• JubilantJaguar@lemmy.world
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    4 days ago

    A knife. Futuristic in that it will be handy for hunting and self-defense after the future collapse of civilization that results from our insatiable appetite for consumption - of, among other things, useless gadgets.

    • JustEnoughDucks@feddit.nl
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      3 days ago

      It’s interesting the difference in what people think a collapsed civilization will look like.

      Some people think we will “return to monke” where wilderness survival skills will be essential and people who have them will be the “main characters.” That would probably be the easier and better future.

      The more likely option will be technofeudalism where rich people have small, brutal armies and control localized power grids, farming operations, and politics with tech as mass migrations happen and wildlife becomes all but extinct outside of human cultivation. Survival skills won’t matter when all land and food scarcity is controlled by a rich few with absolute control. The average survivalist will be wiped out with the first natural disaster or by the feudal lords with drones. Return to nature might only come after 50 years when chip supplies and power grids have dried up and fallen apart, but it would just as likely be mad-max as oil could likely still be used.

      Who knows. Fascism might take over with how it is going now and solve the climate crisis with mass genocide and forcing green energy for all we know.

      • GrammarPolice@lemmy.world
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        3 days ago

        I see you’ve read Yanis Varoufakis. In all realism though, a fallen society is most likely to be a result of climate change. First it gets too hot for Africans, so their only option is to move northward and eastward to the Middle East. This results in tightened borders and the death of many due to heatstroke and dehydration - I also don’t doubt a slave trade-like and human exploitation era might come about because of this. Increased demand for AC’s in the west will also be a byproduct of this. Melting ice caps will also increase the danger to many of those living in coastal regions - Florida probably sinks faster than we’d predicted.

        All of this I project to happen within the next 50 years where the problems are left for Gen Z and further generations to deal with.

        • WoahWoah@lemmy.world
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          3 days ago

          It’s more or less an inevitability at this point, regardless of what we do. Really we’re just trying to get corporations and countries to make changes so it will be Gen A’s (or the following generation’s) problem instead of Z.

          Normalcy now has an unavoidable term limit. The question is if we’re going to shorten how long that timespan is by desperately holding onto normalcy now for as long as we can, or if we’re going to start making things harder, more challenging, and less normal sooner to make the transition less painful and give it a longer on-ramp.

          Currently we seem to be choosing option A.

          For what it’s worth, I’ve seen some friends take things a little more seriously when I’ve explained that currently we’re going to see abrupt and incredibly disruptive changes at the point in our (Gen Z and Millenials) lives when we’re at the age when we’ll be least able to tolerate the changes and most reliant on others. In 40-50 years, Z and M are going to be senior citizens at best. While we may be full of distracted, dopamine-seeking denial now, by the time shit really starts hitting the fan, we’re going to be extra weight on the generations struggling desperately to survive.

          Don’t expect a happy retirement.

  • Mango@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    Bunch of cute contrarians in here today.

    I got a 4k TV from Paycor stadium for $10 per k.

  • tibi@lemmy.world
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    3 days ago

    A full working computer, more powerful than what we used to go to the moon, and using less power than a light bulb.

    It can take many forms, like smartphones, SBCs or older PCs/laptops.

    • BruceTwarzen@lemm.ee
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      3 days ago

      By that logic, a lighter. Better than smashing two rocks together, that’s how we used to make fire.

      • Zron@lemmy.world
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        3 days ago

        One of those fancy plasma lighters, sure. But butane lighters have been around for decades

    • shinratdr@lemmy.ca
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      3 days ago

      You can buy an ESP board that meets all those qualifications from AliExpress for less than $3CAD shipped.

      Setting one of those up was the first time in a while I’ve been so impressed with just how cheap and accessible tech has gotten. It’s a web server with WiFi and Bluetooth shipped to my door all for the price of a chocolate bar.

  • breadsmasher@lemmy.world
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    4 days ago

    what is “futuristic” in this context?

    A calculator is pretty futuristic depending on where you start

    • ArmoredCavalry@lemmy.worldOP
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      4 days ago

      I was thinking of something that would be considered futuristic to an average person today. So, maybe something uncommon, with impressive capabilities, but still affordable?

      Not sure if many items fit that criteria, but was curious if any!

  • Num10ck@lemmy.world
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    4 days ago

    you can get several smart outlets around your home for that, have fans and lamps and humidifers etc all remote controlled even with your voice.

  • reddig33@lemmy.world
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    4 days ago

    Bluetooth headphones/headset/earpiece. You too can look like Uhura from Star Trek by sticking a wireless speaker in your ear!

    • Starayo@lemm.ee
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      2 days ago

      Is a cooking method from the 70s really… futuristic?

      Not saying it isn’t worth it, though.

      • CMDR_Horn@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        It’s rare (intended) for me to find someone who knows what sous vide is. So I suspect for the majority it would seem futuristic.

  • ChonkyOwlbear@lemmy.world
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    4 days ago

    A basic DNA test can tell you your ancestry back thousands of years and identify numerous genetically determined traits. It’s kinda crazy what kinds of things they can tell you about yourself.

    • Boomkop3@reddthat.com
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      3 days ago

      And if you send in your dna three times, you can find all three if your ancestries! Really tho, there was some funny news on this a while back when identical twins took those tests and got different results

        • mipadaitu@lemmy.world
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          3 days ago

          Of course it’s Technology Connections. Who else would make a video about a (now) useless piece of 80’s tech with enough content to satisfy any level of curiosity.

          • captainlezbian@lemmy.world
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            2 days ago

            I think of it as extremely 00s. It’s the “I only have an mp3 player/phone and my computer doesn’t take aux” device

      • tibi@lemmy.world
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        3 days ago

        The tape head is basically a small and really sensitive electromagnet. Magnetized tape creates small disturbances in the magnetic signal. Amplify those disturbances and you get sound. Similar to an antenna, but only works in close proximity.

        This also works in reverse. Feed an audio signal through the electromagnet, and the electromagnet will create the disturbances in whatever is next to it. You can do this to record to a tape, or you can do this to pass sound to another tape head, which is how these aux cassettes work.

        You can build one yourself really easily. Just take the tape head from a broken player and solder to an aux cable. Take a cassette, remove the tape, and put the tape head in the middle portion so it comes into contact with the player tape head.