Monday, September 17, 2007
back...to the future!
The year is 2007. We are now officially dangerously close to the 2015 future envisioned in Back To The Future Part II. I was 13 when this movie came out in 1989, and like most 13 year olds I was really looking forward to getting one of those hoverboards when I was 39. Also, like most 13 year olds, I figured that when I was 39 I would still be cool enough to want one of those hoverboards (I was right!). But here we are, only eight years away from "the future" and hoverboard technology is still in its infancy.
And don't even get me started on Mr. Fusion, the device that's supposed to create 1.21 gigawatts of electricity from banana peels, warm beer and other garbage. Granted, some of the dirty diapers I currently put in my garbage rival nuclear warheads in potency, but our ability to harness this power is at least twenty years away.
Also, according to Back To The Future Part II, in the near future we will be wearing wrap-around sunglasses that appear to be made out of a curved sheet of aluminum - there are no lenses, just more aluminum. Unfortunately, the wrap-around sunglass phase has already come and gone, and they were mostly just made out of plastic. I guess this one could still happen. But first we need to figure out how to see through aluminum.
The worst tease of all was, of course, the flying car thing. I've spent much of the past ten years practicing for my flying car license, but now it looks like we may not even have flying cars by 2015. Given the number of Ford Escorts out there with giant wings stuck on the back, I wasn't the only one banking on a flying-car future. But alas, where we're going, we do indeed need roads. In fact, we need better roads than the ones we currently have. Case in point, my ten mile drive to work took fifty-one minutes this morning, just because one traffic light was flashing red!
Yes, the Back To The Future Part II future had its issues. I don't remember what they were because I haven't seen the movie in like fifteen years. And yes, the future is not bright for the McFly family. But overall, things looked pretty cool in the future. Everything was colorful, things hovered, cars (both flying and non-flying) were all designed to look like Lamborghinis (with no regard whatsoever for pedestrian or driver safety no less!). Nowhere in the Back To The Future Part II future did I hear any mention of weapons of mass destruction, war, rising oil prices, global warming, the energy crisis, sports cheating scandals, Osama Bin Laden, or Nickelback.
I think, as a society, our goal should be to strive for the Back To The Future Part II future. ¶ monger187 wrote this on 9/17/2007
And don't even get me started on Mr. Fusion, the device that's supposed to create 1.21 gigawatts of electricity from banana peels, warm beer and other garbage. Granted, some of the dirty diapers I currently put in my garbage rival nuclear warheads in potency, but our ability to harness this power is at least twenty years away.
Also, according to Back To The Future Part II, in the near future we will be wearing wrap-around sunglasses that appear to be made out of a curved sheet of aluminum - there are no lenses, just more aluminum. Unfortunately, the wrap-around sunglass phase has already come and gone, and they were mostly just made out of plastic. I guess this one could still happen. But first we need to figure out how to see through aluminum.
The worst tease of all was, of course, the flying car thing. I've spent much of the past ten years practicing for my flying car license, but now it looks like we may not even have flying cars by 2015. Given the number of Ford Escorts out there with giant wings stuck on the back, I wasn't the only one banking on a flying-car future. But alas, where we're going, we do indeed need roads. In fact, we need better roads than the ones we currently have. Case in point, my ten mile drive to work took fifty-one minutes this morning, just because one traffic light was flashing red!
Yes, the Back To The Future Part II future had its issues. I don't remember what they were because I haven't seen the movie in like fifteen years. And yes, the future is not bright for the McFly family. But overall, things looked pretty cool in the future. Everything was colorful, things hovered, cars (both flying and non-flying) were all designed to look like Lamborghinis (with no regard whatsoever for pedestrian or driver safety no less!). Nowhere in the Back To The Future Part II future did I hear any mention of weapons of mass destruction, war, rising oil prices, global warming, the energy crisis, sports cheating scandals, Osama Bin Laden, or Nickelback.
I think, as a society, our goal should be to strive for the Back To The Future Part II future. ¶ monger187 wrote this on 9/17/2007
