vise77 / January 11, 2010 12:12 PM

Generally, more respect for science and less religious silliness.

As well, Mars landings and solar power (remember the push by Carter way back when) and the continued existence of the USSR.

Also expected a black president, but thought a woman president would come first.

Carrie / January 11, 2010 1:02 PM

The Jetsons-- I really thought we'd be living just like the Jetsons.

? / January 11, 2010 1:16 PM

I thought I'd have a stellar girlfriend by now. And whole meals in pill form.

Mucky Fingers / January 11, 2010 1:19 PM

My childhood vision of the future was informed by whatever was projected in movies and cartoons. Hovercraft cars, taxis to outer space, and pills that bloom into full meals when microwaved.

eee / January 11, 2010 1:54 PM

I'll be the third to say "meals in pill form" in one way or another. I also thought we'd all have robot butlers.

All said and done, it's still pretty awesome where we are, even without flying cars. My grandma is 101, and just trying to explain to her what the Internet is blows her mind.

A. Lewellen / January 11, 2010 3:46 PM

I don't know when I stopped wondering about when I would get my rocket pack or personal robot assistant but I have and it's been at least a few years. In it's place I now have a respectable sense of awe and wonder at the amazing stuff we already have. I consciously decided to not speculate on the next mind blowing technological development to be ushered down the commerce pipe and use my imagination for other things. If the last 20 years is any indication we'd all better hold on to our hats.

V / January 11, 2010 5:20 PM

I'd expect more teleportation. There should be a pipe somewhere I can duck into to get me to another land.

Justin / January 11, 2010 7:20 PM

I expected cars to drive themselves, reading markings or frequencies embedded in the road, thinking this would prevent collisions. I wanted a hoverboard but I figured it would mean putting magnets in the sidewalks and streets and that seemed expensive. After CDs, I thought albums would come first on a computer chip and then through the air (like radio, but you'd choose and keep the songs). I pictured myself with a full head of hair, a wife, children, drawing for a living, in a modest house, surrounded by trees.

Steven / January 12, 2010 4:29 AM

I was a kid when The Jetsons premiered on primetime. That sums it up. I was so surprised that first day when the schoolbus pulled up. Not at all what I was led to expect. From then on life just seemed one big lie.

Dan / January 12, 2010 3:35 PM

My vision was of a clean future world with metal walls and minimalist and streamlined furnishing.

I also had the silly idea that we'd all have a lot more leisure time due to all of the technology and automization. No more jobs, but in a good way.

Spook / January 12, 2010 4:05 PM

Man, I could've sworn, that I was gonna be cold strapped with a
blaster like Hansolo had.

And an all purpose Road to Air Vespa with turbo-laser cannons on the bottom and and sides!

Cletus Warhol / January 12, 2010 4:41 PM

The future looks pretty much like it's supposed to. For example, think about what a Honda Prius (or one of those funky crossover vehicles) would have looked like to you 20 years ago, probably pretty futuristic. And if you time traveled back to 1976 with an Iphone and a laptop, you probably would have been stoned to death as a witch in the hick town I grew up in (perhaps that's a bit of an exaggeration).

And most of the dystopic sci-fi predictions from my childhood (limited resources, growing environmental degradation, corporate oligarchies using technology and hedonism to pacify an increasingly vapid and pliable public, new virulent disease strains, etc. etc.) have come true. Just read Margaret Atwood's two most recent novels if you want to know what things will look like in another decade or so.

BTW- Could you imagine what a clusterf*ck it would be if every idiot who had the money could get a hovercar or jetpack? That's one futuristic development I can definitely live without. Not that the limited resources, corporate oligarchies and such are any picnic; but at least I don't have to worry about being crushed by some douchebag's hovercar or being fried by a jetpack.

mikely / January 14, 2010 3:57 PM

... corporate oligarchies using technology and hedonism to pacify an increasingly vapid and pliable public ...

Calm down Cletus. At least we haven't devolved into a place where the president's state of the union address is resceduled because it would've pre-empted a TV show.

Oh, wait.