I remember, I think, seeing this at Tomorrowland in 1998 on our family vacation to Disneyland. I thought it was funny then, and I think it's hilarious now. But it also reminds me that there was a time when peoples' imagination for the future was running rampant, and the sciences that were known then (I love the "push-button interface"), while being simplistic, opened their eyes for so much more. Do we still have that love for innovation? If not, what's getting in our way?
6.12.09
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i love it! it's neat to see many of those things implemented, that have made our lives a lot easier. Pre-fab bridges, we're there. routes calculated for us, we're so there. complete with the following along map that updates as you go. sure our cars don't drive us there, but outside of traveling long distances, or commutes I think most of us enjoy the feel of the car. sure push buttons and punch cards have been replaced with touch screens and on screen selections, but innovation...that's where it's at. are we still innovating? absolutely. these ideas are decades old, we have a lot of things that this movie couldn't predict, we're still moving forward it's just harder to see when you don't have a snapshot of what people thought technology would be decades ago. it'd be nice to have uncle walt pushing out things like this on a yearly basis, but corporate greed frowns upon it. ideas have already been bought and pursued as soon as they come off the line, it's the competition for the next big thing that keeps future tech out of the minds of the public. academia still leaks things out, what they're working on, and most of it is years of research away. quantum computing? cloaking devices? passenger uav's? carbon nanowires in everything? get ready, because if you thought things moved fast since window 95 came out, it's gonna rock your world. if you notice it, that is. we've gotten so used to change, that it's kinda normal. even though these are revolutionary things, the evolution is too slow for us to realize how awesome it is until we look back and see where we were in the 90s or the 00s. anyway, that's one engineer's opinion.
ReplyDeleteInteresting video, but I think it got one thing wrong. The people shown are small and petite, is that because they have lipo every night, to excuse them of their laziness?
ReplyDeleteI actually thought about that, Lance. I was comparing Wall-E to this video and kinda chuckled that it came from the same (albeit QUITE evolved) animation house.
ReplyDeleteTo respond to Josh, I agree that innovation is happening, and it's frustrating that companies have to keep it under lock and key to protect their IP. However, you also mentioned corporate greed. It bothers me that Intel and Apple are stifling innovation just because they can. This is just one example of many (super including telcos). I guess what bothers me more is that it is the "public" (who owns these companies) that is doing the stifling, forcing companies to strategically hold their hand to milk every lost bit of profit out of yesterday's technology.
You have a bit of an advantage here in your line of work, I'll admit that.
But, c'mon! I want those cantilever byways!