1st June 2007, 12:43 PM
This here thread should involve boring minutia that only like one person thinks would be cool. Post away, maybe.
Anyway, my main thought is this. I've been watching technology for some time now and if there's one thing I've realized, the end product of a "line" of products tends to keep the name it started with, but barely maintains the same function. We are surrounded by things with inaccurate names or names that only highlight ONE feature of a vastly more capable device.
They need to start doing that in sci-fi, that's what I'm saying. For example, we still call our phones "phones" even though that's only one thing it does. 100 years from now, they should have some vastly comlicated thing that also can be used for communication just called a "phone" and most people really don't even know why, until they watch something on the history channel about when they were primarily just used to talk to people, and phone came from "phono" or sound.
Anyway, my main thought is this. I've been watching technology for some time now and if there's one thing I've realized, the end product of a "line" of products tends to keep the name it started with, but barely maintains the same function. We are surrounded by things with inaccurate names or names that only highlight ONE feature of a vastly more capable device.
They need to start doing that in sci-fi, that's what I'm saying. For example, we still call our phones "phones" even though that's only one thing it does. 100 years from now, they should have some vastly comlicated thing that also can be used for communication just called a "phone" and most people really don't even know why, until they watch something on the history channel about when they were primarily just used to talk to people, and phone came from "phono" or sound.
"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." ~ Charles Babbage (1791-1871)