3 ms·

In five years the world will be identical to the present. In 15, it will be unrecognizable.

nox101 3y ago
My grandparents still recognize the world. they drove cars in their 20s and drive them now. They go shopping at stores much the same as the past. They eat at restaurants much the same as the past. They read books, watch movies much the same as the past. they cook, see friends and family. they live in a house. it still has rooms and furnu much the same as the past. what's changed? more entertainment. easier communication. more photos and video. but day to day life isn't all that much different
- dvngnt_ 3y ago
  in grocery stores it's harder to pay with just cash. and now all the menus are qr codes.
  - rbanffy 3y ago
    It's been months since I had any paper money in my wallet. Sometimes I even forget my wallet home and pay using the phone.
- ben_w 3y ago
  My grandparents are dead. So are my parents. My dad was born before the UK joined WW2, he lived through the arrival of colour TV. One of the earliest stories people had about mum was during an air raid where her family had to shelter under the kitchen table. Dad was about to turn 6 when Nagasaki was bombed. He was 8 when the transistor was finally prototyped. At university, he studied electrical engineering, he only learned about this new thing called "software" on a two day training course at work. When he settled down and started a family, phone numbers were 4 digits, "long distance" meant the next town, international was unheard of. One of my mum's resentments was that my dad had grown up thinking that eating out was too expensive, such that he never took her anywhere — thanks to WW2 both grew up with rationing, which also means their experience of what foods are available in (super)markets radically changed over the years (one of mum's anecdotes was the first time she bought a chilli pepper, from a street market, she just bit into it like it was a banana or apple because she didn't know any better). My parents saw the fall of the British Empire, the Beeching cuts, the moon landings, the invention of nuclear power and solar power. The house went from no loft insulation to loads, from a void cavity on the walls to filled cavity, it gained PV on the roof. They lived through the sexual revolution, the introduction and widespread availability of oral contraceptives. My uncle moved to Australia (from the UK), and I'm told that was because he really didn't like his mum and that was as far as he could go. My first international trip was, in part, to meet him, with my gran paying for herself, my parents, and me to all go together because international travel got that much cheaper (my brother and sister went later, they were at university at the time). They saw AIDS enter the news, were around for PrEP to enter human trials. The first heart transplant, liver transplant, lung transplant. They saw smallpox eradicated. They saw witchcraft and homosexuality legalised. They saw the USSR collapse, having previously visited a divided Berlin (where I now live). They saw the formation of the EU. My dad took a lot of books out of the library. Me? Audio books and podcasts, which I listen to sped-up, so that I can multi-task, either on a commute or during a long walk. Dad was 40 when the Walkman was introduced. I see robots helping clean up the food courts in a mall close to what was, in their lifetime, a heavily fortified no-mans land. The first vacuum cleaner I bought was a Roomba.

My grandparents still recognize the world. they drove cars in their 20s and drive them now. They go shopping at stores much the same as the past. They eat at restaurants much the same as the past. They read books, watch movies much the same as the past. they cook, see friends and family. they live in a house. it still has rooms and furnu much the same as the past. what's changed? more entertainment. easier communication. more photos and video. but day to day life isn't all that much different

dvngnt_ 3y ago
in grocery stores it's harder to pay with just cash. and now all the menus are qr codes.
- rbanffy 3y ago
  It's been months since I had any paper money in my wallet. Sometimes I even forget my wallet home and pay using the phone.
ben_w 3y ago
My grandparents are dead. So are my parents. My dad was born before the UK joined WW2, he lived through the arrival of colour TV. One of the earliest stories people had about mum was during an air raid where her family had to shelter under the kitchen table. Dad was about to turn 6 when Nagasaki was bombed. He was 8 when the transistor was finally prototyped. At university, he studied electrical engineering, he only learned about this new thing called "software" on a two day training course at work. When he settled down and started a family, phone numbers were 4 digits, "long distance" meant the next town, international was unheard of. One of my mum's resentments was that my dad had grown up thinking that eating out was too expensive, such that he never took her anywhere — thanks to WW2 both grew up with rationing, which also means their experience of what foods are available in (super)markets radically changed over the years (one of mum's anecdotes was the first time she bought a chilli pepper, from a street market, she just bit into it like it was a banana or apple because she didn't know any better). My parents saw the fall of the British Empire, the Beeching cuts, the moon landings, the invention of nuclear power and solar power. The house went from no loft insulation to loads, from a void cavity on the walls to filled cavity, it gained PV on the roof. They lived through the sexual revolution, the introduction and widespread availability of oral contraceptives. My uncle moved to Australia (from the UK), and I'm told that was because he really didn't like his mum and that was as far as he could go. My first international trip was, in part, to meet him, with my gran paying for herself, my parents, and me to all go together because international travel got that much cheaper (my brother and sister went later, they were at university at the time). They saw AIDS enter the news, were around for PrEP to enter human trials. The first heart transplant, liver transplant, lung transplant. They saw smallpox eradicated. They saw witchcraft and homosexuality legalised. They saw the USSR collapse, having previously visited a divided Berlin (where I now live). They saw the formation of the EU. My dad took a lot of books out of the library. Me? Audio books and podcasts, which I listen to sped-up, so that I can multi-task, either on a commute or during a long walk. Dad was 40 when the Walkman was introduced. I see robots helping clean up the food courts in a mall close to what was, in their lifetime, a heavily fortified no-mans land. The first vacuum cleaner I bought was a Roomba.