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!