Open Future Friday - Jet packs and Draft picks
by Dave Clark on Jan 6, 2012 12:54 PM PST
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PrintWith all the MLS SuperDraft chatter that this the next Taylor Twellman and that player being the next Steve Ralston it helps me think about hopeful visions of the future. In sports the Draft, the Minors and Academies give eternal hope that any player can become the next big thing. Quite similar to predictions of the future in essay or fiction, these hopes often fall short. We don't have common flying cars or jet packs. We do have tablet computers that make tri-corders seem simplistic. We don't have the "metaverse" and yet we see the emergence of on-demand TV entertainment in ways that Gibson, Sterling and Stephenson could not foresee.
The future is a funny thing. We all wind up living in it. We can never predict it with 100% accuracy. What we do predict as being hopeful turns out dark, the darkness becomes a path to something soothing. Often we project a future that we want - for a player, a technology or a social change - and ignore how difficult it will be to get there.
Some live and love by the cutting edge, others just off of that. While mainstream society gets shocked by the pace of change. Still I dream of teleportation, time-holes and great beer that doesn't take months of effort.
What are your favorite projections of the future?
This is your weekly open thread.
FanPosts only represent the opinions of the poster, not of Sounder at Heart.
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Energy independent houses and a great metro train network for the sound.
by DaveValleDrinkNight on Jan 6, 2012 1:15 PM PST reply actions
I dream of better trains
Light rail type system around the sound with a high speed rail that gets me fom Eugene to North Vancouver BC
Also, water taxis on Lake Washington
I am not a Supporter | I am not a Fan | I am a Sounder
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I heart light rails (that's a verb now, right?)
but down here in Portland there is a trend of diverting transportation funding from bus lines that serve underprivileged communities to expanding light rail lines that operate through affluent and gentrifying areas.
In the future I hope that moral ambiguity and tough decisions are antiquated by our robotic overlords.
Also, I hope, that in the future I live in Seattle instead of Portland.
by gee dub on Jan 6, 2012 2:22 PM PST up reply actions 6 recs
Good to see another Sounders supporter behind enemy lines.
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Staff writer for Managing Madrid & Sounder At Heart
You poor soul...
Nevermind, I take back the car thing and replace it with this guy ending his suffering and moving north.
Go banana!
Yes!
It would open up the solar system. Waiting for the first Martian soccer league…
by Zakuani11Fan on Jan 6, 2012 10:26 PM PST via mobile up reply actions
Vacuum tube mag lev trains
Coast to Coast in an hour
by moyerLIVES on Jan 6, 2012 2:23 PM PST via mobile reply actions
Like East Coast to Europe? Or US Coasts?
Nos audietis in somniis, Nos audietis in altum: You will hear us!
All right!! No East Coast bias here!
Nos audietis in somniis, Nos audietis in altum: You will hear us!
Math!
Obviously the absolute velocity doesn’t matter so what we’re mostly concerned about is whether the acceleration allowing for travelling an average of 2400mph for an hour is reasonable.
So, would the acceleration be ok? Well we know that a jet liner accelerates at about .2g for the initial takeoff, lets call that our maximum acceptable acceleration to keep the math super easy we’ll call 1g 10m/s^2 (please don’t kill me physics teacher) which means that .2g is 2m/s^2. Because acceleration is awesome (!) it would only take about 9 minutes to reach a speed that would get us across the country in an hour – maybe ten minutes if we wanted to reach a higher top speed so as to allow for slower acceleration at the other end since the seats will be facing the wrong way.
It would be a super lame 10 minutes (a jet liner takes off in what, ten seconds?) of sitting in your seat but I think it proves that the ride (if possible) could be made acceptably comfortable.
by gee dub on Jan 6, 2012 3:58 PM PST up reply actions 1 recs
That's all well and good if you are traveling in an exactly straight line
But even if your speed is a constant 2400 mph, but you’d have to have really, really gradual curves in the line to keep your acceleration in the curves from being an issue. Cresting hills could also be an issue. These issues could probably be overcome, but even something like 800 mph would probably be a lot easier while being spectacularly fast.
Well the entire thing already is a gigantic tunnel by definition
Curves wouldn’t be a massive problem if you already were digging underneath the hills you would need to go around.
I met a possum.
by s0merand0mdude on Jan 6, 2012 9:01 PM PST up reply actions
Which is why it's more of pipe dream.
sigh
I met a possum.
by s0merand0mdude on Jan 7, 2012 5:14 PM PST up reply actions
Bought a Damnation (Russian River)
I’ve heard fantastic things about the brewery… any other suggestions for beers to get from there or other brewers to try?
Wdmer has a RyePA that I've enjoyed lately.
I am not a Supporter | I am not a Fan | I am a Sounder
Sounder At Heart | Follow Dave on Twitter @bedirthan
cant say enough how much I love Ranger IPA from New Belgium
If you like IPAs that is.
by chrisperry1983 on Jan 6, 2012 6:49 PM PST via mobile up reply actions
A car that's powered by my own smug sense of self satisfaction
My apologies to The Simpsons, but that needs to happen. Also: food tablets sometimes I’m in too much to a hurry to bother with the whole preparing, cooking, sitting down, eating portion of gaining sustenance.
Go banana!
Solyent green tastes like Chicken.
Nos audietis in somniis, Nos audietis in altum: You will hear us!
I know not everyone on a soccer forum may care
but I miss the NBA in this town and would love to see it back here one day.
The return of THIERRY
I used to miss it
I’d enjoy it when it comes back
But I won’t work for it to return.
I am not a Supporter | I am not a Fan | I am a Sounder
Sounder At Heart | Follow Dave on Twitter @bedirthan
This is probably more rumor
But on the news a couple weeks ago, there was a big report and supposed upcoming proposal from a hedge fund manager in San Fran who has ties to Seattle? Would entail a new sodo stadium.
by chrisperry1983 on Jan 6, 2012 6:47 PM PST via mobile up reply actions
The Christopher Hansen story is much more than rumor.
The article here just before Christmas was pretty substantial.
Nos audietis in somniis, Nos audietis in altum: You will hear us!
I don't like the current incarnation of the NBA.
I’ll welcome it back gladly if it isn’t run by David Stern, because I love the sport of basketball, but that league has some serious management problems.
I met a possum.
by s0merand0mdude on Jan 6, 2012 9:03 PM PST up reply actions
Universal translators, space colonies, and interstellar travel
One of these is inevitable and might happen within my lifetime. Interstellar travel is probable, but probably not for awhile. I have no idea about translators, but I’d love to have one.
Space stations/colonies for me
That would be my ultimate (realistic within my lifetime) dream. I would do anything to be able to work and live in space or on mars, somthing along those lines.
by Adam Waltering on Jan 7, 2012 3:52 PM PST up reply actions
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