New Year's Ruminations

Here we are in the year 2010. Eleven years into the 21st century (yes, 11 - count on your fingers if you have to). While reflecting on the past year and composing my new year’s resolutions I’ll promptly abandon by mid-January, I got sidetracked thinking about what I expected 2010 to look like. I remember thinking I’d be in my 30’s and how old that seemed to a burgeoning youth. But I also remember thinking the world would look closer to the space exploration age of Star Trek.
It appears to me that I’m not entirely alone in my ruminations. For example, in 1968 the epic motion picture 2001: A Space Odyssey predicted artificial intelligence. Sure, we have Honda’s ASIMO whose abilities include facial recognition, environmental recognition and sound recognition among other things. Although none of which include the advanced capabilities The Jetson’s envisioned. Where’s my Rosie the Robot Maid? In 1989, Back to the Future II promised me flying cars. Okay, I can see the pitfalls of flying cars. If I break down while cruising down the highway, I pull over. If I break down while flying at an altitude of 1,000 feet, I will promptly plummet to immediate death. One of my brilliant offspring suggested emergency parachutes. Excellent idea, but I’m not sure I’d like to trust my life to a flimsy sheet of nylon. But give me something…a hover board perhaps?
If computers make the world go ‘round and Moore’s Law projects that CPU transistor counts double every 2 years (expecting to hold steady for another 2 decades), then according to my calculations, however insufficient, we should be looking forward to toilet cleaning robots any year now.
Alas, while I do so look forward to food replicators, holodecks and fully-functional androids (wink!), I feel I must focus on the present...for now. So I decided this year my new year’s resolution is to learn something new every day. Did you know the toothpick is the object most often choked on by Americans?
Here’s to a prosperous 2010.
Cheers!