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Milim, do you know that one of the things that makes me feel welcome here is being caught using the wrong idiom, words, and once in a while the wrong spelling it not that i spell thing wrong once in a while, its just once in while i enjoy being corrected!
i laughed when inselpeter pointed out that i said one of the few things we must remember about the future-- but it sort of make my point.. the future will, in many ways be just like the past! we can remember it!
mind you, i am sitting a computer, using a technology that, 20 years ago, was almost unthinkable to say this!
when thing change, they change in unexpected ways, and often keep remnants of the old technology.
i do use a qwerty keyboard, a design set up 100 years ago, intentionally to be slow, when typist could type faster than mechanical keyboards could move! so while my pentium 3 technology is state of the art, the keyboard is a legacy!
and Cap't Kirk was a sexist womanizer!
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>>our present cell phones look and work ...very much like the communicators used ..on the Original ST
>a very conscious design decision made by motorola!Ah, but most European "mobys" don't work like Star Trek communicators, as Nokia are by far the most popular brand. As you say, some of the Motorolas do, and there are nifty little numbers by Samsung and Sony (of course) that flip open - but sometimes it's false economy. People prefer slimness to shortness, if you see what I mean. And then weight is a very important factor. Nokias are almost light enough to sit in a top shirt pocket without being pendulous. All the others except the Sony (which is very nice but expensive) tend to be noticeably heavier. Funny, I managed to get by without my own moby right up until my last birthday - and now, of course, I take mine almost everywhere. Then again, I got by without a car and a TV of my own until I was 29. Surprising how the need isn't necessarily there until it's introduced, eh? 
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Carpal Tunnel
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yes, it is interesting what we consider to be vital.. but that is taking off to philosophy! but i suppose pondering the future is philosophical, too!
i have cell phone for emergenies.. i don't even have a contract for service.. except for on-line service i don't make a dozen phone calls in a month.. i do stay on for a while, and have made hour long calls to Japan (oh, my that bill!) but phones are one technology i could do with out, almost. but ice machines? i love ice machines!
NY has had a few black out.. every few years we are reminded about life with out electricity, for a few hours. its always interesting.
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Blinded by ScienceThat's a brilliant article, tsuwm. Very appropriate - also very scary in some ways. Dunno, I think the focus of prediction changes, is all. It's not so much the technology (and as the article says, it can't be), it's more how all of these SF dreams/nightmares coming true at the same time will change our culture. And that is almost impossible to predict. If you explore some recent(ish) SF, these are the very issues that are (implicitly at least) being explored. William Gibson's "CyberPunk" stuff went in that direction quite substantially; Iain M Banks' "Culture" similarly explores what almost limitless technology would do to the human race. SF (and probably futurology) has been here before, in that the inevitable conclusion once looked like nuclear holocaust, end of story. Then along comes something like Judge Dredd ( http://www.2000adonline.com/index.php3?zone=thrill&page=profiles&choice=dredd) which says "OK, so it happens. Then what? Because people will still be around in some shape or form." I find that quite inspiring. I suppose it's about a sense of possibilities.
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the future will, in many ways be just like the past! we can remember it!
Ever read Childhood's End by Arthur C Clarke, Helen (or anyone)? Nice bit in there about why we have a particular image of the Devil - related to the circularity of time.
And that reminds me of another "what would people do with limitless power" story - Dancers At The End Of Time by good old Michael Moorcock. A recommended read.
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NY has had a few black out.. every few years we are reminded about life with out electricity, for a few hoursWe often call them "power cuts", which is interesting as it may go back to Trade Union actions and the WInter of Discontent... but there's a serious digression  I think it's frightening how close we all are to chaos when the power goes. Being out in the country, my family is reasonably well-prepared for power cuts, but if the power were off for more than, say, 8 hours, we'd start having real difficulties. Freezer contents defrost, can't use the main ovens.. mind you, that ain't life or death, as we could still use the (propane gas) hob. Hmmm, maybe a fuel crisis would be worse. I suppose you always adapt as required.
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Ever read Childhood's End by Arthur C Clarke, Helen (or anyone)? Nice bit in there about why we have a particular image of the Devil - related to the circularity of time.
A great and haunting story. Forgot that part about circularity of time.
k
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Pooh-Bah
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Futuring the present can not only be predictive/projective but productive. General Motors' "Futurama" pavillion at the 192[9] World's Fair is a case in point. In it, GM presented an image of a United States built around the automobile. It was by far the most popular attraction at the fair. The reality may not be altogether like the dazzle, but the dazzle certainly played its part in the advancement of it.
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Carpal Tunnel
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wasn't that the 1939 world fair? --
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>Childhood's End by Arthur C Clarke
Forgot that part about circularity of time
Remember what the aliens looked like, FF? There's a suggestion that their presence at the End (of Mankind) is so powerful and significant it "bounces round" to the Beginning and resides with us as a racial memory, i.e. infinite future = infinite past (or just infinity=infinity, I suppose..)
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