Siteseeing: Bits and Pieces

There are a few tech-related stories I’ve been wanting to share but have put on the back-burner lately.

Tomorrow’s Future Is So Yesterday

A recent CNN.Com article has one writer and one futurist wondering, “Where the hell is my jetpack!”

The question isn’t about where the jetpack went (it does exist!) but why the grand future predicted in so much pop media since the mid 1950’s never came to be. Essentially they are telling us that the oh-so-cool gadgets that writers and scientists dreamed about turned out to be more than a little impractical. The writer likened the hopes of many of these products to the same hopes that people of the 19th century had about a certain invention that was to clean up the streets and reduce traffic congestion. It was a little machine called the automobile. Set ironic laughter to full.

The section that caught my eye had a quick mention that Americans don’t look to politics to stimulate social change, instead hoping that technology will push us forward. I find it funny that the article would mention that, especially given that a later section talks about dystopian sci-fi like The Terminator and BSG as examples of how technology can go wrong. It’s only funny because both of those properties, along with Blade Runner, Aliens and a whole host of others, are all American properties.

Why do we hate ourselves?

So what I took away is that, as Americans, we look to technology to move us forward as a people, while at the same time acknowledging that the technology we create will probably be the end of us.

Life would have been a lot more fun with jet packs.