in the next 25 years, that’s 25 years to convince people to stop reading books and.. what? ebooks? I really don’t think it’ll be as widespread as you think.
nicki - November 15th, 2006 at 4:55 pmAlso, I can tell you that librarians are talking about the future of the public library (and really, libraries in general) a LOT so I have faith that they will come up with something to remain relevant.
I definately don’t see people giving up books for all ebooks or whatever. I don’t think bookstores will go away in our lifetime. And I’m a big fan of libraries and I don’t think they will go away; I think the fact that we spend public money on libraries and parks is one of the great things about human society. I just worry that more technology and less money, there will be pressure to eliminate the actual books in libraries and come up with some kind of way to scan in and electronically rent books for people who can’t/don’t want to buy real books.
rob - November 16th, 2006 at 1:24 pmRe: paying for network access, you compare it to TV, but uh, don’t you pay for TV via your cable bill? Even though they also make money from advertisers? Seems to me that TV’s getting its bread buttered on both sides…
I wouldn’t be surprised to see libraries turn into more, internet-cafe-style places, or huge archival storage (digital and physical) locations. Library budgets are slashed every budget cycle, fewer and fewer scholarly publications are being physically printed, and e-reserves and e-books are, truly, where libraries are heading. I don’t think we’ll necessarily see the demise of libraries in the next 20 years, but I think their basic function and structure will change.
Also, if they can get rid of my eye problems in 20 years, i would love that, but they really need to get on optical musculature surgery to make that happen for me. So uh, I don’t see that one happening so fast either. But I have my fingers crossed!
I think we’re going to find a lot of really interesting ways that bacteria influence our lives in the upcoming 20 years, and I know for a fact that microbiologists are working to cure cancers, diabetes, alzheimers and autism, as we type this. I think we’ll also turn away from the hand sanitizers and antibiotic bullshit we’ve been washing down the drains for so many years, and move towards taking probiotics to make sure our bodies work as efficiently as possible.
Also, I want a space car that flies. Pls.
styro - November 16th, 2006 at 4:44 pmPS I am watching Firefly on DVD and thinking of you!
styro - November 16th, 2006 at 10:42 pmAs for future quaint concepts, how about the state of Florida?
…Maybe it will still exist as a marine reserve.
Steve - November 20th, 2006 at 6:50 pm