What computers will look like in fifty years

[pokerfan]

As predicted in 1954....



And of course, the reality...

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. Why would a computer need a steering wheel?

That thing looks like the control panel for an old submarine.

[Richardo]

2. I like the 1,500 lb monitor mounted on the wall.

[Deja Q]

8. I bet it gets FOX...

:hide:

[surrealAmerican]

18. Oh, come on...

... I bet that monitor only weighs half that much.

[XemaSab]

3. To repressurize the vacuum tubes?

:P

[pokerfan]

6. To play "Need For Speed"

[hunter]

7. That's the main steam valve for the computer.

The "not yet invented" technology the scientists could never get working properly was the tiny little steam powered logic valves. But this machine was a great improvement over the trained chicken computer. The enhanced multi-chicken information processor (eMCIP) couldn't run Fortran but it did play a decent game of tic-tac-toe and was able to switch telephone calls for a small to medium size hotel. Unfortunately eMCIP smelled bad and suffered severe reliability problems, sometimes failing entirely if the chickens didn't like their trainer/caretaker or the caretaker was negligent.

[newcriminal]

17. To manage the spin in GDP.

[surrealAmerican]

19. You wouldn't want something that size in your home ...

... unless you could steer it, would you?

[GreenPartyVoter]

23. I wondered that too.

[Richardo]

24. Duh.... "Grand Theft Auto: Studebaker"?

[vadawg]

39. for grand tourismo silly

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

4. OMG, I just did a little digging around in Google

to find out why a computer would have a wheel -- and sure enough, the article is a gag and the photo IS of a submarine control panel!

http://maisonbisson.com/blog/post/10301/predicting-the-computer-of-2004-in-1954-fake/

[pokerfan]

10. The wheel is obviously intended to represent the very first computer mouse

Even though the image is a fake, it does serve to illuminate the fact that our predictions of the future are often highly inaccurate. A quote attributed to a 1949 edition of Popular Mechanics states that "Computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons." And Ken Olson, of Digital Equipment Corp is famously quoted as postulating, "There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home."

http://www.hoax-slayer.com/1954-computer.html

[Ptah]

5. Washington, D.C., Apr. 10, 2000 — A full-scale mock-up of a typical nuclear-powered submarine's

Washington, D.C., Apr. 10, 2000 — A full-scale mock-up
of a typical nuclear-powered submarine's maneuvering room
in which the ship's engineers control the power plant and
electrical and steam systems. U.S. Navy photo by
Photographer's Mate 2nd Class Tim Altevogt.
<000410-N-7495A-004> Apr. 10, 2000.


http://web.archive.org/web/20000706194955/http://www.chinfo.navy.mil/navpalib/news/news_stories/sub-centen02.html

[pokerfan]

9. Hard drive from 1956

The first moving head hard disk drive.
5 MB storage.
Average time to locate a single record was 0.6 seconds.



http://www.hoax-slayer.com/1956-hard-disk-drive.shtml
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_305_RAMAC

[kentauros]

12. Is that an internal or external drive?

:P

[pokerfan]

14. Internal, obviously

Internal to a large air-conditioned room.

[kentauros]

15. I wonder what a RAID of those would look like...

Although I have seen rooms full of just disk-drives, back when I did some cable-pulling temp work at IBM near NASA :)

That was when I learned that IBM had done an efficiency analysis on how much time was ideal to eat lunch: 42 minutes
(That was before Hitchhiker's Guide, too.)

[KillCapitalism]

34. LOL

You'd need a warehouse for it.

[hunter]

11. My favorite is this, from 1967, the computer of the future.

Mom goes shopping for clothes and dad pays for it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpq5ZmANp0k&feature=related

[deucemagnet]

13. I love the retro look,

but can it play Crysis? :evilgrin:

[pokerfan]

16. In the year 2000

A newsreel featuring amazingly accurate predictions

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJjUVIIYptE">The Astounding World of the Future (4:53)

BEST SHORT FILM - New York Comedy Film Festival

:rofl:

[Odin2005]

20. They will be in our heads, augmenting our intelligence

We will all be cyborgs, except for the fully artificial AIs walking around that are smarter than an un-enhanced human.

[Twillig]

22. When they are in our heads the optimum pickup line will be:

"Hey baby, wanna kill all humans?"

[Juche]

27. What is your timeline for that

According to people like Kurzweil, we should have nanobots in our brains by the late 2020s. However I'd be surprised if the technology is perfected by then. I would assume 2040 is a closer estimate to augmented cyborgs.

[Taitertots]

21. I love guesses about what the future is going to be like

My guesses:
A direct computer to human brain interface.
Cars will be run on super batteries or wireless power transfer.
Power plants will convert hydrogen into helium in new nuclear power plants.
Unlimited power from these will create giant scrubbers to remove excess CO2, pollution from air, and pollution from water.
The female topless movement will succeed and all topless ladies will become the new norm.

[DatManFromNawlins]

25. I bet in 20 years...

... the average computer will be very much like an iPhone, yet it will also include some sort of laser-based projector system so that you can take your computer with you anywhere and work wherever you need to.

[Juche]

26. It'll probably look like a candy bar

My prediction is within 10 years with universal wireless broadband laptops will be the size of candy bars and have roll out screens and either folding or laser keyboards. It'll fit in your pocket.





It'll probably be more of a thin client than a self sustained computer though. We are almost at that point anyway with the iPhone and other tools like that.

[Xipe Totec]

28. In 50 years they will look like this

[Deja Q]

29. individually wrapped speedboats?

[Xipe Totec]

31. Er... yes. That's exactly it. Speed boats

With extra large poop decks.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

30. That was when they all figured bigger was better.

And the computers were so enormous back then that their concept is a good deal smaller.

I wonder if the steering wheel is someone's idea of a futuristic joystick.

[Xipe Totec]

32. You do know, of course, that the picture is fake.

http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/hoaxes/computer.asp

[pokerfan]

35. Yes

and so does everyone else since post #4.

[Wapsie B]

33. Even Iowa State's Atanasoff-Berry computer wasn't that big.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

36. Is that water coming up right to the window..?

:shrug: :blush: :yoiks:

[armyowalgreens]

37. That laptop is from the late 90s.

This is better...

[pokerfan]

38. Yeah, I wanted to find one close to 2004

Fifty years after 1954...