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"Why we've never fallen in love with 3-d glasses" -fixed the title. Science fiction predictions of the future are almost universally comically bad. People shou

"Why we've never fallen in love with 3-d glasses" -fixed the title. Science fiction predictions of the future are almost universally comically bad. People should know this by now; we completely lack positronic brains, warp drives, moon bases and tricorders. VR is a science fiction prediction of the future, just like positronic brains. The fact that people won't pay lots of money for a cheesy 3-d glasses experience as a proxy for science fiction VR shouldn't surprise anyone.

augusto-moura 7y ago
Well, at least a moon base is on the way. Just not like how we thinked of. More like a ISS on moon ground than a grand hotel
gwd 7y ago
But we do have personal communicators, which are way better than sci fi ever depicted.
- scottlocklin 7y ago
  I never saw captain Kirk recharging his, nor fiddling with it when he was bored. Space1999 commlocks were also way better than an ipotato. http://catacombs.space1999.net/main/cguide/umcomlock.html http://catacombs.space1999.net/main/cguide/umcomlock.html
  - oblio 7y ago
    > I never saw captain Kirk recharging his Well, if the current trend of battery improvements holds, and considering the unfathomable amounts of money and time thrown at the problem, we're hopefully about 10 years away from devices that can last 1 week on a single charge. Not quite Captain Kirk material, but we have about 240 years to get there. > nor fiddling with it when he was bored Do you consider this a minus? Most people consider it a huge plus :-)
    - ggreer 7y ago
      The iPhone 11 Pro Max has a 15 watt-hour battery. If it lasted a week on a single charge, it would need a 105 watt-hour battery. That's the same amount of energy in 90 grams of TNT.
      - oblio 7y ago
        Hmmmm: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/oct/09/iphone-11-pro-max-review-battery-camera-screen https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/oct/09/iphone-11... "The iPhone 11 Pro Max beats that estimate by some margin, lasting just minutes shy of a full 48 hours between charges." For 1 full week we need 3.5x capacity. Plus, at a certain point, the gap between (weak) explosives and batteries becomes really small. After all, the main difference is how they release that energy :-)
        lostmsu 7y ago
        Meh, my Mi Max 3 usually lasts 72 hours under moderate use (RSS, browsing, periodic navigation), and closer to 90 when I spend most of the time at home, only reading from it in the morning or late night.
      - scottlocklin 7y ago
        >it would need a 105 watt-hour battery. That's the same amount of energy in 90 grams of TNT. It's the same amount of energy as 11 milliliters of gasoline or a third of an ounce of fat on a piece of steak. Batteries (and explosives) are shitty at storing energy compared to hydrocarbons.
        ggreer 7y ago
        Danger comes from energy density and ability to release that energy quickly. Fat doesn't explode. Neither does gasoline, though I wouldn't be comfortable carrying 11ml of gasoline in my pocket. Existing batteries sometimes do explode and cause injury. The problem would be far worse if they had 7x more energy in them.
  - wutbrodo 7y ago
    You don't see that with smartphones in fiction set contemporarily either (or for that matter, fiction set during the dumbphone Era)
    - hindsightbias 7y ago
      The most scify thing about the future is that people actually talk to each other. The Trek franchise should have some reference to the Texting Ban of some stardate.
- scotty79 7y ago
  Not really. I can't just speak to communicator expecting it to understand me and only me in a fraction of a second and connect me to the right person. At least not without "ok google" or "alexa" or "hey siri".
  - gwd 7y ago
    > ...at least not without "ok google" or "alexa" or "hey siri". I think it was pretty clear that you had to press a button (or tap a badge) for the thing to start listening. Not sure how Android works, but Apple does have such a button, where you can talk to Siri without saying 'Hey Siri'. > I can't just speak to communicator expecting it to... connect me to the right person. I've been watching ST:OS on Netflix recently, and this seemed like something that was written by someone who obviously had never had anything like the technology they were working with. At any random time, Kirk just says, "Captain to medical. Bones, are you there?" And McCoy never says, "Sorry Jim, I'm in the can; I'll get back to you when I'm done." Or even, "Sorry Jim, I'm in the middle of removing this piece of shrapnel from a red-shirt's knee; I'll have to get back to you in an hour." Nobody is ever going to the bathroom, or eating, or sleeping, or having sex, or even just busy doing something else; they're immediately available to talk to you, 24/7, right where you expect them to be. That's obviously an unworkable nightmare. One way or another, you're always going to have to request a connection, and wait for the person to accept or reject it.
AnIdiotOnTheNet 7y ago
Actually tricorders kinda exist, in that we have personal hand held computers with access to large databases of knowledge and a good number of environmental sensors.
- Akinato 7y ago
  We're just missing all of the sensors (and the accompanying data), but I imagine that's only a matter of time. We're already seeing the basics of biometrics being added in.

augusto-moura 7y ago

Well, at least a moon base is on the way. Just not like how we thinked of. More like a ISS on moon ground than a grand hotel

gwd 7y ago

But we do have personal communicators, which are way better than sci fi ever depicted.

scottlocklin 7y ago
I never saw captain Kirk recharging his, nor fiddling with it when he was bored. Space1999 commlocks were also way better than an ipotato. http://catacombs.space1999.net/main/cguide/umcomlock.html http://catacombs.space1999.net/main/cguide/umcomlock.html
- oblio 7y ago
  > I never saw captain Kirk recharging his Well, if the current trend of battery improvements holds, and considering the unfathomable amounts of money and time thrown at the problem, we're hopefully about 10 years away from devices that can last 1 week on a single charge. Not quite Captain Kirk material, but we have about 240 years to get there. > nor fiddling with it when he was bored Do you consider this a minus? Most people consider it a huge plus :-)
  - ggreer 7y ago
    The iPhone 11 Pro Max has a 15 watt-hour battery. If it lasted a week on a single charge, it would need a 105 watt-hour battery. That's the same amount of energy in 90 grams of TNT.
    - oblio 7y ago
      Hmmmm: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/oct/09/iphone-11-pro-max-review-battery-camera-screen https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/oct/09/iphone-11... "The iPhone 11 Pro Max beats that estimate by some margin, lasting just minutes shy of a full 48 hours between charges." For 1 full week we need 3.5x capacity. Plus, at a certain point, the gap between (weak) explosives and batteries becomes really small. After all, the main difference is how they release that energy :-)
      - lostmsu 7y ago
        Meh, my Mi Max 3 usually lasts 72 hours under moderate use (RSS, browsing, periodic navigation), and closer to 90 when I spend most of the time at home, only reading from it in the morning or late night.
    - scottlocklin 7y ago
      >it would need a 105 watt-hour battery. That's the same amount of energy in 90 grams of TNT. It's the same amount of energy as 11 milliliters of gasoline or a third of an ounce of fat on a piece of steak. Batteries (and explosives) are shitty at storing energy compared to hydrocarbons.
      - ggreer 7y ago
        Danger comes from energy density and ability to release that energy quickly. Fat doesn't explode. Neither does gasoline, though I wouldn't be comfortable carrying 11ml of gasoline in my pocket. Existing batteries sometimes do explode and cause injury. The problem would be far worse if they had 7x more energy in them.
- wutbrodo 7y ago
  You don't see that with smartphones in fiction set contemporarily either (or for that matter, fiction set during the dumbphone Era)
  - hindsightbias 7y ago
    The most scify thing about the future is that people actually talk to each other. The Trek franchise should have some reference to the Texting Ban of some stardate.
scotty79 7y ago
Not really. I can't just speak to communicator expecting it to understand me and only me in a fraction of a second and connect me to the right person. At least not without "ok google" or "alexa" or "hey siri".
- gwd 7y ago
  > ...at least not without "ok google" or "alexa" or "hey siri". I think it was pretty clear that you had to press a button (or tap a badge) for the thing to start listening. Not sure how Android works, but Apple does have such a button, where you can talk to Siri without saying 'Hey Siri'. > I can't just speak to communicator expecting it to... connect me to the right person. I've been watching ST:OS on Netflix recently, and this seemed like something that was written by someone who obviously had never had anything like the technology they were working with. At any random time, Kirk just says, "Captain to medical. Bones, are you there?" And McCoy never says, "Sorry Jim, I'm in the can; I'll get back to you when I'm done." Or even, "Sorry Jim, I'm in the middle of removing this piece of shrapnel from a red-shirt's knee; I'll have to get back to you in an hour." Nobody is ever going to the bathroom, or eating, or sleeping, or having sex, or even just busy doing something else; they're immediately available to talk to you, 24/7, right where you expect them to be. That's obviously an unworkable nightmare. One way or another, you're always going to have to request a connection, and wait for the person to accept or reject it.

AnIdiotOnTheNet 7y ago

Actually tricorders kinda exist, in that we have personal hand held computers with access to large databases of knowledge and a good number of environmental sensors.

Akinato 7y ago
We're just missing all of the sensors (and the accompanying data), but I imagine that's only a matter of time. We're already seeing the basics of biometrics being added in.