Phones doing a good chunk of what computers can
A good chunk? My watch is far more capable than my first computer, many times the storage, and its screen has more pixels
Combined with the Internet a “phone” - as we still charmingly call it - does what the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy could do.
I mean it’s almost wrong handed to call something like an iPhone or Android device a “phone” because it’s really a pocket computer that, among many other things, can place phone calls.
For that reason, I like how they are called Hand Terminals in the Expanse (books, I dont think they are referred to at all in the show)
In fact the thing that irritates me is how useless a smart phone is without a connection to the internet. You have to put in actual effort to make actual use of its local power.
Child me is just dying to have the dancing and gaming skills I have!
Child me wishes he had the basic communication skills and treatments for his mental illness.
Protein folding
Owning my own home. Most of us are just going to be renting for the rest of our lives.
I had a job at the time that let me WFH maybe once every 2-3 weeks and I thought it was crazy generous lol.
Now I’m home virtually every day.
Avoiding nuclear war long enough to destroy the world with our normal economic activity.
Swallowing gum.
I was laughed at on the playground when I got the idea for wireless charging back in the 90s.
Nikola Tesla was working on proof of concept from 1900 until JP Morgan pulled project funding in 1917.
My man Nikola would have invented FTL travel had he lived six months longer
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Telling the “computer” to do a thing and it just does. AI has it’s upsides and saves me so much time and energy
For real. Who would have guessed the most realistic prediction from Star Trek was talking directly to the computer. Whereas the least realistic one is that a post-scarcity society would benefit average people.
Directly measuring gravity waves, the first measurement using LIGO was back in 2016 and they’ve observed almost a hundred so far. The observations are being used to create newer generations of gravity wave detectors.
Electing a convicted felon President of the United States.
That one cuts deep. It’s really weird too because if you asked your parents they would say america would never elect a felon. Then they went on to elect a felon.
I sometimes think about trying to reach out to older folks to better understand their views but then I remember the absolute garbage brain rot they believe.
Teleportation
It was proven on a micro scale by Jeff Kimble’s team at CalTech (?) in the late 90s I think
I’m not sure quantum entanglement is indicative of teleportation but don’t know much about it. Would be cool to learn more.
Considering how many asterisks you need to add there, I wouldn’t say teleportation is “inevitable”.
“Work from home” for so many jobs.
Which is only possible because of this magic technology to let you see and talk in near real time to anyone, anywhere. Used to be that if your sibling / parent / other family member wasn’t in town, you couldn’t see them in real time at any time, usually just a single / couple times a year at holidays.
Sure calling was a thing, but it’s just different when you can see someone.
Working from my bedroom in the US while seeing and speaking to a fellow developer living in Pakistan is really quite awesome.
My math teacher: “You can’t walk around with a calculator in your pocket!”
Well well well, look at me NOW, Mr. York!
never opens calculator app
Hah, I suck at math so I use it all the time
I don’t know if I suffer from dyscalculia but, man, is mental arithmetic so hard for some reason. I did well in all my other math classes up to college, wtaf, brain.
Arithmetic was easy for me. It made sense. What didnt make sense was finance and accounting. That shit exists just to muddy waters and hurt people. 5
I have a calculator in my pocket that I can talk to and it’ll talk back. “Hey Bixby, what’s half of five and three-eighths?”
About 33% of the time the dumb bitch comes back with “Okay, here’s what I found on the internet.”
The fall of America.
Well that was just hubris.
Self driving cars.
We are on the early stages currently; ignore what Tesla/musk says; in 10 - 20 years full level 5 autonomy will be common place.
In the 80’s the Cray 1 supercomputer was made, now I have so much more computer power in my pocket its frankly ridiculous. And it’s runs on milliwatts rather than kilowatts.
I work in the automotive industry. I believe we could be there in 10 to 20 years, but I’m not convinced we will be there.
Specifically, because vehicle autonomy has been a big buzz word in the industry for a decade or so, and it’s starting to lose its zing. And when buzzwords lose their zing, the money dries up and the industry moves on.
Things like speed-adjusting cruise control and lane-keeping assistance, for example, are trivial to implement from a technological standpoint and don’t cost much to add. But they don’t show up in too many vehicles, because consumers stopped caring. I worked on a trailer backup assistance feature in a 2015 pickup that added zero production cost, but very few vehicles implement anything like that. Not because they’re not valuable features, but because the industry loses interest and moves on.
The automotive feature that boggles me most is 4-wheel steering (where the rear wheels can move about 10 degrees or so). I’ve driven a vehicle with this feature, and it’s an absolute game-changer. And it doesn’t cost that much to implement either. Too bad the big OEMs don’t care, because once you’ve driven one, you want it on every vehicle ever. Sigh.
End rant.
Besides parking, what other benefit is there for 4-wheel steering?
General maneuverability is the main benefit. The back wheels more closely follow the front wheels, so for situations like a curved drive-through (curbs on both sides) or even just making turns on roads with narrow lanes, it’s easier to not clip the curb (or other vehicles) on the inside of your turn. And at high speeds, you can implement “crab walk” to make lane changes easier. It makes a big difference with towing as well.
There is a massive profit motive, especially for trucking companies.
When there is enough money tho be made, it will be implemented.
I agree the logistics industry wants it. Though I think there may be problems to be solved for autonomous deliveries outside of the driving aspect (that is, the driver does a lot more than just drive). So I wonder if it’ll pick up more if some of the other roadblocks for that are resolved…
Honestly not convinced, we’ve been promised self driving cars for almost a decade and we unearthed way more problems than ways of getting closer. And honestly, there are soo many situations where even I’m not sure what the correct course of action would be, so I’m not holding my breath for an AI sourcing from our collective actions.
That may not be the way.
But don’t forget, all advances are cumulative.
I’m super curious how they will handle inclement weather where lanes cease to exist. And drive thrus. How will it handle a drive thru fully autonomously?
Yeah the issue with predictions around things like autonomous vehicles is it assumes tech advancements will flow in one direction/domain. There are still serious limitations of current AI systems in regards to autonomous vehicles and the next breakthrough may not be one relevant to that domain.
Its certainly possible, but we’ve basically been on the current autonomous vehicle hype for about 10 years already.
Real answer…
GPS accurate enough to tell the car where the lanes are.
Drive thru wouldn’t be too bad, it’s essentially stop and go traffic. Plus, when full autonomy happens, drive thrus will become less common. You can just pre-order your food while the car is driving you to the restaurant. The restaurant will tell the car how long the food will take, and what parking spot to use. Then your car will tell the restaurant your ETA, and notify them exactly when you arrive. Food is waiting, so you just grab the bag and go.
The same way we do.
Slow down; drive by feel; look to the sides for trees, sign posts, other markers, knowing the roads.
