What have been the broken promises of computer technology?

What hopeful future never arrived?

Comments

[eerk]

Want to insert a new Promise() joke here but can't think of any.

Promise: with this new technology we'll all save a lot of work!
Reality: we only work harder and someone up the chain is making even more money than they did before.

Promise: with this new public transport chip card it's much easier to book train tickets!
Reality: train ticket subscription services have become incredibly complex so you're almost guaranteed to pay too much.

[Kasey Speakman]

Every new technology promises to improve the world in some way. But in the end all of them are still wielded by humans. So they are used for both good and bad. And any net positive gain eventually becomes the new normal (read: boring and unappreciated, maybe even disdained).

So I guess the main broken promise is the implicit promise that tech can improve humanity. At best it only increases the convenience factor. (Not that I mind.)

[Thomas Leathers]

• That smartphones & tablets were somehow going to ruin the PC market.
• That "The Cloud" was going to be some perfect flawless solution to everything.

[Dan]

Better relationships with people using internet tools like Facebook and etc.

It seems to have turned out the opposite.

[Chad Kunde]

Work and employment would only require a connection to the internet. Cramming people into already-crowded cities would become a thing of the past.

[geni94]

Half Life 3

[Joris]

This is the year of the Linux desktop

[Aswath KNM]

Privacy!!!!

[Anton]

That it's going to speed things up.
Instead you have to buy more powerful devices.

[Ben Halpern]

Thematically related to all of this are talks by Maciej Cegłowski. All really poignant.

idlewords.com/talks/

[Tom VanAntwerp]

Your reply reminds me a lot of this conference talk.

[Tom VanAntwerp]

Old optimistic view: "The Internet will give everyone a voice!"

Present reality: "Everyone has a voice and most of these people are awful!"

[Stephen Chiang]

Flying cars 😜

[Livan Jimenez]

Definitely the smoke and mirrors of cryptocurrencies.. A lot of hype and lies about how revolutionary it really wasn't.

[Shannon Crabill]

We were supposed to have hover cars by now.

I like what the future looked like from the perspective of the 1950s and 60s.