Lets say you were in 1925?

[weatheriscool]

Lets say you were in 1925 and you read the futurism of the day. How close was it to the reality of the world we live in today?

With what I know of it it is extremely underwhelming.

Sure we have jet packs in very special cases but it is very rare. Futurism at the time thought it would be common means of transport.
Flying cars? most futurist of the early 20th century thought it would be common.
most sci-fi and futurism of that time thought robotics would be very wide spread and vastly more capable compared to what we have today. Possibly human level!
Most futurist on that time thought we'd have cities on the moon and mars.

The only things I can say that we're probably better at is quantum computers, Of course we couldn't have imagined such things in those days but most futurist imagined far more unimaginable physics.

I think the underwhelming of our times has to do with two things.
1. Over regulations. I am looking at flying cars, jet packs and most advancements in medicine. Flying cars and jet packs are possible and probably would be common but there's risk. Medicine. Well, it takes 10-20 years and many billions of dollars to get anything to market. Genetic engineering that could probably do everything in these peoples wildest dreams is heavily regulated into the ground. I highly doubt lung, heart or most organ transplants could be done today compared to the 1940's and 50's. fact.

2. The reality that such would cost many trillions of dollars of research and investment. We've become a society that doesn't value public investment anymore. I doubt the highways of the 1950's could be done today. Our government aka the republicans wants to gut everything.

It would cost trillions of dollars to build those moon and mars cities. You think the loserterians will support that? f*ck no, we're about to have literally no space station by 2030 because they won't fund the construction of even a few billion dollars.

One could argue a third point. The culture of the west cared far more about development, education and respectability. That respectability was in being the best and fighting ones ass off to improve society. Sadly, today that doesn't exist as we now elect our governments to slash funding for education, science and infrastructure every chance we fucking get! In those days it was a sign of personally pride to be educated and was a sign of national pride to build. We acted more like china does today in those days. We could think of the future being ever better. We elected Trump because our society has gone to shit.

[GTrang]

Life in 1925 was very different from life today in 2025. For example, Inauguration Day in the United States used to be on March 4 rather than January 20. For further comparison, one should also consider what life will be like in 2125 or 2225, as well as what life was like in 1825.

[TrueAnimationFan]

The majority of this post is a rant about modern American politics instead of an overview of how various places around the world were different 100 years ago. The title honestly feels like clickbait

[weatheriscool]

The majority of this post is a rant about modern American politics instead of an overview of how various places around the world were different 100 years ago. The title honestly feels like clickbait

Modern American politics have stopped most of the predictions of that time from coming true. Politics matters a lot and it is part of who and what we wish to be as an society. We didn't go back to the fucking moon for 55 years because people didn't want too and elected governments that made sure of it. The same population didn't want to take a chance with jet packs, flying cars and won't put out the bucks for high speed rail in this country. We could within 10-15 years be completely ran by hydro, wind and solar if we wished but 45% of our population just elected a government that would love to stop it all together. This is just the reality of our lives.

[firestar464]

Sure, it's obvious that the future has been underwhelming compared to predictions a century ago, yet it's also worth noting that futurism as a field was less developed. Future predictions of the time were less informed assessments and more fantastical imaginings in my opinion.

[Cyber_Rebel]

This thread is basically the personification of rose-tinted glasses. It's not just because of a lack of public will to do so, but also because a lot of the prior futuristic tropes from that era are either wildly impractical or more difficult than previously thought to engineer to begin with. Gutting regulation is not going to make it happen any faster and might just kneecap some initiatives entirely, should public safety concern arise from an unfortunate incident.

I highly doubt lung, heart or most organ transplants could be done today compared to the 1940's and 50's. fact.

I'm either completely misreading this, or you're claiming that the mid 20th had more medical capability (or will to achieve it) than we do? The mRNA vaccines, protein folding, genome mapping, CRISPER gene therapies, longevity research, an actual Alzheimer's drug (Leqembi) and beginnings towards making such fully treatable, etc... suggests to me that we actually could and more? Not to mention Xenobots which truly would be science fiction to the previous decade along with many more marvels we take for granted. The smartphone and its ability to face time anyone in the world would be Star Trek technology to the mid 20th.

As for the trillions of investments, we're literally going to approach that with the massive data centers being built. I'd rather have AGI than Jetpacks/Flying vehicles for this investment incentive. You also need to specify what is meant exactly by "flying car," because if you mean manned drone then we've done so. The autonomous flying vehicle needs the on-ground variant to be literally perfectly reliable. I find driverless vehicles more impressive as engineering accomplishments, for the reason it would allow for complete freedom of movement without the need of a pilot's license.

As far as the "culture" is concerned, I suppose that's why they literally had two very costly and deadly world wars with every manner of human atrocity taking place, and even the allied powers were not unsullied in this either. I will grant you America was more akin to China in the sense that it was a developing superpower before WW2, so had more incentive to prioritize nation building industries.

As stated, before the election took place, progress still occurs across many fields no matter who holds office, be it within America or elsewhere. Yes, it would be nice if the American public lauded NASA with taxpayer dollars and a true genuine interest within the sciences backed by a robust educational system which stoked the public's imagination; rather than Elon. I understand you there @weather, it would be societally empowering, but it's also good to take progress as it comes and not be blinded to the current good we are doing. Remember, back in the 40s and 50s, it was considered socially passe to fill one's lungs to the brim with cancerous substances, and none were the wiser to its effects as we are now.