110 / Remember 2001 A Space Odyssey?
It is my favourite movie ever, I watch it every time it comes to the cinema. Made in 1968, the story makes many predictions about what technology will have in store for us in the new millennium.
At least one of those predictions has come true. In the film an American scientist visits a moon station for a meeting. Before the meeting starts a photographer records every person present - with a device that appears to be similar to a modern day digital camera. But other predicted technological advances are elusive.
The movie is referenced in a TIME story The Boring Age as part of the series 10 Ideas For The Next 10 Years (I wrote about a different one of the ten ideas before.) In this article the point is made that progress in the past few decades has not been as rapid and influential as many believe - and I am one of those believers. I always thought that our current age is one of ground-breaking, revolutionary, influential and speedy (especially speedy) technological advances; I would cite the internet - and electronics in general - as examples.
But nothing that has come about in the past 100 years has been as revolutionary as, for instance, the invention of the steam engine, gasoline or diesel engines or steam turbines in the 1880s or 1890s. Or the telephone (1876). Or the radio (1885). Or the electric light bulb (in the 1800s) and indeed the invention of the humble tap water facility and indoor plumbing (at the same time), which brought not just convenience to households, but enormous public health benefits. Hmmm.