4 ms·

It's strange to imagine how much the world has changed in 17 years, from this guy's perspective.

lsllc 7y ago
The concept of a drone and being discovered by one was probably quite a shock to him. I guess a re-do of "My Side of the Mountain" would be completely different in 2019!
mcv 7y ago
Yeah, I bet he didn't expect to be found by drones. That's got to be the most immediate confrontation with how much the world has changed.
mido22 7y ago
There is a recent chinese movie along the same theme "Ash is purest white". A person is jailed around 2002 and released about 10 years later and the whole world has changed.
- rusticpenn 7y ago
  I think Shawshank Redemption showed it pretty well.
- majos 7y ago
  It’s 5 years, not 10. (But it’s 5 years in early-2000s China, so it might as well be 10.)
thinkingemote 7y ago
I beg to differ. For example Enemy of the State which dealt with aerial surveillance was released 21 years ago. Predator drones were deployed in the middle east in 2000 but were in use from 1995 in the Balkans. Quadcopters are new though. 17 years and people were living online lives. With Web 2.0 which began a couple of years later around 15 years ago. There's not much that has changed fundamentally which could cause a psychological shock. Now, if he was on the fun since 1980 maybe ... but 2002 was just around the corner (at least for the type of people who read HN).
- quaquaqua1 7y ago
  I'm sorry, drones were not in the public consciousness in 2002, let alone 2010, when the military was still mostly using helicopters for this type of search. Drones were used for bombing, and they are probably 10 times as large as consumer drones. There was no way he expected the police to have this technology and a desire to use it against him specifically. He also didn't read HN- he's barely able to communicate in his native language according to the article.
- cameronbrown 7y ago
  > Predator drones were deployed in the middle east in 2000 but were in use from 1995 in the Balkans. Quadcopters are new though. Quadcopters wouldn't have even been possible without serious advances in battery technology and radio infrastructure. There was no reason for him to expect the police would've had access to these kind of resources. > 17 years and people were living online lives. With Web 2.0 which began a couple of years later around 15 years ago. There's not much that has changed fundamentally which could cause a psychological shock. Even just the invention of the smartphone would be alien to him. I think you may have lost perspective on how different it is. People did not expect to be connected like we are today. It's obvious in hindsight but nobody could have predicted it.

The concept of a drone and being discovered by one was probably quite a shock to him. I guess a re-do of "My Side of the Mountain" would be completely different in 2019!

mcv 7y ago

Yeah, I bet he didn't expect to be found by drones. That's got to be the most immediate confrontation with how much the world has changed.

mido22 7y ago

There is a recent chinese movie along the same theme "Ash is purest white". A person is jailed around 2002 and released about 10 years later and the whole world has changed.

rusticpenn 7y ago
I think Shawshank Redemption showed it pretty well.
majos 7y ago
It’s 5 years, not 10. (But it’s 5 years in early-2000s China, so it might as well be 10.)

thinkingemote 7y ago

I beg to differ. For example Enemy of the State which dealt with aerial surveillance was released 21 years ago. Predator drones were deployed in the middle east in 2000 but were in use from 1995 in the Balkans. Quadcopters are new though. 17 years and people were living online lives. With Web 2.0 which began a couple of years later around 15 years ago. There's not much that has changed fundamentally which could cause a psychological shock. Now, if he was on the fun since 1980 maybe ... but 2002 was just around the corner (at least for the type of people who read HN).

quaquaqua1 7y ago
I'm sorry, drones were not in the public consciousness in 2002, let alone 2010, when the military was still mostly using helicopters for this type of search. Drones were used for bombing, and they are probably 10 times as large as consumer drones. There was no way he expected the police to have this technology and a desire to use it against him specifically. He also didn't read HN- he's barely able to communicate in his native language according to the article.
cameronbrown 7y ago
> Predator drones were deployed in the middle east in 2000 but were in use from 1995 in the Balkans. Quadcopters are new though. Quadcopters wouldn't have even been possible without serious advances in battery technology and radio infrastructure. There was no reason for him to expect the police would've had access to these kind of resources. > 17 years and people were living online lives. With Web 2.0 which began a couple of years later around 15 years ago. There's not much that has changed fundamentally which could cause a psychological shock. Even just the invention of the smartphone would be alien to him. I think you may have lost perspective on how different it is. People did not expect to be connected like we are today. It's obvious in hindsight but nobody could have predicted it.