Ok when you think of how the future of space travel is going to end up do you think of how people from......?

Question

the 50's or 60's thought the future would be and wonder just how accurate your idea of the future will be seen?

Answer 1

they thought we'd be in flying cars by now, but instead we have computers 100000x faster than they imagined. so regarding space travel, i think most people think we will have landed on mars in the relatively near future, but with the gov't diverting funds from NASA  to welfare, i think it will be put on the back burner and we may launch another probe to mars but i don't think we will set foot there any time soon. with more high-speed networks and computers with vast cpu cycles to spare, programs liek seti@home and einstein@home might be paving the way for a huge program that can make a lot of discoveries

oh, flying cars, robot butlers? there's a company called "Terrafugia" that is making a flying car, it drives like a car but can fold its wings out and fly too. it costs $200,000. robot butlers i don't think will really come to fruition because robots are to reduce costs (like robot car builders vs human car builders) but for butlers, you can get  a maid to do everything for you for waaaay cheaper than a robot. .. now, robot s*x dolls are a much more realistic possibility for today's society.

Answer 2

I go back to the late 40's and can remember, in the first grade, being anxious to get home and turn on the radio.  I loved Straight Arrow.  The following year we bought a B&W zenith TV.  TVs are much better now but we seemed to have a lot of fun with it back then.  I can remember clearly when no one had been above the atmosphere and followed the space program from Sputnik til today.  I got to work on my first computer at the University of New Hampshire in 1962.  Here is a picture (157K) that shows the equipment (IBM 1401) we used. Not included are the card punch set ups. That's another couple desk size pieces of equipment.

http://www.columbia.edu/acis/history/140  We were taking Numerical Analysis, grad level course.  Fortran, and I guess even Numerical Analysis has fallen victim to modern computers as there are point and click programs to do those types of problems.  We actually computed stuff, I don't compute much of anything on my laptop...lol

I guess we all get to live through some actual gain of technology but they are few and far between.  The internet is neat as I love looking up stuff and it is a lot faster than getting out the ole encyclopedia.

Lights are the same (click, light comes on), heating (click, heat comes on) is the same, personal transportation is the same, the price of everything is sure gone up,

I just heard we have delayed our space program after the shuttle retires and will not have a way of even going to the ISS for about five years.  The Russians will keep it supplied.

I think the other answer above hit it on the head, the future will look a lot like the past, actually I think it will look a lot like the present.

Some of the first jobs I had seemed more rewarding than later.  We actually built stuff and it had a purpose like in creating necessities.  We understood more of what our work was needed for.  More hands on stuff.

Oh, cell phones are pretty neat but in a sense we could always call on public (coin) phones, they were everywhere.

I don't know what could be invented that is the equivalent of going from no radio to yes radio, or no cars to yes, cars.  If you get my drift.  No airplanes to having an airplane.  Everything is such a hassle.

We spend millions trying to get a robot to act human and try to educate humans to act like robots....hey, go figure....lol

I do not seem to be able to get too excited about the present or the future compared with the excitement of the old days.  But my grandkids love all the modern stuff and some of the same stuff I loved when growing up.  I guess I must be old....sigh

Answer 3

In the 50's and 60's they were sending rockets into space - pretty much like they do now, so the basic mode of transport is the same. The space shuttle is just a variation on this. I doubt if we'll see any dramatic development in the next few years of any method of transport that is not currently known.

Answer 4

As our knowledge grows our visions of the future change!

Answer 5

The upbeat attitude that a lot of folks have in regard to the future is unjustified. The future will look a lot like the past. Fossil fuels will dry up, and the people who made the "Technology Will Save Us" bet will suddenly realize that technology doesn't work when there's nowhere to plug it in.

It will be a major revelation...until everybody (and I do mean everybody) gets the notion that they can look smart, or at least avoid looking dumb, by pretending that they knew it all along, and it was all the other people who didn't know. Man, it's going to be chic to posture as a Peak Oil Theorist in about thirty years, after it has become obvious that the Peak Oil idea is correct, and after it's way too late to do anything mitigatory.

Answer 6

well we discover new things everyday. who knows maybe we'll find out something that will revolutionize space travel. you can try to predict what will happen but you can never really be sure.

Answer 7

My view of the future in 50 or so years is a moon base with regular flights to there and missions to Mars. After Mars I think we'll be exploring other planets moon most likely Jupiter and Saturn. Flying cars would be a bad idea ,people have a hard enough time driving on land ,robot butlers no ,but robot maids YES.

Answer 8

i think as fast and small things are becoming its like we have slowed down. Military has much of the advancements and slowly gives it to the world this flying car thing? how much business will lose? Money Money