Zyobot
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Post by Zyobot on Aug 6, 2018 14:26:44 GMT
Come the 1970s, America was remaking itself. Thanks to TV coverage, the Pentagon Papers and the antiwar movement, Vietnam War ended in 1975. Environmentalist sentiments resulted in the first Earth Day, while hippie culture entered the mainstream. Stagflation and the energy crisis wracked the nation's confidence. President Nixon attempted to established relations with China--only to be disgraced for his role in the Watergate Scandal. And a silly little sci-fi movie from "a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away" became one of the biggest blockbusters of all time. By this point, it was clear that the country was on a road of change. But few truly knew just what the 21st Century would bring.
There may be no flying cars or androids in every home (yet), but the world has transformed all the same. Phones have become small enough to carry in one's pocket. PCs and smart devices are now signature gadgets. The internet of things gives us unprecedented, 24/7 access to content from all over the world, allowing its users to find and post just about anything and everything. Self-driving cars are in their infancy, while drones have evolved into children's toys. Automation is a major concern for postindustrial nations, one soon to decide humanity's fate. The tech industry churns out the next big thing, with Silicon Valley at the helm. And in the midst of an advancing world plagued by today's issues, Generation Z is coming of age, with Generation Alpha right behind them.
We uptimers know about the 1970s from history, but the people who lived then couldn't say the same. If a 21st Century-to-1970s ISOT were to occur, how would they react to what's transpired in the 40+ years since then?
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lordroel
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Post by lordroel on Aug 6, 2018 14:38:31 GMT
Come the 1970s, America was remaking itself. Thanks to TV coverage, the Pentagon Papers and the antiwar movement, Vietnam War ended in 1975. Environmentalist sentiments resulted in the first Earth Day, while hippie culture entered the mainstream. Stagflation and the energy crisis wracked the nation's confidence. President Nixon attempted to established relations with China--only to be disgraced for his role in the Watergate Scandal. And a silly little sci-fi movie from "a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away" became one of the biggest blockbusters of all time. By this point, it was clear that the country was on a road of change. But few truly knew just what the 21st Century would bring. There may be no flying cars or androids in every home (yet), but the world has transformed all the same. Phones have become small enough to carry in one's pocket. PCs and smart devices are now signature gadgets. The internet of things gives us unprecedented, 24/7 access to content from all over the world, allowing its users to find and post just about anything and everything. Self-driving cars are in their infancy, while drones have evolved into children's toys. Automation is a major concern for postindustrial nations, one soon to decide humanity's fate. The tech industry churns out the next big thing, with Silicon Valley at the helm. And in the midst of an advancing world plagued by today's issues, Generation Z is coming of age, with Generation Alpha right behind them. We uptimers know about the 1970s from history, but the people who lived then couldn't say the same. If a 21st Century-to-1970s ISOT were to occur, how would they react to what's transpired in the 40+ years since then? Think this is a good way how people from the 1970s would think of how the 21st Century would look like. The next 120 years: A timechart
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Zyobot
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Post by Zyobot on Aug 6, 2018 14:58:36 GMT
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lordroel
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Post by lordroel on Aug 6, 2018 14:59:30 GMT
I'm aware that some modern stuff was in its infancy back then. That said, I doubt that they could've imagined the internet or mobile phones evolving into what they are today. It'd certainly blow their minds that Star Wars became so big. I think you are true, a current Iphone would beat a 1970s personal computer by a long shot.
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Zyobot
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Post by Zyobot on Aug 6, 2018 17:05:55 GMT
The Baby Boomers are teens and pre-teens during the '70s, with Gen X just behind them. What will they make of Gen Z (those born from the mid-1990s to around 2010 or so), as well as Gen Alpha (born from the 2010s onwards)?
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lordroel
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Post by lordroel on Aug 6, 2018 17:10:01 GMT
The Baby Boomers are teens and pre-teens during the '70s, with Gen X just behind them. What will they make of Gen Z (those born from the mid-1990s to around 2010 or so), as well as Gen Alpha (born from the 2010s onwards)? Well being a Gen X it seems, i think they would feel that Gen Z and Gen Alpha are to high tech and to much integrated into the world social web (things like Facebook,Twitter, Instagram, Whatsapp and so on), but that is what i think.
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stevep
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Post by stevep on Aug 6, 2018 17:59:37 GMT
Well speaking as someone who was in his teens in the 70's some would adjust better than others but a hell of a lot would be vastly different to what people in the 1970's expected. In many ways, especially in technology, many would be disappointed about what hadn't occurred, in terms of medical advances, space travel, improved living standards - at least in the west. The idea that many people are working longer hours than they did in the 70's, with markedly worse employment conditions would shock them. As would the growing centralisation of power.
In other ways, probably most of all in communications, I think people would be surprised. Do remember one short story that predicted something like the modern smart-phones but suspect that and things like the internet would amaze many.
The other changes that are likely to shock many in the 70's would be the social and political changes. Socially especially things like equal rights for women and minorities - albeit limited in some cases - and especially probably the status of homosexual and other such groups. Politically in the relatively peaceful collapse of the Soviet bloc and the dramatic rise of China especially and relative decline of the western world. Especially in terms of their industrial base probably.
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Zyobot
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Post by Zyobot on Aug 6, 2018 18:44:18 GMT
The Baby Boomers are teens and pre-teens during the '70s, with Gen X just behind them. What will they make of Gen Z (those born from the mid-1990s to around 2010 or so), as well as Gen Alpha (born from the 2010s onwards)? Well being a Gen X it seems, i think they would feel that Gen Z and Gen Alpha are to high tech and to much integrated into the world social web (things like Facebook,Twitter, Instagram, Whatsapp and so on), but that is what i think. Their preponderance for social media will definitely be something they notice. That said, the criticisms go both ways; some people today who scrutinize the Baby Boomers for being hippies, "entitled", etcetera. I'm sure that they were plenty inveighed against by their elders for TV, mass media, etcetera--technology that they grew up with, like us. It's a phenomenon that's been happening ever since technology started advancing. I don't bring this up to start an argument, but that should be pointed out to them. I want to cover downtime media reacting to 2018, as well as what they'd say about the uptimers. Newspapers are now a declining industry, and the Big Three don't corner the market anymore due to more TV channels, to say nothing of endless alternative and social media. They'll have to get used to being perpetually quoted, criticized and memed across the internet, too. What might an NYT op-ed or ABC television broadcast about the ISOT look like? Star Wars has ballooned into something beyond just a silly sci-fi movie as well. Not only did it get a full Original Trilogy, there now exists (controversial) Prequel and Sequel ones, too. That discounts the standalone films, books, toys, video games, the various TV series, the (now non-canon) EU, etcetera. To start with, though, Episodes V and VI, the Solo and Rogue One additions, and Star Wars Rebels are more at their speed. How will they take all of this?
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Brky2020
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Post by Brky2020 on Aug 25, 2018 5:31:21 GMT
Part of it depends on what's ISOTed. Is it the '70s U.S. into the rest of the world, or part of the 2018 U.S. into the '70s timeline, or something else?
I've actually pondered something like this separately, mainly its effects on the sports world, secondarily on the media and pop culture.
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Zyobot
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Post by Zyobot on Aug 31, 2018 14:04:02 GMT
Part of it depends on what's ISOTed. Is it the '70s U.S. into the rest of the world, or part of the 2018 U.S. into the '70s timeline, or something else? I've actually pondered something like this separately, mainly its effects on the sports world, secondarily on the media and pop culture. I'm just talking about ISOTs in general, though I prefer part of a modern nation being sent to its 1970s counterpart. Regarding media and pop culture, this is where it gets interesting. Copyright may face problems, especially with all the fair use, fanon and piracy over the internet--in of itself a shock to the downtimers. One would wonder how the '70s authorities, should they wind up in charge of it, would address a global communications network where users can access/contribute just about whatever they want. PCs and smart devices will blow the downtimers away, while social media baffles them to no end. Even a 2000s-era flipphone will seem straight out of Star Trek.
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Brky2020
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Post by Brky2020 on Sept 4, 2018 11:31:33 GMT
Part of it depends on what's ISOTed. Is it the '70s U.S. into the rest of the world, or part of the 2018 U.S. into the '70s timeline, or something else? I've actually pondered something like this separately, mainly its effects on the sports world, secondarily on the media and pop culture. I'm just talking about ISOTs in general, though I prefer part of a modern nation being sent to its 1970s counterpart. Regarding media and pop culture, this is where it gets interesting. Copyright may face problems, especially with all the fair use, fanon and piracy over the internet--in of itself a shock to the downtimers. One would wonder how the '70s authorities, should they wind up in charge of it, would address a global communications network where users can access/contribute just about whatever they want. PCs and smart devices will blow the downtimers away, while social media baffles them to no end. Even a 2000s-era flipphone will seem straight out of Star Trek. A few thoughts: 1. You'll be dealing with 1970s era courts who will have at some point to decide what fair use is and how to enforce it -- and I say they would do so in a way that uptimers would not like. 2. Theft of uptime technology might become a major problem. 3. What would Gene Roddenberry make of Deep Space Nine, Voyager, the Kelvin timeline, the Trek novels and Discovery? 4. How do you integrate uptime athletes and franchises with their downtime counterparts? I contend some 2018 NFL teams would destroy some of their 1970-1979 counterparts, for example. 5. Having learned that America and the West have come into possession of advanced technology, what do the Soviets and Chinese do?
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Zyobot
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Post by Zyobot on Sept 4, 2018 20:20:21 GMT
I'm just talking about ISOTs in general, though I prefer part of a modern nation being sent to its 1970s counterpart. Regarding media and pop culture, this is where it gets interesting. Copyright may face problems, especially with all the fair use, fanon and piracy over the internet--in of itself a shock to the downtimers. One would wonder how the '70s authorities, should they wind up in charge of it, would address a global communications network where users can access/contribute just about whatever they want. PCs and smart devices will blow the downtimers away, while social media baffles them to no end. Even a 2000s-era flipphone will seem straight out of Star Trek. A few thoughts: 1. You'll be dealing with 1970s era courts who will have at some point to decide what fair use is and how to enforce it -- and I say they would do so in a way that uptimers would not like. 2. Theft of uptime technology might become a major problem. 3. What would Gene Roddenberry make of Deep Space Nine, Voyager, the Kelvin timeline, the Trek novels and Discovery? 4. How do you integrate uptime athletes and franchises with their downtime counterparts? I contend some 2018 NFL teams would destroy some of their 1970-1979 counterparts, for example. 5. Having learned that America and the West have come into possession of advanced technology, what do the Soviets and Chinese do? Hi, thank you for bringing those points up. To give my 2 cents on each one: 1. I don't doubt that '70s courts will have a different outlook on copyright than we're used to. Of course, they'll have to acclimate themselves to the technology often used to violate it first, as well as show tact when dealing with a people accustomed to unlicensed fair use. The Copyright Act of 1976--if it applies to whenever the uptimers are sent to, anyway--will grant more leeway, though liberal interpretation is needed. What precise laws come out of this debacle, I don't know and expect to see much debate over. 2. Ohhhhh yeah. 3. I'm not sure. I haven't explored Star Trek too much, barring the Memory Alpha wiki as well as watching bits and pieces of what's aired on TV. I guess that the Kelvin Timeline will need further explanation not just to Roddenberry & Co., but downtimers in general who aren't accustomed to the "same franchise, different continuity" trope that we are. 4. I'm no expert on this one, either. 5. For one, I predict they'll send spies over to ascertain uptime technology and society. How successful they'd be is again debatable, since there'd be security measures in place. That also discounts uptime knowledge of the USSR and China, though butterflies will render much of this ineffective later.
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Zyobot
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Post by Zyobot on Sept 5, 2018 14:29:54 GMT
Something that has yet to be brought up is the education system. Presumably, uptime schools and their staff get ISOTed alongside everyone else, which means that they can impart knowledge to the '70s crowds.
I wonder what the latter will make of the changes in 21st Century education (i.e. no more corporal punishment, technological integration, etc.). In the US's case, increased public school violence, drug use and other crises won't be a welcome surprise.
And let's not forget uptime IT and the internet of things, which have revolutionized the way that people get educated. What will the various '70s teachers, tutors, professors and other faculty think of this global, nigh-universal computer network where anyone can access/contribute nearly whatever content they want--up to and including oodles of genuinely educational (as well as often false) material? The fact that the kids can casually "Google it" on their "smartphones", "tablets" or "PCs" will no doubt amaze them, to say nothing of their ability to find out stuff that educators don't know of.
That triply applies since their professional knowledge is, you know, 40+ years out-of-date. I especially want to see what downtime STEM people think of 21st Century wondertech, as well as history people react to what's transpired since 1970-whatever.
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Zyobot
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Post by Zyobot on Sept 12, 2018 2:13:48 GMT
Since today's the 17th anniversary, I want to address a far more...depressing aspect of the post-20th Century world.
How will 1970s people react to 9/11, especially as it took more lives than Pearl Harbor? What about all the chaos that followed throughout the rest of the 2000s?
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stevep
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Post by stevep on Sept 12, 2018 8:36:50 GMT
Since today's the 17th anniversary, I want to address a far more...depressing aspect of the post-20th Century world. How will 1970s people react to 9/11, especially as it took more lives than Pearl Harbor? What about all the chaos that followed throughout the rest of the 2000s?
They would probably be surprised that extreme religious fanaticism is a problem and shocked that the military power of the west, albeit badly mismanaged, has proved so impotent at handling it.
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