This is the future!?

Opteron_Man · 02-15-2009, 01:52 AM

I read this line along time ago.
Hobbes: "A new decade is coming up (1990)."
Calvin: "Yeah, big deal! Hmph. Where are the flying cars? Where are the moon colonies? Where are the personal robots and the zero-gravity boots, huh? You call this a new decade?! You call this the future?? HA! Where are the rocket packs? Where are the disintegration rays? Where are the floating cities?"

He is right! It still applies to today! Unfortunatly.

I am grossed out how everything is so shoddily made!
Desks are made of cheap fiberboard that breaks and flexes. Cars crumple like tincans. Back then, stuff was made out of REAL wood and THICK Steel with sturdy paints and finishes.
Electronics have crappy motors and thin plastic cases. They are most times unfixable when they break. They charge you an arm and a leg to fix it, so it is often cheaper to toss it in the trash and buy a new one, and that is what too many people do! I can't really blaim them.
The way stuff was made decades ago was so good. Things were designed to work and work well. When they did break down, they were designed to be fixed!
Now, everything is slapped together.
I even see cheap construction in some expensive stuff. What a shame.

A good example is the fact that this old stuff is still here today and most of it WORKS STILL!
I really can't imagine much stuff like lamps, cd players, ECT made today
being functional in 50 years. No way, Unless it was vacuum packed and stored away and never used!

I will use my two vacuum cleaners as one example.
I have one that was made decades ago, it works beautifully!
It is constructed of steel and cast aluminum. It seamed that the only plastic
on the thing was the label for the company who made it!
The motor is built like a goddamn tank!
In the christmas of 2007, I recieved a brand new Hoover.
I liked it because it is an upright and I don't have to drag the old one around like a ball and chain. But, this machine is a hunk of flimsy plastic!
It had only been a few mones before some of the plastic parts behan wearing out!!!!

The other example is my computers in my collection.
My "main" computer is new. I built it in 2008. A quad core pig with 4 GB of ram!
I was enraged when it's 320 GB drive died and I lost 80 GB of data.
I replaced it quick with a 250 GB drive and it failed too. It has a new 500 GB drive in it now.
I am pissed off beyond words because I have a Mac in the corner that is from 1994 and it is working PERFECTLY! Probably still has the original HD in it too.
I have a Pentium 1 IBM from 1996 that is still running sweet, and playing MP3s and doing it's job. No problems what so ever!

In the mid 1990's when I was a little kid, I marveled at what the world woould be like then the new century rolled around. I imagined miracal cures for cancer and AIDS, no more gas burning cars, cheap ligtning fast and reliable computers that you could hold in your hand, a colony on the moon, and people cruising to work in flying saucer. When 2000 came around, I was crushed by what I didn't see. Sure there have been breakthoughs but not like I expected.

I know that it would be expensive to build stuff the way it was back 50 years ago, but think of this:
If things lasted, then there would be MUCH less "junk" going to the landfills.

Godslayer Jillian · 02-15-2009, 01:58 AM

Fuck commodity, what I want is social progress rather than economic progress.
Give me an average subsistence wage, but allow me time to hang out and fall on a stupor with entirely new people and I will be fucking happy to be in Utopia. That's the future I want. Except I'd probably be a teacher.

Opteron_Man · 02-15-2009, 01:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Godslayer Jillian

Fuck commodity, what I want is social progress rather than economic progress.
Give me an average subsistence wage, but allow me time to hang out and fall on a stupor with entirely new people and I will be fucking happy to be in Utopia. That's the future I want. Except I'd probably be a teacher.

I agree, but I am ranting about this one thing.

Bete Noire · 02-15-2009, 02:09 AM

I've seen the future, brother. It is murder....

JCC · 02-15-2009, 03:44 AM

If you make things last, people don't have to buy new ones. That's not good for business.

Scareebowfairy · 02-15-2009, 06:27 AM

It won't be good for the future if the earth runs out of resources.

Underwater Ophelia · 02-15-2009, 07:00 AM

Cars crumple so the humans don't you goddamn idiot.

Desks are made of fiberboard to avoid cutting more trees for solid oak desks.

Scareebowfairy · 02-15-2009, 07:16 AM

Actually, these days, the new shiny tin cars take the humans with them.

Underwater Ophelia · 02-15-2009, 07:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scareebowfairy

Actually, these days, the new shiny tin cars take the humans with them.

You're missing the point entirely.

Underwater Ophelia · 02-15-2009, 07:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Opteron_Man

In the mid 1990's when I was a little kid, I marveled at what the world woould be like then the new century rolled around. I imagined miracal cures for cancer and AIDS, no more gas burning cars, cheap ligtning fast and reliable computers that you could hold in your hand, a colony on the moon, and people cruising to work in flying saucer. When 2000 came around, I was crushed by what I didn't see. Sure there have been breakthoughs but not like I expected.

I know that it would be expensive to build stuff the way it was back 50 years ago, but think of this:
If things lasted, then there would be MUCH less "junk" going to the landfills.

So you're saying that you're angry because you don't understand the progression of technology and have an overactive imagination?

viscus · 02-15-2009, 08:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Underwater Ophelia

Cars crumple so the humans don't you goddamn idiot.

Thank you for pointing this out. Back in the 50's when they built cars really solid with lots of steel and there were accidents, the cars wouldn't have a dent but the people inside would be pulverized into chunky salsa.

jack_the_knife · 02-15-2009, 08:26 AM

I want humanity to evolve into something better.

Underwater Ophelia · 02-15-2009, 08:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jack_the_knife

I want humanity to evolve into something better.

Yeah, so let's start with these damn plastic vacuums!

Despanan · 02-15-2009, 09:37 AM

Holy shit.

I'm actually offended that Opteron Man used something as beautiful as Calvin & Hobbes to make a statement as retarded as the sentiment of this thread. That's like taking a shit on a Faberge Egg.

Not only did he walk away from the strip with the exact opposite idea of what that strip was about, he clearly has no fucking clue as to what he's even talking about. As Ophie said, you get in a car-wreak in one of those old, "Sturdy" Metal and wood cars you will be LIQUIFIED.

As for the rest of you dumb bastards pining for the "technology" of a bygone era. Fucking stop it. You sound like republicans getting all nostalgic for the nineteen-fifties. This past that you believe in, where things were always cheap, sturdy, and repairable. Where morons like you skipped in stream driven oil-fountains to the tunes of The Birthday Party NEVER FUCKING HAPPENED. It's a goddamn fantasy that your infantile minds have concocted for some fucktarded reason unknown to anyone with two brain-cells to rub together. You are essentially pining for the Industrial Revolution. Enjoy your fourteen-hours a day in a fucking factory. Enjoy your paycheck of pennies and coal. Hell why don't we go get nostalgic about slavery while we're at it? Handpicked cotton was so much better than the mass-produced shill we have today wasn't it?

Dumbasses.

KontanKarite · 02-15-2009, 09:45 AM

SLAVEPUNK!!!

Opteron...

You know what. So many of you are broken. Broken. It's like you fractured your brains and can only smell almonds.

Opteron... PLEASE get into one of those old steel cars and drive at a brick wall as fast as you fucking can. Just...

Opteron_Man · 02-15-2009, 09:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Underwater Ophelia

Cars crumple so the humans don't you goddamn idiot.

Don't call me that. I do realize that the reason why the cars crumple is to SAVE the occupants! It is to absorb the impact. Someone I knew was talking to someone else and he knocked his fist against his front fender and it left a big dent. That is what I was talking about okay?

KontanKarite · 02-15-2009, 10:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Opteron_Man

Don't call me that. I do realize that the reason why the cars crumple is to SAVE the occupants! It is to absorb the impact. Someone I knew was talking to someone else and he knocked his fist against his front fender and it left a big dent. That is what I was talking about okay?

So why the fuck would you say what you just said you dumb FUCK.

You just Chose to engage in stupidity.

Fuck you. You are garbage. You are HOT GARBAGE.

Underwater Ophelia · 02-15-2009, 10:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Opteron_Man

Don't call me that. I do realize that the reason why the cars crumple is to SAVE the occupants! It is to absorb the impact. Someone I knew was talking to someone else and he knocked his fist against his front fender and it left a big dent. That is what I was talking about okay?

First of all, that's bullshit, and second of all, if it's to save lives, what's the problem?

Opteron_Man · 02-15-2009, 10:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Underwater Ophelia

So you're saying that you're angry because you don't understand the progression of technology and have an overactive imagination?

No, you are really far off. I am annoyed that things that are made in the past few years fall apart, while antiques are standing tall. People are dying of diseases that should have been cured long ago.

If you can't glean that from what I said, just leave this thread. I am sick of you shooting me down, what is your problem?

Opteron_Man · 02-15-2009, 10:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KontanKarite

So why the fuck would you say what you just said you dumb FUCK.

You just Chose to engage in stupidity.

Fuck you. You are garbage. You are HOT GARBAGE.

You don't make much sense, you think I am stupid and a bunch of other things, so why the fuck do you even open the thread I make huh?
Why waste your time? I asked a question, why are things built so cheaply when it is not nessesary? Nevermind, YOU are the fucking fool, not me. You are just trying to bring me down, why? I don't know.

Opteron_Man · 02-15-2009, 10:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Underwater Ophelia

First of all, that's bullshit, and second of all, if it's to save lives, what's the problem?

I am all fore saving lives sure, but when trim on the dashboard falls apart,
when the hinge on the glove box is made of plastic and breaks that is
when I wonder why it couldn't be better.

Opteron_Man · 02-15-2009, 10:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Despanan

Holy shit.

I'm actually offended that Opteron Man used something as beautiful as Calvin & Hobbes to make a statement as retarded as the sentiment of this thread. That's like taking a shit on a Faberge Egg.

Not only did he walk away from the strip with the exact opposite idea of what that strip was about, he clearly has no fucking clue as to what he's even talking about. As Ophie said, you get in a car-wreak in one of those old, "Sturdy" Metal and wood cars you will be LIQUIFIED.

As for the rest of you dumb bastards pining for the "technology" of a bygone era. Fucking stop it. You sound like republicans getting all nostalgic for the nineteen-fifties. This past that you believe in, where things were always cheap, sturdy, and repairable. Where morons like you skipped in stream driven oil-fountains to the tunes of The Birthday Party NEVER FUCKING HAPPENED. It's a goddamn fantasy that your infantile minds have concocted for some fucktarded reason unknown to anyone with two brain-cells to rub together. You are essentially pining for the Industrial Revolution. Enjoy your fourteen-hours a day in a fucking factory. Enjoy your paycheck of pennies and coal. Hell why don't we go get nostalgic about slavery while we're at it? Handpicked cotton was so much better than the mass-produced shill we have today wasn't it?

Dumbasses.

Wrong! Well you are really three quarters wrong. I know why the frame is build with more 'give' and flex then the stuff in the 50's. It is to save people in a violent collision.

I wasn't talking about the comic strip; I just saw that quote on the internet somewhere. Don't compare me with the republicans! Don't do it.

Your mentioning of slavery is wrong, out of line and over the top.

As before, my question I pose is distorted and misinterpreted.
I have no idea why I am still surprised that you guys are so closed minded.

KontanKarite · 02-15-2009, 10:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Opteron_Man

You don't make much sense, you think I am stupid and a bunch of other things, so why the fuck do you even open the thread I make huh?
Why waste your time? I asked a question, why are things built so cheaply when it is not nessesary? Nevermind, YOU are the fucking fool, not me. You are just trying to bring me down, why? I don't know.

You know why I give you a hard time? You know why I don't like you? Because you're BETTER than what you're doing. YOU just CHOOSE to be a fool. You can be so much more than you are, but you revel in mediocrity as if somehow bleached up tee shirts and bad top hats will open some deep seeded liberation of the soul for you.

You're either fucking BROKEN and an idiot, or you're a seemingly intelligent person who simply made a few stupid choices. FIX yourself and you wont be fucking intellectually ransacked every time you dance your stubby fingers on a keyboard.

JUST FUCKING STOP.

Opteron_Man · 02-15-2009, 10:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Underwater Ophelia

So you're saying that you're angry because you don't understand the progression of technology and have an overactive imagination?

No, I am happy that things are more advanced, faster and safer but that things seem to be so flimsy at times. I am currently typing on a model-m keyboard made in the late 80's. 90% of the keyboards today are NOT built like that. Never mind. Just never mind.

Duane · 02-15-2009, 10:34 AM

Plenty of room for improvements, yes. You just have to be patient.