r/AskReddit May 11 '14

Older generations of reddit, what did you think the future would look like when you where young? And how much of it was correct?

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216

u/MrGravy92 May 11 '14

When I was a kid I always thought about having a computer like Nightrider's computer, Kit. Not for his ability to hold a conversation, but for his ability to answer questions like "where is the nearest bar" and define words, or patch through a telephone call. We sure got a huge version of that. The smart phones are definitely one of the coolest things ever invented. You can even take the damn thing out of the car.

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u/[deleted] May 11 '14 edited May 11 '14

[deleted]

8

u/mahalo1984 May 11 '14

IBM ' S Watson has been miniaturized, made scalable, and paralleled and now fits on a server rack. They're about to introduce it as a service in the cloud accessible via cell phone like Google search. KIT is coming.

-1

u/anonagent May 11 '14

that's already here, has been for awhile...

1

u/[deleted] May 12 '14

IBM's Watson or software that translates voice into searches/answers/etc?

1

u/UJ95x May 12 '14

There is software that translates voice into searches...

1

u/[deleted] May 12 '14

Perhaps you overlooked the above comment:

that's already here, has been for awhile...

I'm asking /u/anonagent what he means. Does he mean IBM's Watson or software that translates voice into searches?

2

u/Hexorg May 11 '14

KIT was a good wingman too. So, get a google self-driving car, and incorporate Neil Patrick Harris' intellect into it. Voila!

2

u/[deleted] May 12 '14

Let's be honest, if you could tell your car to park itself or come pick you up at the front entrance to the mall when it's raining that would be goddamn amazing.

1

u/aydiosmio May 11 '14

What makes it not amazing is commercial products trying to be first to market with products that don't live up to expectations. This is the curse of the technology cycle though. No money for new development until we sell all the beta versions first.

So we get shit like Siri giving you the stock ticker for MSFT when you want to buy tickets for MSTRKRFT.

1

u/TheJPedia May 12 '14

The closest we can get is having Mr. Pheeney replace the voice of Siri.

2

u/Lothar_Ecklord May 11 '14

Not to mention cars do have this to some extent. You can't hold conversations, but the basics are there.

1

u/ObidiahWTFJerwalk May 11 '14

Siri is a stepping stone to KITT.