Things They Promised Us Kids

[Ulu]

Since I was a little kid in 1959, just starting school, they promised us 4 things I remember distinctly:


--The end of metal coins. (Too heavy, expensive and dirty!)

--Vending machines everywhere. (Kept the metal coins around...huh...Nobody saw that?)

--Free Public School on the TV for everyone. (no more winter hiking and desert bussing!)

--Flying cars that run on atomic energy. (And don't crash into a mushroom cloud of radioactive debris.)


Over 60 years they've had and what did we get?


-New commemorative coins every week & cheap little zinc coins for eveyday.

-Cheap 24/7/365 pornography

-Speedmetal and rap "music"

-the pet rock


Guys, I'm just getting too old to wait much longer. I'd planned a glorious career stealing vending machines with my flying car!

Without any metal coins inside, they'd be light enough to fly around to my secret lair.

All the school kids would see it on TV too!
Nobody would ever go there to find me due to the megawatt sound system playing continual, horrible, loud, rhythmic, angry, screaming and cursing, metal clashing and screeching and awful crazy beating drum noises late at light. I expected it to be very unpopular. So awful, you couldn't pay people to go there!

Then the world turned upside down and I was foiled.

 

[TwoHedWlf]

Since I was a little kid in 1959, just starting school, they promised us 4 things I remember distinctly:


--The end of metal coins. (Too heavy, expensive and dirty!)

Just since I've moved here several of the low denomination coins have been eliminated and cash has become almost obsolete. I don't think I've used it in 2 years.

--Flying cars that run on atomic energy. (And don't crash into a mushroom cloud of radioactive debris.)

Not flying or nuclear, unfortunately, but we have cars that run on water.

-Cheap 24/7/365 pornography

That's a bad thing?

 

[twentyleagues]

Yeah I'd have thought the 24/7/365 cheap porn would have trumped all those other things.

 

[Magnus_Bane]

Just since I've moved here several of the low denomination coins have been eliminated and cash has become almost obsolete. I don't think I've used it in 2 years.



Not flying or nuclear, unfortunately, but we have cars that run on water.



That's a bad thing?

We got cars that can hover 6ft above the ground, so doesn't that count as flying cars? Lol even tho no one here could even dream of owning a several million dollar car that isn't even street legal anyways.

 

[Backfromthedead]

I dont think i wouldve made it my thirty years without the so called speed metal. Give me black, thrash, death, grind...you can keep the flying car lol.

 

[Ogertron3000]

I was born in the 70s so all through childhood we had "wait until the year 2000" drummed into us. Was meant to be a utopia of technology, there was even a TV show called "Beyond 2000" which predicted all the great things we would soon have, I cant remeber how accurate it was. Might youtube it if im bored.
One thing I clearly recall was a teacher in late 80s early high school saying newspapers would be obsolete and you would have a device the same size as a sheet of A4 paper and you would take that to the newsagents every morning and they would load the daily news onto it. Not a bad guess and pretty close to an ipad or other tablet. Besides that I am generally disappointed with the promises made to the reality of life in the 21st century.

 

[jjohnwm]

I distinctly recall sitting in class in the 4th grade back around 1970, and listening to Miss Wilson, one of the better teachers I had back in school. When speaking to the class she addressed us as "you people", a distinct improvement over most of the teachers who would probably have chosen "you critters" or "you idiots" if they could have gotten away with it.

On the occasion in question, she was discussing the world that we would grow up to. She talked about space travel, medical advances and unimaginable advanced technology...all of which came true, at least by the standards of the day. She also mentioned limitless clean power, the end of war, lifespans measured in hundreds of years and a few other things that didn't quite work out.

But the one thing that really hit me was her comment that by the time we were in the work force, we would be working no more than 3 or at most 4 days per week, because technology would have made life so easy and also because humanity would have matured enough to appreciate life as a joyful thing rather than an excuse to work ourselves to death.

What a load of crap that turned out to be!

 

[Ulu]

I dont think i wouldve made it my thirty years without the so called speed metal. Give me black, thrash, death, grind...you can keep the flying car lol.

Ummm....that's all just different shades of black to me. If you don't find it all oppressive, welcome to the machine.....

I was born in the 70s so all through childhood we had "wait until the year 2000" drummed into us . . .

My two problems as a child were myopia and old age. I knew I'd need 20/20 eyes to fly and I didn't
Also I knew by 2000 we'd have moon-flights and I'd be 45. No 40+ year old astronauts existed. It was unthinkable!

Now we had Glen go back at 77!

Also my myopia is fixed by lens transplants. It's not 100% but I can fly without eyeglasses. I can see 20/15 with glasses.

 

[esoxlucius]

I distinctly recall sitting in class in the 4th grade back around 1970, and listening to Miss Wilson, one of the better teachers I had back in school. When speaking to the class she addressed us as "you people", a distinct improvement over most of the teachers who would probably have chosen "you critters" or "you idiots" if they could have gotten away with it.

On the occasion in question, she was discussing the world that we would grow up to. She talked about space travel, medical advances and unimaginable advanced technology...all of which came true, at least by the standards of the day. She also mentioned limitless clean power, the end of war, lifespans measured in hundreds of years and a few other things that didn't quite work out.

But the one thing that really hit me was her comment that by the time we were in the work force, we would be working no more than 3 or at most 4 days per week, because technology would have made life so easy and also because humanity would have matured enough to appreciate life as a joyful thing rather than an excuse to work ourselves to death.

What a load of crap that turned out to be!

No wonder she was talking rubbish, it was 1970, she was probably only just getting her head straight after her "activities" in the loved up 60's. Lol.

 

[Backfromthedead]

Ummm....that's all just different shades of black to me. If you don't find it all oppressive, welcome to the machine.....

I dont follow. You find my preferred music oppressive by its nature?

I'll tell you what i find oppressive: expectations, judgement, narrowmindedness, preachiness...hallmarks of an older demographic that for some reason thinks they got everything figured out.

I dont intend to be rude or offensive, merely debating a point. But dont you find yourself somewhat responsible for the lack of the clean energy, flying cars, space travel, or medical advancements? After all, its been your generation running the show these last several decades. Did you expect these things to happen on their own? Why turn the blame to the younger generation's choice in music, hairstyles, or sexual deviance as the scapegoat for the perceived stagnation?