• atomicbocks@sh.itjust.works
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    8 hours ago

    No, the vast majority of things we used today were not science fiction in the 70s.

    Mobile phones, the Internet, satellites, etc. all of these things existed before the 70s.

    The biggest technological innovation of the last hundred years has been miniaturization.

    • Abyssian@lemmy.world
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      8 hours ago

      What a silly thing to bicker about.

      Of course every one of us having a computer many times more powerful than anything that existed at the time yet small enough to fit in our pocket with plenty of room to spare and using wireless earphones (that also boost external sounds if needed) to communicate with it by simply saying in whatever language we speak what we want the computer to do or research and having the resulting confirmation or information read back to us, again in whatever language we’d prefer, as part of our professional remote-work career, as we sit in the back of a driverless car heading home from a nice lunch, where we’ll see that the groceries that were automatically ordered and delivered based on the contents of our refrigerators and cabinets compared to the eating preferences and any special requests made by each member of our household are waiting for us… was science fiction in the 70s.

      We can add in having whatever music we prefer automatically follow us from our home to our earphones to the car speakers, watching any movie/show or playing any video game from anywhere in the world, using your far more powerful computer at home to do the more demanding tasks but wirelessly using your phone as a monitor to stream whatever game it’s playing to wherever you are and having a wireless controller paired with your phone control the character in the game being played hundreds of miles away nearly seamlessly, being able to hold a face to face conversation with someone who speaks nearly any language you that don’t via live translation, to share any sort of book or movie or what would amount to a more information than is contained in a typical library to anyone else on the planet in a few seconds to a few minutes without either of you ever needing to stand up from wherever you’re sitting… I can go on for a few pages easily.

      Yes, those things and way more that we take for granted daily now were nothing more than science fiction in the 70s.

      • atomicbocks@sh.itjust.works
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        8 hours ago

        Cassette tapes existed in the 70s I could listen to the same music in my car and in my house, by simply ejecting the tape and carrying it in with me. The way you’re describing shit you might as well say it was science fiction in the 90s too you’re splitting hairs that don’t need to be split and that more importantly have nothing to do with your original argument.

        • Abyssian@lemmy.world
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          8 hours ago

          Dear God. The point was that your music can follow you and jump from home speaker system to earphones to car speakers to office speakers without you touching or doing anything.

          You seem to have hit the age where you need to be crotchety and bitch several hours per day lest you break a hip next time you shower. I can commiserate, but thankfully I only need to bitch two hours per day to stay safe so far. Good luck with your complaining, hope it goes well.

          • atomicbocks@sh.itjust.works
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            8 hours ago

            No, the point was that wasn’t unrealistic science fiction in the 70s. The idea that someday you wouldn’t have to touch the cassette was not unrealistic science fiction.

            Just because you’re wrong doesn’t mean you need to be an ass.

            • Abyssian@lemmy.world
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              7 hours ago

              Bud, you chose to bicker entirely on whether I was a decade or two off on exactly when many ideas in science fiction stories stopped being considered unrealistic and started to be considered plausibly realistic future technology.

              “Woolworth’s didn’t close down in 1972, it was November of '71!”

              Be honest with yourself, that’s completely senseless old guy bickering. It’s absolutely irrelevant to the point.

              • TrickDacy@lemmy.world
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                7 hours ago

                I’ll validate you here. You made a good point and you were wrong about nothing that mattered, if anything at all. Yet this dude slid in, in classic online asshole style, to redefine the conversation and cherry pick what it’s about and what would matter or not and even went so far to correct you “no, the point was [what I said, because you don’t matter].”

                I don’t know what the fuck is wrong with people who do this. What is the fucking point of attempting to reframe a discussion you didn’t start and die on the hill of “that other person sucks because they said something I argue is technically inaccurate and has little or nothing to do with a valid point they’re making”. I keep saying to myself I have to quit Lemmy, and it’s primarily that exact type of asshole behavior that causes me to think that way.

                • Abyssian@lemmy.world
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                  7 hours ago

                  Thank you. I’m not sure how old you are, but I found out that somewhere in a man’s mid to late 40s a change starts to happen. No one really talks about it, but if you don’t bitch about something every day then the next time you shower you fall and break all your hips.

                  At first you only need to bitch or be generally contrary for no good reason for a few minutes each day, but it slowly increases each year. My dad just hit 70, and at this point he seems to need around 5 hours per day. I know it seems tiresome and pointless and annoying as all hell, but the truth is old guys just don’t want their hips to break.

                  Unrelated, but very similar, you start to need to ramble on endlessly about something no one around you cares about more and more each year, or else your head explodes. This is why eventually most older men end up either bitching about something or rambling pointlessly pretty much every time you see them. :/

                  • TrickDacy@lemmy.world
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                    7 hours ago

                    lol, well, I’m at the age where that’s gonna start impacting me soon I guess. I’m not sure that my issue with online interactions like this is as much related to general bitchery as it is the distinct inability to let someone make a point. Either this guy hated your point, judged you based on something random, or just genuinely cannot see the forest for the trees. In any case, it’s infuriating to me. Your point was that technology, given enough time, makes inconceivable things real. Any moron could see this if they tried. Both through observation in the world and by reading what you wrote. But somehow none of that mattered. Just the fact that they thought your examples were subpar could possibly matter. (btw they weren’t, they illustrated the point just fine). Being crotchety is something I’m no stranger to and it’s often unpleasant. But focusing on shit that doesn’t matter in order to make another person “wrong” is some pointless bullshit. It’s not even pedantry. It’s something else, imo.

              • atomicbocks@sh.itjust.works
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                7 hours ago

                I chose to bicker because it was a ludicrous statement. Whatever else you need to tell yourself is for your own comfort.

    • TrickDacy@lemmy.world
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      7 hours ago

      And yet they made a valid point. Your response here has nothing to do with anything but pointlessly shitting on someone. Which apparently makes you feel better?