Where is the future we were promised?

What happened to the future we were promised?

I mean come on, 50 years ago we were promised flying cars, teleportation, and condos on the moon. Where the heck are these things?

Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, Arthur C. Clarke, and Isaac Asimov are probably turning over in their graves right now. These futuristic thinkers were definitely ahead of their time, but I’m sure they honestly thought the stuff they predicted would be a reality in 2012.

So what do we have now?

Well, we have cool smart phones, the Internet, and the same gas powered vehicles that have been around for the past 100 years. We have helpful apps to organize our lives but we also have tons of useless mobile apps that kill our productivity throughout the day. There still isn’t a cure for cancer or AIDS (but we are getting closer). Our wireless devices aren’t exactly wireless because they constantly need charging. We still have power lines and cellphone towers everywhere that clutter up the scenery. What is going on here?

The problem I see is that most of the insanely talented engineers and programmers out there are too focused on today. Everyone is trying to develop the next Facebook, Google, or top game in the App Store. Yeah, these things are cool, but do we really need another social networking app or time-consuming game?

Shouldn’t we put our brains to work on areas that could truly revolutionize the world?

The answer is yes. It’s time to think bigger.