1978 to 2008

PS_RalphW · Post by **PS_RalphW** » 09 Jun 2008, 10:56

SunnyJim wrote: 8/ Better music.

No way! I was a teenager from 1975. The music was vile.

SunnyJim · Post by **SunnyJim** » 09 Jun 2008, 11:23

I wonder what lies in the future for computers?

Will they become more or less relevant to our lives? As all the JIT delivery services become un-economical, and we get used to waiting 2 weeks for that 'urgent' part or gadget to arrive, will internet shopping become less viable?

MacG · Post by **MacG** » 09 Jun 2008, 11:35

SunnyJim wrote:I wonder what lies in the future for computers?

Will they become more or less relevant to our lives? As all the JIT delivery services become un-economical, and we get used to waiting 2 weeks for that 'urgent' part or gadget to arrive, will internet shopping become less viable?

I wonder about this also. I have no answer, more than an almost superstitious hunch that knowledge seem to have some kind of strange drive to preserve itself. I have nothing in the way of evidence, just some observations, and I might very well be wrong.

SunnyJim · Post by **SunnyJim** » 09 Jun 2008, 11:39

MacG wrote:
SunnyJim wrote:I wonder what lies in the future for computers?

Will they become more or less relevant to our lives? As all the JIT delivery services become un-economical, and we get used to waiting 2 weeks for that 'urgent' part or gadget to arrive, will internet shopping become less viable?
I wonder about this also. I have no answer, more than an almost superstitious hunch that knowledge seem to have some kind of strange drive to preserve itself. I have nothing in the way of evidence, just some observations, and I might very well be wrong.

I imagine it could be used fairly well as a form of propoganda. I wonder how much that happens currently? How much do corporations, goverments, quangos etc seek to infiltrate, 'inform', and 'test ideas' on the web?

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 09 Jun 2008, 12:13

In 1970 we had a lot of coal mines and manufacturing industry based on domestic iron and steel making and a lot of heavy industry. Fishing was important.

There are some things we are not going to return to.

Even in the details of domestic life I can't see that the future will be anything like 1970. Everything has changed and it will change again. Including music

SunnyJim · Post by **SunnyJim** » 09 Jun 2008, 12:17

RalphW wrote:
SunnyJim wrote: 8/ Better music.
No way! I was a teenager from 1975. The music was vile.

Would you rather listen to the Quo or Rhianna?

peaky2 · Post by **peaky2** » 09 Jun 2008, 14:40

RalphW wrote:
SunnyJim wrote: 8/ Better music.
No way! I was a teenager from 1975. The music was vile.

Foul lies

I was there too and the music was amazing in the 70s - unlike the 80s, 90s and 00s

Adam1 · Post by **Adam1** » 09 Jun 2008, 17:56

RalphW wrote:
SunnyJim wrote: 8/ Better music.
No way! I was a teenager from 1975. The music was vile.

Me too. But I think the music was brilliant then (well, ok, not all of it but more of it than today).

I'm not so sure about the clothes and bathroom fittings though. Back in the 90s, I remember going to a flat-warming party. The flat hadn't been touched since the 70s and the bathroom was an eye-damaging mix of chocolate brown fittings and bright orange tiles.

peaky2 · Post by **peaky2** » 09 Jun 2008, 18:17

Adam1 wrote:... I'm not so sure about the clothes and bathroom fittings though. Back in the 90s, I remember going to a flat-warming party. The flat hadn't been touched since the 70s and the bathroom was an eye-damaging mix of chocolate brown fittings and bright orange tiles.

Well, when we get to 2010 and look back at the 80s, people will be commenting on what horrors were then inflicted on people's home. I was looking for a flat to rent recently and almost every photo I saw in an agent's window clearly had laminated flooring - that will be the 'avocado bathroom suite' of the 90s/00s. That or decking.

This is part of the bigger problem with attempting to predict the future - we view everything from where we are right now, what seems OKish right now. That can be in the past or the future but it's always from the viewpoint of what seems normal now. That's why in the 60s, Star Trek didn't look like it was from the 60s. It was why when you watched Space 1999 or Mission Impossible in 1975, your first thought was not "That's so 70s!". Whatever the top TV programmes are right now, in 30 years time (assuming that people can still watch old TV programmes) the first thing they will think of Sex in the City / Doctor Who / Little Britain / Big Brother / etc is "Wow! That is so 00s".

skeptik · Post by **skeptik** » 09 Jun 2008, 18:58

RalphW wrote: I was a teenager from 1975. The music was vile.

popular music from 1978 or 2008? No contest!
For example...

J. R. Ewing · Post by **J. R. Ewing** » 09 Jun 2008, 19:42

clv101 wrote:
J. R. Ewing wrote:
clv101 wrote:1978 levels of what? I'm generally not a fan of looking backwards, we aren't going backwards in a time machine, we're going forward. It's just that forward isn't where common opinion thinks it is.
Economy

Didn't you read my post?

Besides the economy going back to 70's levels, I was also looking at unemployment, strikes, riots, etc.

I wasn't talking about 'rose tinted' summers and green meadows etc.
Economy is a very big word, encompasses an awful lot. I guess you are thinking we might see some characteristics of the 70s - like the winter of discontent?

Yes, that sort of thing but this time noy much chance of an upturn due to energy uncertainties from now on.

YogiEdwards · Post by **YogiEdwards** » 11 Jun 2008, 18:43

RalphW wrote:
SunnyJim wrote:

8/ Better music.

No way! I was a teenager from 1975. The music was vile.

Foul lies Rolling Eyes

I was there too and the music was amazing in the 70s - unlike the 80s, 90s and 00s Wink

I was interested in finding out the date of Peak Music and so conducted a scientific study.

I discovered that there was an accelerating build-up to a first peak in 1969/70. This was followed by a lull, particularly around 1974-76, analogous to Russia's post-Soviet collapse in production, only to be followed by another peak around 1979/80.

Since then we have been in relentless terminal decline, despite some important new fields coming on stream in the '80s & '90s, to the point that we're now chasing after the final dribbles which are hardly worth the effort.

Yogi

peaky2 · Post by **peaky2** » 11 Jun 2008, 23:29

YogiEdwards wrote:
RalphW wrote:
SunnyJim wrote:

8/ Better music.

No way! I was a teenager from 1975. The music was vile.

Foul lies Rolling Eyes

I was there too and the music was amazing in the 70s - unlike the 80s, 90s and 00s Wink
I was interested in finding out the date of Peak Music and so conducted a scientific study.

I discovered that there was an accelerating build-up to a first peak in 1969/70. This was followed by a lull, particularly around 1974-76, analogous to Russia's post-Soviet collapse in production, only to be followed by another peak around 1979/80.

Since then we have been in relentless terminal decline, despite some important new fields coming on stream in the '80s & '90s, to the point that we're now chasing after the final dribbles which are hardly worth the effort.

Yogi