What is something about life in 2024 that would completely astonish someone living in 1974? (1 Viewer)

[Willie Neslon]

Imagine you have the power to travel back in time to April 9th, 1974, and you're having dinner with some people from that era. Besides the time travel, what piece of information about life in 2024 would blow their minds the most? It could be something about a particular person, technology, everyday life, world events, or anything else, including something that ultimately didn’t happen. What would be the most unbelievable thing to them about how the world is 50 years in the future?

 

[JohnnyU]

GPS

 

[squistion]

The internet.

 

[Scoresman]

In 2024, you can find find porn clips within seconds, using your phone.

 

[ChiefD]

The Royals have won two World Series.

 

[PIK95]

Nix 2.0, Me Too, and everyone buried in smart phones.

 

[Scoresman]

Your two year old can make millions videotaping themselves playing with their toys.

 

[WDIK2]

Viagra.

 

[JohnnyU]

GPS

What would be funny is watching someone 27 or under navigate a paper map.

 

[fruity pebbles]

The national debt

 

[Tango]

The lack of the need of a traditional wrist watch.

It's just jewelry now.

 

[D-Day]

I sort of had this happen that I detailed in THIS THREAD about my wife's memory getting wiped out except for some childhood memories (60's ~70's). A couple of things that stand out were the changes to TVs. What was a big a** box are now flat screens hanging all over the place. The other thing is how large and overweight people are now compared to back then.

World events didn't hit her as anything astonishing. She didn't know about the Viet Nam war, nor 9/11.

 

[Pip's Invitation]

That about 100 devices that were separate and distinct things or didn’t exist in 1974 are combined into one device that is called a “phone” but bears little resemblance to the telephones of 1974.

Also, Keith Richards is still alive but Charlie Watts isn’t.

 

[belljr]

Flying cars

 

[dickey moe]

Free porn in seconds.

 

[dickey moe]

The cost of owning a home based on a multiple of median salary.

 

[dickey moe]

Dow Jones Index

 

[Galileo]

Chat GPT and the like

 

[dickey moe]

China economically outpacing the U.S.

 

[dickey moe]

National level of obesity

 

[Pip's Invitation]

The interstate highway system? It’s almost exactly the same, but the number of people and cars has grown exponentially.

 

[FairWarning]

Interesting as 50 years ago today was Aaron’s 715th HR, and the hate letters he received.

What would shock people today from that time - the advancement of blacks, women, and gays in society.

 

[dickey moe]

What "medical care" looks like now.

 

[dickey moe]

Keith Richards is still alive.

 

[Pip's Invitation]

Some of the world’s largest and most influential companies are Microsoft, Apple, Amazon, Meta/Facebook and Alphabet/Google. They didn’t exist in 1974 and mostly do things that almost everyone in 1974 couldn’t conceive of.

 

[Pip's Invitation]

It is routine to make movies around toy franchises, and a lot of people thought a movie about Barbie should have won Oscars.

 

[Pip's Invitation]

An actor, a real estate executive/TV personality, a baseball team owner and a black man have all been president.

 

[Pip's Invitation]

Someone like @General Malaise can broadcast himself eating a Big Mac in 2 bites, and people will watch it.

Marijuana is legal in some form in most states.

 

[Skipdog77]

That people pay 8 bucks for a coffee.

 

[northern exposure]

That about 100 devices that were separate and distinct things or didn’t exist in 1974 are combined into one device that is called a “phone” but bears little resemblance to the telephones of 1974.

Also, Keith Richards is still alive but Charlie Watts isn’t.

The phone has to be the biggest mind blower. You can call someone from almost anywhere, you can take photos or videos, you can find out information with a computer that fits in your pocket.

 

[Willie Neslon]

Someone like @General Malaise can broadcast himself eating a Big Mac in 2 bites, and people will watch it.

I was watching a video of an Uber Eats bike delivery guy in London. The video had about 350k views which makes him about $500-$600 on Youtube (I think i read it's $1600 for the 1st million views). So we have entered an age where delivery guys can make more money from people watching them delivering food to other people than they can from actually delivering the food.

 

[McBokonon]

Elvis died on the toilet and someone murdered John Lennon.

 

[Mrs. Rannous]

An actor, a real estate executive/TV personality, a baseball team owner and a black man have all been president.

Already covered in Back to the Future.

For me, online banking and shopping. So cool.

 

[Mister CIA]

Bottled water.

 

[JohnnyU]

That people pay 8 bucks for a coffee.

I agree with this. Add 10 bucks for a burger, fries and a drink at McDonalds., but minimum wage in 1974 was $1.80 per hour.

 

[JohnnyU]

Bottled water.

Coke Zero. Diet soda in 1974 tasted horrible.

 

[Snoopy]

AI starting to take over things.

 

[JohnnyU]

AI starting to take over things.

Sarah Conner tried to warn us.

 

[El Floppo]

Flying cars

 

[JohnnyU]

Flying cars

They had flying cars in 1974. I saw them on the Jetsons

 

[Ted Lange as your Bartender]

No smoking in most public places

 

[top dog]

Pronouns.

 

[JohnnyU]

Pronouns.

Good one

 

[the moops]

Nix 2.0, Me Too, and everyone buried in smart phones.

Me too? I get that maybe it went too far, but explaining to people in 1974 that women who are raped have some
sort of power seems like an interesting choice for the most astonishing thing

 

[MAC_32]

Interesting as 50 years ago today was Aaron’s 715th HR, and the hate letters he received.

What would shock people today from that time - the advancement of blacks, women, and gays in society.

On that note, a women's basketball game is the most watched non football game outside network tv (what's that) ever.

 

[PIK95]

Nix 2.0, Me Too, and everyone buried in smart phones.

Me too? I get that maybe it went too far, but explaining to people in 1974 that women who are raped have some
sort of power seems like an interesting choice for the most astonishing thing

I more meant that they would have a hard time understanding how society changed so fast from their s.o.p. of that time. I wasn't talking about rape.

 

[rockaction]

Phones. Probably the most ubiquitous and tangible change in our everyday lives. And so radical of a change, too.

Hip-hop’s ubiquity would be like a different world in music or art. The first hip-hop party is credited as deep in the NYC projects in ‘73.

 

[rockaction]

I thought of a bunch of social movements and policy concerns, but almost all of them were in place or had large seeds already planted in ‘74. I don’t think any of them would be a shock to people, really. Nothing new under the sun.

 

[IvanKaramazov]

That about 100 devices that were separate and distinct things or didn’t exist in 1974 are combined into one device that is called a “phone” but bears little resemblance to the telephones of 1974.

Jokes aside, this is obviously the correct answer. The whole concept of walking around with a "phone" that combines actual phone calls with social media, music and video streaming, GPS, apps that replace customer service drones, etc. would be hard to believe.

 

[Rich Conway]

Self-driving cars might come close to the phone if they were all the way there. Since those are still incomplete, it's got to be the phones.