Ten years is really a pretty small jump. It’s not like things are wildly different today than in 2013.
Climate change is worse, US politics more polarized, phones are bigger, computers are faster, etc. But if someone went to sleep in 2013 and woke up in 2023, it might take them a little bit to notice the changes.
Heat dome wasn’t a word in 2013. Fire weather meant a dry day, not a tornado forming inside of a wild fire.
Social media was already massive, it was just primarily Facebook and Twitter (Arab Spring heavily involved social media). The US tea party movement had been around for a few years, some people were still very jazzed up about Affordable Care Act, only part of the defense of marriage act had been overturned and lawsuits would continue for a few more years. Conservatives hated Obama and were already talking about taking their country back.
Most everything in the US is just extrapolation plus some pandemic fuel.
In 10 years we went through a huge jump. Mass use of smart phones, new PoS systems, the internet has become overly censored, forest fires like we have never seen before, covid, powerful handhelds, AI… Things are exponential right now
Smart phones were already huge. The first Pixel came out in 2013, replacing the Nexus, the iPhone was on the 5 and 5s, and the Galaxy S4 was released.
Covid, AI, larger fires are the main things out of your examples that have changed dramatically, but I don’t think any of them have been exponential changes. For most people, covid is probably the largest, and if they did not lose anybody and are healthy themselves, the main thing that changed is potential wfh options and everything being more expensive.
Thank you. I feel like I’m talking crazy pills reading this thread.
The world wasn’t a terribly different place ten years ago. Sure, some things are more messed up now, and we have some neat new widgets. But i seriously doubt Apple Pay, the steam deck, and fancy autocorrect I mean chatGPT, have really shifted the world that much.
More people having smart phones has lead to a societal change where they’re becoming more and more necessary for everyday life, but I could still love my life without one just fine, and many of my older family members are doing just that. I think I’ve used Apple Pay like once in my life when I forgot my wallet at home, and chatGPT reminds me of talking to a dementia patient more than Skynet.
Now if the question was what the year 2053 would be like, that would be way more interesting. Back in 1993, I don’t think anyone would have accurately guessed what was going on now. Being able to browse the internet on your phone would have seemed nearly pointless and infinitely painful. The internet and internet advertising being a deciding factor in national elections would sound crazy. Electric cars being somewhat affordable and practical would sound like we live in the jetsons.
I think 2053 is gonna be wild. Hopefully I don’t die of dehydration or catastrophic weather before we get there.
Still a matter of degrees. Smart phones were 57% of the market in 2013. Not sure what point of sale system advancements in the last decade you’re talking about that are very revolutionary - we’ve certainly had online connected credit cards systems for decades. Really, all those things are pretty evolutionary in the span we’re taking about, with AI poised to be the most impactful for hasn’t been in the period.
