Mini-post: Living in the Future

I usually go on and on forever about whatever I’m talking about – but this week is going to be both busy and torturous (because on Friday, I leave for vacation so time will be passing way too quickly to get stuff done but way too slow for my liking, like this weird vortex of ironicalness).  So, for the week, I’m going to pick a topic, and spout off on it just as long or as short as I like.  Today, I’m going to marvel at all the gadgets, gizmos, and conveniences that are part of my daily life.

I always ask where my hover car is, but it’s pretty amazing that the Prius I drive makes use of both gas and a battery to get it where it needs to go.  The rear view mirror tints if the sun glares at it too hard.  The camera in the back shows me if I’m about to run over the neighbor’s dog backing out of my driveway.  Navi can show me directions anywhere I want to go, and where all the restaurants are in that area.  It’s temperature controlled (as in, I set it to 78, and it tries to keep it at 78), and doesn’t have 2 settings of AC on (Siberia) and AC off (Death Valley) like my last car.

Then, when I park it in the garage, I enter my kitchen, which contains both a robot to sweep (Roomba) and a robot to mop (Scooba).  It does not get old that all we have to is make sure they’re charged (and the mopping solution is in Scooba), set them in the middle of a room, block off anywhere we don’t want them to go, and wait an hour and *poof*, clean room.  We’re looking into adding the grass cutting robot to our little robot family someday as well.

Want to get online?  Well, your first instinct would probably be to head for my laptop sitting on the couch.  If not, Zliten’s got one that’s sitting on the coffee table.  If you venture into our office (read: pretty painted blue orange room that’s pretty much storage), there are two desktops as well (one isn’t hooked up, but could be up and running within 5 minutes).  Then, we’ve got our phones that can also instant message and surf the web.  Still need more connectivity?  The PS3, the PS2, the 2 PSPs, and the Wii can also connect to the internet (though the PS2’s connectivity is very limited).  I guess, technically, the two DVR boxes do as well.  Pretty soon, I imagine, my fridge will be talking with my scale and locking down access to food until I hit the gym.

It’s really easy to just take for granted all the technology and conviences you find standard in your daily life.  Just for a moment, revert back to your 5 year old self and think about what you had then (I know we didn’t even have cable TV, a microwave, a computer, or any sort of game system).  I’m pretty sure with a glimpse of their future, they’d have wide-eyed awe at our lives.