A NEW CRAZE--THE INTERNET!

I thought this was an interesting report due mainly to the fact that they were talking about the internet as a new, up and coming thing. They saw the internet, which was basically just a giant chat room, as a way for people to connect. People with common ground, such as football, could get together and discuss their views on the internet whereas they may not have been able to do so without their newfound online capabilities. The reporter mentions the absence of facial expression and body language making it difficult to pick up on "which way something ambiguous is meant." He would be surprised to see how much the internet has changed with the coming of blogs, youtube, facebook, and many other internet mediums with which one can express quite simply what he/she means and be understood :D (but smileys are still cool). The report, while hilarious in its own way ("there's not a lot of put downs, there's not screenfulls of  'go to hell'."), managed not to see how important the internet could become. It is now more than a way to connect with other people. It's a place to do business, a place to find information, a place to share information, and, equally important, a place to play games. The reporter saw the future of the internet as a massive expansion of what they already had. He wasn't wrong--he just failed to predict that there would be anything other than human connection on the internet. 

"Fortress L.A."

While reading the selection "Fortress L.A." from Mike Davis' City of Quartz I was stuck on the link he makes between architecture and social class. How invisible signs from the design/nature of a building ward off groups considered outcast. How over the years areas of Los Angeles that were once considered free paradises to all are being replaced by luxury hotels and mega malls making the connection between the rich and the poor, and all ethnicities inbetween harder to make.
Then I made a few links of my own, did the ideas of the future from the past that we have discussed in class, however ridiculous they may have seemed, spark from the rich trying to escape the poor through their surroundings? Did the idea of an autonomous technological future (I hope that is the right phrase to use) stem from racism and prejudice?
Towards the end of my reading I thought about cities other than L.A. and how they were affected by their own architecture. I remembered my grandmother and how she lives in condominiums across the street from Minute Maid park in Houston. I also remembered the homeless shelter about two blocks away from her and the empty lot behind her building where I always see people sitting on the curve or sleeping on the bench in the bus stop. I guess I answered my own question.

2010 - the future

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uK6Gg8n54c

The consumer industry, one of the most dependent fields on advancing technology, is displayed in the above video in the year 2010. Created in 2007, the advances RandelTube predicts for the future is mind boggling. In only 3 years, the youtube poster foresees vast technological advances from Nokia 888, a racer's dream car, to X'tal vision, an apparatus allowing one to see thru barriers. Like Yesterday's Tomorrow's predominant theme of utilizing current technology and society to predict future advancements, RandelTube based many of 2010's inventions off of present technologies. 

What I found particularly interesting was that the majority of the improvements were consumer products. At least judging from past and present circumstances, the advertising community generally attempts to predict the future as a marketing ploy. By discovering what the future might entail, salesmen are able to promote their product as "the latest technology".

In the clip entitled "DollFace", the video depicts a human-like robot learning how to apply make-up via television. Depicting the future's dependancy on technology, foreshadows future problems with individualism in the year 2010. Initially, the video seems to depict a utopic view of our future, but as the clip progresses, the director unveils further and further his dystopic outlook.

A Lighter Take on Controlling Robots

This clip takes a satirical look at the idea and fear of many people that machines will soon take over society and asks the question “Are we becoming and overly mechanized society?” The clip comes from The Onion News Network, which is an American “fake news” organization featuring satirical articles reporting on international, national, and local news. Although this newscast is a fake, it is based in the real fears of some people today that technology is quickly becoming too advanced and that it plays too great a role in our society. I thought this clip fit in well with our class discussion on Wednesday by showing the other, more humorous side of the dystopian society created by technology and displayed in many movies, such as The Terminator and I, Robot.

Home computers??

Ebay? Online banking? Printers? EMAIL!? Hey, they almost got it.






I think it's interesting that those who attempted to create a glipse into the future of technology often gravitated toward a convenient mentality. Predicting that the "without even leaving your home" concept would grow to be a standard of living. There are a few reasons this conclusion would have been reached. Either it spawned from an increase in "lazy" behavior, or perhaps (more optimistically) there was a complete fasination with the home. In the fifties when family values and one's homelife were extremely important in society, it is conceivable that the idea of capturing normally "outside" activities in your very own living room was simply appealing. Or, if one were to use mere advancement by analog, only improving on what has already been created, then this concept of "right in your own home" is an easy one to come by. If a generation is living in a time when technology already seems at an icredible peek the most natural way to improve upon life would be to make what is already there more convenient, simplify. Whetever the reason the ideas weren't too far off- people do love the idea of minimal effort for maximal results. As a side note, however, I find it funny that while people were predicting computers, they all seemed to believe everyone would be hooked up to one, mega machine- a master computer. When in reality we're tied together through a web, networking with and through eachother. No big all-knowing, all-powerful machine. Nice try, SciFi.

Boston Dynamics "BigDog"

Some of you may remember me mentioning this in class today, so I thought I'd share it with you here. This is a robot named "BigDog" created and designed by a company called Boston Dynamics which specializes in robotics and lifelike simulations. Upon creating this robot, Boston Dynamics planned to create something that could travel across rugged terrain and carry well over its own weight. This could mean changes in the way people go about saving avalanche victims, going into burning buildings, and any number of situations where having steel skin and balance could come in handy. In another case, it could be used as military assistance, acting as a pack mule for soldiers or any number of other uses.

The scary thing about this machine, to me, stems from my knowledge of "past views of the future" - not only American but global. When techonology this impressive comes about, it's hard not to wonder what would happen if it got into the wrong hands, or if it is in the wrong hands already. We have seen movies of machines taking over the world, and I wouldn't be surprised if they looked like this "BigDog". Hopefully it will be put to good use and improved upon for further helping people instead of creating another military weapon.

The Year 2000

http://www.paleofuture.com/2007/09/french-prints-show-year-2000-1910.html

As a long-time reader of Reddit.com, a user submissions-based news website, I've come often across great blog posts featuring "the future" as envisioned by people in the past. This blog post features a series of prints of the year 2000 as imagined by a French artist, Villemard, in the year 1910.

One of my favorite images is entitled by the poster, "Car Shoes," which look like electrically powered roller skates, as seen at the top of the post. It's funny to me that the artist depicted one user of the new technology falling down, and also gives some insight into the artist's opinion of the future. While many artists portrayed either a near utopia or a near hell when depicting the future, Villemard shows some people enjoying the technology and others being harmed by it.

It's fascinating a little absurd to think that these were thought to be realistic interpretations of the future ninety years ago. Flying police? An automated barber? It seems as though some of these things were seen as things that could offer more practicality, and others were just mere fancy, or giving too much credit to the technology of the day! Clearly, not everyone travels by personal airplane today!