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Predictions They'd Rather Forget No.1

Tunn11 said:
A computer guy once told me; "One can gain an almost supernatural reputation for competence through a willingness to read the manual."
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Yup, I've heard that and do indeed act upon on it. :cool:

The popular gadget before mobile phones rolled up was the pager. I'd given my kids those so we were used to the concept. Finding that phones did it too was amazing to me, but it seemed nobody else knew about it.

I got stuck STRAIGHT in. :cool:
 
When I was in the Post Room/despatch dept. of Liberty's, we were given pagers. All it would display was the extension you had to call, once you've found a shop 'phone.
 
I think one of the main reasons that people didn't really predict the advent of the internet and mobile phones, is less to do with their imagination but more to do with them thinking who really needs it, we had survived and thrived without them, but they wormed their way into out lives and now we can't live without them

In the past most technological breakthroughs have been based on needs,
 
Robbrent said:
I think one of the main reasons that people didn't really predict the advent of the internet and mobile phones, is less to do with their imagination but more to do with them thinking who really needs it, we had survived and thrived without them, but they wormed their way into out lives and now we can't live without them

In the past most technological breakthroughs have been based on needs,
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"The Americans have need of the telephone, but we do not. We have plenty of messenger boys." - Sir William Preece, Chief Engineer, British Post Office, 1878.
 
Am I tempting fate in saying this, but in terms of technology (I am talking about home tech not industrial or commercial) but I can't see what more needs inventing, sure incremental improvements to existing tech but I think we may have reached the point when there is nothing else really to invent

We kind of know where the future is heading, AI (if the hype is to be believed) new forms of energy generation, quantum computing etc, but who knows something can come from the complete left field and surprise us all, I am still waiting for my personnel flying machine and a holiday on the moon
 
I sort of understand what you're getting at.
After the development of the silicon chip, all tech advancement has been on improving them. Even in quantum computing, it's a huge leap in science ... but it's still improving the efficiency of computers.
What is harder to predict is the invention of something that we haven't already got.
Such as a gadget to amplify any psionic 'talents' we have? Or a reliable means of communicaton with the dead?
 
Robbrent said:
Am I tempting fate in saying this, but in terms of technology (I am talking about home tech not industrial or commercial) but I can't see what more needs inventing, sure incremental improvements to existing tech but I think we may have reached the point when there is nothing else really to invent

We kind of know where the future is heading, AI (if the hype is to be believed) new forms of energy generation, quantum computing etc, but who knows something can come from the complete left field and surprise us all, I am still waiting for my personnel flying machine and a holiday on the moon
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Anti-gravity?
Faster than light space travel?
We've dreamt these things up but not done them yet.
 
I thought the writers there showed their lack of imagination.
 
I want a dream recorder (like in Wim Wenders 'Until the End of the World') so you can playback your dreams when awake - this technology was a spin off from converting images into brain-waves and transferring them into visually-impared people so they could 'see' loved ones.
 
Nanobots plus stem cells to confer a sort of android longevity to allow expansion into space or other environments? Expansion, like wars, tends to foster creativity.

Understanding (and using) dark matter and dark energy - if they exist.

And probably something, somewhere, that someone can't get a research grant for because it's a ridiculous idea.
 
Stormkhan said:
When I was in the Post Room/despatch dept. of Liberty's, we were given pagers. All it would display was the extension you had to call, once you've found a shop 'phone.
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l was told that when some of our CID lads had an unpopular DI, they used to cost him a fortune when they were out on the piss by repeatedly sending him the message “LO BATT”.

:dunno:

maximus otter
 
Bad Bungle said:
I want a dream recorder (like in Wim Wenders 'Until the End of the World') so you can playback your dreams when awake - this technology was a spin off from converting images into brain-waves and transferring them into visually-impared people so they could 'see' loved ones.
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Closely related to the gizmo in the film Brainstorm.
 
Only as military cast-offs, after the military have exhausted it's use and/or found countermeasures.
 
maximus otter said:
l was told that when some of our CID lads had an unpopular DI, they used to cost him a fortune when they were out on the piss by repeatedly sending him the message “LO BATT”.

:dunno:

maximus otter
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Low battery.
 
DrPaulLee said:
rynner2 said:
Bill Gates and Sir Alan Sugar made some of worst technology predictions of all time
Microsoft boss Bill Gates and millionaire British businessman Sir Alan Sugar have made two of the worst technology predictions of all time.

By Harry Wallop, Consumer Affairs Editor
Last Updated: 5:02PM GMT 09 Dec 2008

They are both included in a list that highlights how even the brightest and the best have got it spectacularly wrong.
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11. " A computer science degree will be worthless in 10 years." - My dad, 1997 as I was deciding on a major at college. I instead chose Communications with an eye to becoming a DJ. Never finished my degree and radio DJs are largely extinct anyway.
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