why is it that...?

[gofaster]

Ever notice that the closer we get to the world envisioned by sci-fi writers in the 30's, 40's, 50's, and 60's, the greater the market for "ancient history" sci-fi becomes?  Conan, Red Sonja, Dragonlance, etc. are examples of a growing market for this type of Fantasy sci-fi.

[gofaster]

Originally posted by DmdMac
Star Trek had hand helds that could communicate over long distance(cell phones)

Also, the tricorder as a smaller version of today's laptop computer.

Funny story you guys might enjoy:

I work in the legal department of a tech company, and most of the people in my department had backgrounds in business and law, not computer technology.  When the company I work for first started issuing employees desktop PCs as work tools,  I was the only one with a home PC that knew how a PC worked.  An addiction to "Air Warrior" had prompted me to continuously upgrade my home system to keep pace with the new AW versions, so I had practical hands-on experience with a lot of the hardware and software mods.

Anyway, I became the informal PC support contact, simply because I was sitting right next to everybody and the official pro desktop support was inconvenient.  You can imagine the types of questions that were being asked, from a department of a dozen new computer users.  It was becoming irritating to me.

So at lunch I skeedaddled down to my local ToysRUs store and picked up a toy tricorder that lit up and made the beeps and sound effects from the show "Star Trek: The Next Generation".  



Sure enough, as soon as I got back to my desk a female coworker comes up to me and says  "Hey, GoFaster, I'm having a problem with Windows opening up this file.  Can you help me?"  So I grab my tricorder and head over to her machine, press a switch to make the "weedleweedleweedle" noise, then another switch that goes "beep.  beepbeep.  beep."

"Well, I've got some bad news for ya on this one.  According to my reading, I'm picking up a magnetic anomaly centrally located in and around the keyboard area.  Have you touched or handled anything magnetic recently?"

"Well, I knocked off a refrigerator magnet this morning and picked it up.  Is that it?"

"That's probably it.  The best thing for you to do would be to avoid using your keyboard for an hour or so until the magnetism wears off.  Just use your mouse for now and avoid touching the keyboard as much as possible."

One second, two second, to let her think about it a bit, then...

"and you might also try clicking Start, then Find, and doing a search to see where the file was saved."

[vorticon]

i cant make any connections about science fiction 'predictions' and stuff we have now...though ive mostly only read heinlen and niven when it comes to science fiction...anyway its best not to take these sorts of things seriously...

gofaster i beleive those things are commonly referred to as fantasy...conan the destroyer red sonja and dragonlance ARE NOT science fantasy...just straight fantasy

science fantasy is more along the lines of piers anthonys incarnations of immortality series

[Udie]

Where's my dang briefcase that turns into a car?  Where's my fancy moving sidewalks?  Where's my cool little gadget that when you press a button it gives you a shower, dresses you and cooks breakfast?


I WANT THEM NOW!!!

[Habu]

Originally posted by Udie
Where's my dang briefcase that turns into a car?  Where's my fancy moving sidewalks?  Where's my cool little gadget that when you press a button it gives you a shower, dresses you and cooks breakfast?


I WANT THEM NOW!!!

That device was pulled from the market because when the bed folds up like a toaster and spits you out of the top some people were banging their head on the ceiling and they might have sued the manufacturer.