Reasons why we are living the future already

[sanpt7777]

Every day I read things on the internet that makes me realize we live in the future (yeah, I know, technically we live in the present).
I'm curious to know, why do you think we live in the future? I'll start:

-The Apple Watch. As seen in the Jetsons.
-Full electric cars.
-Internet. Need I say more?
-Advanced healthcare.
-Engineered food.
-Self tuning Gibson guitars.
-Unprecedented computer performance. Everything from a car being able to prevent an accident 'thinking' on it's own to your smartphone being capable of storing more information than a computer from the early 2000's
-Human rights and equality being stronger than ever.


Of course not everything is positive, but it's still the future one way or another.

 

[SDNR]

The DeLorean DMC-12 is considered to be a classic car!

We live in 'The Future'!

 

[Rolf]

The DeLorean DMC-12 is considered to be a classic car!

We live in 'The Future'!

This year 2015 is when the 47 year old Marty McFly will meet his 17 year old version Lol! Just a few weeks left!

 

[sanpt7777]

This year 2015 is when the 47 year old Marty McFly will meet his 17 year old version Lol! Just a few weeks left!

Should I wear my pockets inside out?

 

[klier]

-The Apple Watch. As seen in the Jetsons.
-Full electric cars.
-Internet. Need I say more?
-Advanced healthcare.
-Engineered food.
-Self tuning Gibson guitars.
-Unprecedented computer performance. Everything from a car being able to prevent an accident 'thinking' on it's own to your smartphone being capable of storing more information than a computer from the early 2000's
-Human rights and equality being stronger than ever.

- Gimmick
- we had them 100 years ago
- 30 years old
- 60 years old
- 50 years old
- ???
- Every year is unprecedented. Moore's Law.
- getting worse with the day

 

[sanpt7777]

- Gimmick
- we had them 100 years ago
- 30 years old
- 60 years old
- 50 years old
- ???
- Every year is unprecedented. Moore's Law.
- getting worse with the day

OK, I'll bite:

-I like automatics better. Still, my opinion doesn't make the Apple watch any less futuristic.
-How did they fare back then?
-Nothing like present day Internet. 39 yo Internet and modern Internet have in common only the concept.
-Might as well say thousands years old.
-Cool, I'll give you that one.
-What's so hard to understand about it?
-My bad. Every year is unprecedented, indeed.
Moore's law? What, you live in 1996 or something? I meant that computing power is stepping up so fast, in an unprecedented way, that even Moore's law is already obsolete.
-You're an optimistic fella, eh?

I'll make this better for you, klier

-BMWs park themselves.
-First production car with water injection, a BMW nonetheless
-Cars have laser lights and OLED tailights now, thanks to BMW

Is this the future or is this the future?

 

[Betty Swollocks]

I'd love to be able to fly from London to New York in three hours like they did 12 years ago.

 

[klier]

-BMWs park themselves.
-First production car with water injection, a BMW nonetheless
-Cars have laser lights and OLED tailights now, thanks to BMW

Is this the future or is this the future?

Fantastic. The future has truly arrived.

 

[sanpt7777]

I'd love to be able to fly from London to New York in three hours like they did 12 years ago.

Fantastic. The future has truly arrived.

Didn't I tell you?

 

[hoffmeister_fan]

I'd love to be able to fly from London to New York in three hours like they did 12 years ago.

One of the things I wish I had the opportunity to do is being flown in a Concorde. I don't think we'll see commercial SST travel on an airplane for quite sometime. *sigh*

 

[sanpt7777]

One of the things I wish I had the opportunity to do is being flown in a Concorde. I don't think we'll see commercial SST travel on an airplane for quite sometime. *sigh*

Don't be so sure, I've read there is work being done in aerodynamics that will allow to quiet the sonic boom enough to make it acceptable. Or at least change its frequency, so instead of an explosion you'll hear like a thump.
Supersonic commercial travel is indeed the future. I predict in the 2020's it'll happen [again].

 

[hoffmeister_fan]

Don't be so sure, I've read there is work being done in aerodynamics that will allow to quiet the sonic boom enough to make it acceptable. Or at least change its frequency, so instead of an explosion you'll hear like a thump.
Supersonic commercial travel is indeed the future. I predict in the 2020's it'll happen [again].

Undoubtedly, there's great work being done on the material side of aerospace engineering and novel aerodynamic approach. But unless oil prices are known to stay low for at least the next 50 to 75 years and emissions are comparable or better than today's jet engines and airliners can yield profit off these flights, I doubt I'll see point-to-point SST travel in my lifetime. I think those are the biggest hurdles in achieving that.

BTW, the future isn't here unless there's commercially available hoverboards and flying cars.

I was promised hoverboards, and I want my damn hoverboard! I'll even take one in pink with Barbie decals, but I want my hoverboard!!!!!

 

[sanpt7777]

Undoubtedly, there's great work being done on the material side of aerospace engineering and novel aerodynamic approach. But unless oil prices are known to stay low for at least the next 50 to 75 years and emissions are comparable or better than today's jet engines and airliners can yield profit off these flights, I doubt I'll see point-to-point SST travel in my lifetime. I think those are the biggest hurdles in achieving that.

BTW, the future isn't here unless there's commercially available hoverboards and flying cars.

I was promised hoverboards, and I want my damn hoverboard! I'll even take one in pink with Barbie decals, but I want my hoverboard!!!!!

The problem with flying cars is they lack road feel.

 

[Betty Swollocks]

One of the things I wish I had the opportunity to do is being flown in a Concorde. I don't think we'll see commercial SST travel on an airplane for quite sometime. *sigh*

Me too. It's one of two things I wish I'd had the opportunity to do in aviation. The other one is land at the old Kai Tak airport in Hong Kong.

 

[Betty Swollocks]

Undoubtedly, there's great work being done on the material side of aerospace engineering and novel aerodynamic approach. But unless oil prices are known to stay low for at least the next 50 to 75 years and emissions are comparable or better than today's jet engines and airliners can yield profit off these flights, I doubt I'll see point-to-point SST travel in my lifetime. I think those are the biggest hurdles in achieving that.

The next time we see large scale supersonic travel, I suspect it will involve leaving the Earth's atmosphere, in which case fuel consumption might be relatively low, if conventional fuel is even used.

Low-scale supersonic travel might be possible in the next decade, but it will only be for a select few business people in a supersonic business jet.

One benefit of an aircraft flying twice as fast as today is that airlines will be able to get twice as much use from an aircraft in a typical day. Therefore a high purchase price isn't necessarily a barrier, because their fleet could be half the size due to higher productivity.

 

[sanpt7777]

The next time we see large scale supersonic travel, I suspect it will involve leaving the Earth's atmosphere, in which case fuel consumption might be relatively low, if conventional fuel is even used.

Low-scale supersonic travel might be possible in the next decade, but it will only be for a select few business people in a supersonic business jet.

One benefit of an aircraft flying twice as fast as today is that airlines will be able to get twice as much use from an aircraft in a typical day. Therefore a high purchase price isn't necessarily a barrier, because their fleet could be half the size due to higher productivity.

Well, according to my reads, the Concorde made lots of money, and there were only like 5 of them? I'm talking millions. They produced millions, so the investment was certainly worth it.
Also, people will be willing to pay more for supersonic travel.

My aviation dream is to be flown in an SR-71, but I guess one has to be physically fit to do that
Watching one go by with the afterburners on would be a good thing too, if I don't make it to the cockpit haha

Oh, by the way @hoffmeister_fan , I want a hoverboard too
Pink looks badass

 

[Betty Swollocks]

Well, according to my reads, the Concorde made lots of money, and there were only like 5 of them? I'm talking millions. They produced millions, so the investment was certainly worth it.
Also, people will be willing to pay more for supersonic travel.

Financially, Concorde was a huge failure for the governments of the UK and France, and the programme was nearly cancelled on several occasions. British Airways and Air France acquired their fleets for a huge discount. In service the only airline to run Concorde at a profit was British Airways. The main reason was the only route where Concorde made any sense was London to New York due to the number of executives travelling between the two biggest financial cities in the World. British Airways did not want to retire Concorde in 2003, but they had no choice due to Airbus refusing to provide maintenance support.

My aviation dream is to be flown in an SR-71, but I guess one has to be physically fit to do that

And have the ability to perform time travel. It retired in 1999.

 

[Bucketslash11]

Aren't engineers looking into orbital travel, which is even faster than supersonic travel

Of course cost is a major factor in why it isn't here yet

 

[klier]

Orbital travel should be around 26.000 km/h

@Betty Swollocks, I swear I read somewhere in the mainstream press they were talking abut Condorde revival?

The DeLorean DMC-12 is considered to be a classic car!

I saw one driving the other day. Super mega rare in Holland.

 

[Rolf]

Aren't engineers looking into orbital travel, which is even faster than supersonic travel

Of course cost is a major factor in why it isn't here yet

Yeah for the very rich there is already some commercial orbital space craft flights, I remember reading that Richard Branson planned to bring some flights out