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Back in 1988, at the height of TV viewing, these scene on Star Trek TNG seemed massively futuristic. Imagine TV ending by 2040 DATA: Is there something wrong?

Back in 1988, at the height of TV viewing, these scene on Star Trek TNG seemed massively futuristic. Imagine TV ending by 2040 DATA: Is there something wrong? SONNY: Wrong? Only that your computer here fixed about the best martini I have ever had. I just might get to like this place. Let's see if the Braves are on. How do you turn on this teevee? RIKER: TV? SONNY: Yeah, the boob tube. I'd like to see how the Braves are doing after all this time. Probably still finding ways to lose. DATA: I believe he means television, sir. That particular form of entertainment did not last much beyond the year two thousand forty. Yet here we are, 24 years on, with just 18 years to go to that 2040 date, and it looks like it may well work out about right - as in TV as a passive viewing habit (rather than actively seeking out an episode of the Mandalorian or Tom Scott or what-have-you)

rhacker 5y ago
I sometimes wonder if someone from the future really did come back to write some of those shows. Look what was predicted for 2024 from DS9 in 1995: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Past_Tense_(Star_Trek:_Deep_Space_Nine) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Past_Tense_(Star_Trek:_Deep_Sp... "Sanctuary Districts" sounds like "Sanctuary City" - very bizarre naming. Not to mention the homelessness situation has started exploding lately.
- Izkata 5y ago
  2063 is gonna be a crazy year ;)
rhino369 5y ago
Seems like Millenials and GenXer still watch a lot of TV, its just on a steaming service instead of cable, and much of it is pretty damn passive. Not sure how GenZ engages, I hear more twitch/youtube/tiktok, but I think they still view a lot of TV shows too.
- InitialLastName 5y ago
  > much of it is pretty damn passive. How could it possibly be more passive than "I just leave my TV on Fox News/MSNBC/CNN until I'm outraged about the right things"?
munchler 5y ago
That's an interesting scene, but it's not a passive viewing scenario. I do agree that passively turning on the TV just to see what's on is virtually extinct. As a side note, it seems very unlikely that a baseball team named the "Braves" will exist in the far future, even if baseball itself is still played in some form.
jandrese 5y ago
To be fair in the Star Trek universe there was a lot of global thermonuclear war going on so it makes sense that broadcast TV would die out as the spectrum became too noisy to effectively transmit signal.

rhacker 5y ago

I sometimes wonder if someone from the future really did come back to write some of those shows. Look what was predicted for 2024 from DS9 in 1995: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Past_Tense_(Star_Trek:_Deep_Space_Nine) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Past_Tense_(Star_Trek:_Deep_Sp... "Sanctuary Districts" sounds like "Sanctuary City" - very bizarre naming. Not to mention the homelessness situation has started exploding lately.

Izkata 5y ago
2063 is gonna be a crazy year ;)

rhino369 5y ago

Seems like Millenials and GenXer still watch a lot of TV, its just on a steaming service instead of cable, and much of it is pretty damn passive. Not sure how GenZ engages, I hear more twitch/youtube/tiktok, but I think they still view a lot of TV shows too.

InitialLastName 5y ago
> much of it is pretty damn passive. How could it possibly be more passive than "I just leave my TV on Fox News/MSNBC/CNN until I'm outraged about the right things"?

munchler 5y ago

That's an interesting scene, but it's not a passive viewing scenario. I do agree that passively turning on the TV just to see what's on is virtually extinct. As a side note, it seems very unlikely that a baseball team named the "Braves" will exist in the far future, even if baseball itself is still played in some form.

jandrese 5y ago

To be fair in the Star Trek universe there was a lot of global thermonuclear war going on so it makes sense that broadcast TV would die out as the spectrum became too noisy to effectively transmit signal.