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I find this a really odd statement. No, it's not the future we were expecting (when is it ever?). But slow? I was born 40 years ago and am constantly bombarded

I find this a really odd statement. No, it's not the future we were expecting (when is it ever?). But slow? I was born 40 years ago and am constantly bombarded with the fact that we live in the future. 50 years ago, the first super computer was built that could do 3 MegaFLOPs. No one had a home computer. People used land-line rotary phones to make audio calls to their friends. Sputnik had been launched and men had been to space. Today, we all walk around with GigaFLOPs computers in our pockets that can make video calls and talk to billions of other computers around the world, all over the air—and we think nothing of it. There are people living in space semi-permanantly, we've sent probes to every major body in the solar system (and some minor ones) and there is so much stuff in orbit that it's become a potential hazard. That seems like a ton in 50 years, and that's just in two areas.

nkoren 10y ago
I was also born 40 years ago. People were routinely walking on the moon before we were born. Nobody has done so since. 50 years ago, NASA's baseline plan called for a permanent settlement on the moon by 1978, and a permanent settlement on Mars by 1986. That was the working assumption -- not of a few wild-eyed futurists, but of tens of thousands of ordinary bureaucrats -- during the ramp-up of the Apollo program. So yes, that future has been very, very slow to arrive. And yes, we're all carrying gigaflops computers around, which is massively cool but also, 40 years ago, somewhat expected.[1] My feeling is that in the last 10 years -- and particularly in the last 5, as the AI winter has decisively ended and the private spaceflight reusability efforts have ramped up -- things have genuinely been accelerating. But prior to that, the 70s, 80s, and 90s were relatively stalled decades, compared to the much more fundamental breakthroughs of the three decades before. 1: http://www.cnet.com/uk/news/samsung-says-2001-a-space-odyssey-invented-the-tablet-not-apple/ http://www.cnet.com/uk/news/samsung-says-2001-a-space-odysse...
- throwanem 10y ago
  Before that was NASA's plan, it was Dr. von Braun's. He was a brilliant man and a very persuasive one, but he never would've had a chance to send even a few manned capsules to the moon if not for the fact that his adoptive country required a rocket capable of serving as an intercontinental weapon, and a conclusive demonstration of superiority over a geopolitical rival. Once those goals were achieved, and in the absence of Dr. von Braun's influence, no one with the power or money to advance his true goals remained any longer interested in doing so.
  - thescriptkiddie 10y ago
    That's not true at all. The Saturn V was an order of magnitude larger than needed to deliver the largest nuclear weapons to Moscow, and would have been utterly impractical as a weapon. The Soyuz may have started out as an ICBM but the Saturn V was purpose built to go to the moon.
    - throwanem 10y ago
      Of course it was. The point I'm making is that the project would not have been funded at all absent the coincidence of a requirement for rockets capable of serving as weapons on one hand, and the US having a geopolitical point to make on the other.
      - thescriptkiddie 10y ago
        Oh, well carry on then.
  - stuxnet79 10y ago
    Interesting that you refer to him as "Dr" Von Braun. Von Braun never acquired a doctorate. That was a title that was bestowed on him by Hitler. My understanding is he almost never used it once he reached America and people started investigating his Nazi involvement.
    - throwanem 10y ago
      Your understanding may be in error. From NASA's historical files [1]: "Wanting to learn more about physics, chemistry, and astronomy, I entered the University of Berlin for graduate study. I was graduated with a Ph. D. in Physics in 1934." [1] http://history.msfc.nasa.gov/vonbraun/recollect-childhood.html http://history.msfc.nasa.gov/vonbraun/recollect-childhood.ht...
      - stuxnet79 10y ago
        Ok, thanks for pointing this out. It seems that I'm remembering this wrong. The actual title, Hitler bestowed on him was that of "Professor" which he allowed to be used by his underlings frequently up until he got Operation Paperclip'ed to America and people started asking questions.
imtringued 10y ago
The things I want still don't exist. The only thing I can do is wait and I've been waiting my entire life until I started accepting that I will never get the things I want. I no longer want anything.
melling 10y ago
Yeah, was any of that unexpected? I've been communicating over the Internet since the 1980's. By the time you were 10, the PC revolution was well under way. The Macintosh was already released, and so was the first version of Windows. When I was born 50 years ago, supersonic commercial flight was being built. We thought we'd be talking to computers that had artificial intelligence. We thought we'd be living on Mars by now.

nkoren 10y ago

I was also born 40 years ago. People were routinely walking on the moon before we were born. Nobody has done so since. 50 years ago, NASA's baseline plan called for a permanent settlement on the moon by 1978, and a permanent settlement on Mars by 1986. That was the working assumption -- not of a few wild-eyed futurists, but of tens of thousands of ordinary bureaucrats -- during the ramp-up of the Apollo program. So yes, that future has been very, very slow to arrive. And yes, we're all carrying gigaflops computers around, which is massively cool but also, 40 years ago, somewhat expected.[1] My feeling is that in the last 10 years -- and particularly in the last 5, as the AI winter has decisively ended and the private spaceflight reusability efforts have ramped up -- things have genuinely been accelerating. But prior to that, the 70s, 80s, and 90s were relatively stalled decades, compared to the much more fundamental breakthroughs of the three decades before. 1: http://www.cnet.com/uk/news/samsung-says-2001-a-space-odyssey-invented-the-tablet-not-apple/ http://www.cnet.com/uk/news/samsung-says-2001-a-space-odysse...

throwanem 10y ago
Before that was NASA's plan, it was Dr. von Braun's. He was a brilliant man and a very persuasive one, but he never would've had a chance to send even a few manned capsules to the moon if not for the fact that his adoptive country required a rocket capable of serving as an intercontinental weapon, and a conclusive demonstration of superiority over a geopolitical rival. Once those goals were achieved, and in the absence of Dr. von Braun's influence, no one with the power or money to advance his true goals remained any longer interested in doing so.
- thescriptkiddie 10y ago
  That's not true at all. The Saturn V was an order of magnitude larger than needed to deliver the largest nuclear weapons to Moscow, and would have been utterly impractical as a weapon. The Soyuz may have started out as an ICBM but the Saturn V was purpose built to go to the moon.
  - throwanem 10y ago
    Of course it was. The point I'm making is that the project would not have been funded at all absent the coincidence of a requirement for rockets capable of serving as weapons on one hand, and the US having a geopolitical point to make on the other.
    - thescriptkiddie 10y ago
      Oh, well carry on then.
- stuxnet79 10y ago
  Interesting that you refer to him as "Dr" Von Braun. Von Braun never acquired a doctorate. That was a title that was bestowed on him by Hitler. My understanding is he almost never used it once he reached America and people started investigating his Nazi involvement.
  - throwanem 10y ago
    Your understanding may be in error. From NASA's historical files [1]: "Wanting to learn more about physics, chemistry, and astronomy, I entered the University of Berlin for graduate study. I was graduated with a Ph. D. in Physics in 1934." [1] http://history.msfc.nasa.gov/vonbraun/recollect-childhood.html http://history.msfc.nasa.gov/vonbraun/recollect-childhood.ht...
    - stuxnet79 10y ago
      Ok, thanks for pointing this out. It seems that I'm remembering this wrong. The actual title, Hitler bestowed on him was that of "Professor" which he allowed to be used by his underlings frequently up until he got Operation Paperclip'ed to America and people started asking questions.

imtringued 10y ago

The things I want still don't exist. The only thing I can do is wait and I've been waiting my entire life until I started accepting that I will never get the things I want. I no longer want anything.

melling 10y ago

Yeah, was any of that unexpected? I've been communicating over the Internet since the 1980's. By the time you were 10, the PC revolution was well under way. The Macintosh was already released, and so was the first version of Windows. When I was born 50 years ago, supersonic commercial flight was being built. We thought we'd be talking to computers that had artificial intelligence. We thought we'd be living on Mars by now.