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our new millenium
Rankenphile
Passersby were amazedby the unusually large amounts of blood.Registered User, Moderator Mod Emeritus
Passersby were amazedby the unusually large amounts of blood.Registered User, Moderator Mod Emeritus
I've been doing a lot of thinking about this topic lately, and a recent article in Wired (the one about Google Maps, followed by the one about hyperlocality) has really set my mind on it.
As silly as it may sound, we really are living in the future. The sci-fi shit that you used to read and dream about, the shit that made Phillip K Dick flip his wig. Sure sure, we ain't got the flying cars and laserbeams and shit. But seriously. Think about the past seven years, and the advances in technology that have made everything, everything we do, become part of the new age.
Even right now, as I type this, I'm participating in this new world, you know? Communication across national boundaries and time zones in an instant, with far more depth than a simple telephone call, for free. And narrowed down to the most granular of demographics.
Look at what he have right now, what we do right now, that was unthinkable in anything but sci-fi fantasies fifty years ago. Seven year olds carrying around personal remote communicators. Electronic entertainment picked and chosen from a vast, uncensored and ever-growing base of user-generated content. The entire earth, viewable from any angle on a virtual screen containing maps of user-generated content, entire continents once foreign and unknown now built and updated by the second by millions of users. Any item you can imagine and an infinite supply of others you never dreamed of, available through digital currency exchanges and delivered to your door in a day or two.
Snow Crash is here, folks. Look around. We stroll through the 'net behind avatars of our own design, free to be and become whatever we want. Participating in microcommunities consisting of like-minded members spanning the entire globe, real-time video chat or communication through any number of virtual worlds instantly. We are living on the verge of a new era, one of nearly infinite possibility, and it is happening so damned fast, and yet we take it for granted. How odd, I think, the human animal is to so easily accept such radical changes in the social structure so easily, how quickly we adopt entire new ways of living and thinking and how quickly we forget how different they once were.
Anyway, that's where my mind is at, lately. How since the change of the millenium, how since we've changed the calendar to one nearing an end to one starting over, we have become a hive mind, we have built for ourselves incredible networks of communication and information, and despite its flaws we now come to depend on the luxuries it affords without giving a moment's reflection on the drastic changes that come together so seamlessly, so gradually and yet so drastic and instant.
Your thoughts?
As silly as it may sound, we really are living in the future. The sci-fi shit that you used to read and dream about, the shit that made Phillip K Dick flip his wig. Sure sure, we ain't got the flying cars and laserbeams and shit. But seriously. Think about the past seven years, and the advances in technology that have made everything, everything we do, become part of the new age.
Even right now, as I type this, I'm participating in this new world, you know? Communication across national boundaries and time zones in an instant, with far more depth than a simple telephone call, for free. And narrowed down to the most granular of demographics.
Look at what he have right now, what we do right now, that was unthinkable in anything but sci-fi fantasies fifty years ago. Seven year olds carrying around personal remote communicators. Electronic entertainment picked and chosen from a vast, uncensored and ever-growing base of user-generated content. The entire earth, viewable from any angle on a virtual screen containing maps of user-generated content, entire continents once foreign and unknown now built and updated by the second by millions of users. Any item you can imagine and an infinite supply of others you never dreamed of, available through digital currency exchanges and delivered to your door in a day or two.
Snow Crash is here, folks. Look around. We stroll through the 'net behind avatars of our own design, free to be and become whatever we want. Participating in microcommunities consisting of like-minded members spanning the entire globe, real-time video chat or communication through any number of virtual worlds instantly. We are living on the verge of a new era, one of nearly infinite possibility, and it is happening so damned fast, and yet we take it for granted. How odd, I think, the human animal is to so easily accept such radical changes in the social structure so easily, how quickly we adopt entire new ways of living and thinking and how quickly we forget how different they once were.
Anyway, that's where my mind is at, lately. How since the change of the millenium, how since we've changed the calendar to one nearing an end to one starting over, we have become a hive mind, we have built for ourselves incredible networks of communication and information, and despite its flaws we now come to depend on the luxuries it affords without giving a moment's reflection on the drastic changes that come together so seamlessly, so gradually and yet so drastic and instant.
Your thoughts?
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And for something on-topic, Yes we are living in the future. But I still want my god damn flying car.
Not hard to see happening damned soon.
I disagree wholly. It isn't that the people are getting dumber, it is that suddenly the painfully ignorant are given access to be heard and recognized, whereas in yesteryear they were busy getting crushed by engine blocks and drinking home-made wine spiked with anti-freeze.
Which they are still doing, of course. But now they can blog about it.
Because we are getting lazier. Every new generation has an increased sense of entitlement and a decreased sense of awareness.
the future is now
How the fuck is that not some serious sci-fi shit right there?
Who ever you are where ever you are I love you
lol terminator
fuck the segway
look at the roomba
god-damned robot slaves that memorize the layout of your house and clean up after you, no bigger than a serving tray
only question left is whether or not they dream of electric sheep
Also, I dont think we're in the future until that bitch who's yakking on her cell phone while driving can just have the car drive itself so she doesn't even have to try.
Essentially, women shouldn't drive.
I mentioned the CERN project and how it could possibly unlock some of the greatest questions about the origins of Existence, and all he was concerned with was the incredibly minute chances of disaster.
where is my sexbot
man, I needed to hear something like that. This entire evening has been basically taking a giant dump on my self esteem.
Fuuuuuuck high school.
Only a matter of time before they can remember it for us wholesale
Then I thought of whatever dignity I had remaining, and decided against it.
fuck that noise, son
oh shit I forgot about that one
here is where I'd put one of the achewood comics featuring said roombas, if I knew how to work the Achewood archives
IT'S THE WILLENIUM
man it's true
i'll be driving and my tits are all up ins
bugs hitting windshield causing squealing to ensue
fatal accident is not far off
Seriously. I know what you mean. But consider that. Sure, we're right on the verge of some of the most incredible changes in human history. The Human Genome Project. CERN. All that shit.
And we, as a species, can be quite aware of them, reaping the benefits, and have the luxury of not giving a shit.
How fucking crazy is that?
I can't wait to see what new stuff we'll have in the next twenty years.
Then again, I already take anti-depressants for that.
Hey. There are robot vaginas.
I was cautiously optimistic.
I should have been more cautious and less optimistic.
Good to see a few of the folks, but god damn ten years was not enough to erase the pain of that era of my life.