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Five Inventions We Were Promised By 2020 . . .

but probably didn’t need anyway . . .

I’m sitting here in January 2020, thinking about what inventions I expected by now. I can remember when 1999 felt like a very . . . very . . . long way off. Now 1999 feels like eons ago and some of those inventions haven’t materialized.

Read my January 2019 reflection post by clicking the link here.

The Five Inventions

1. Flying cars.
2. Robots for housework.
3. Pharmaceutical enlightenment (according to Timothy Leary).
4. People living under a giant dome on the moon.
5. Teleportation as a viable means of transportation.

But maybe we dodged a bullet on a few of these.

Would you want your kid driving this?

Flying Cars

Can you imagine what the world would look like today if everyone was flying around town?

Maybe not the best invention. I’m not sure I trust myself to fly a car, I definitely don’t want half the drivers I see on I-90 zooming over my head while I travel.

Robot Housecleaners

So, okay, having a robot would be really cool and Roombas are available to vacuum your floor and amuse your cats. But there’s a human cost to removing entire industries.

Making buggy whips might not have been an exhilarating job, but it was an honest living, until it was gone.

With over 900,000 people employed in the US as housecleaners, robots would do a lot of damage to that sector.

Not every new invention is good for the human race . . .

Pharmaceutical enlightenment

Timothy Leary might have been popular with “turn on, tune in, drop out” in the 1960s, but is that really how we want to go through life?

Maybe we’ve learned that paying attention, asking questions, and impacting positive change is  better for the longterm prospects of human survival (not to mention the survival of the Polar Bears) than using the latest drugs to expand our minds.

Living on the moon

Don’t we have enough problems with life here on earth? Maybe instead of messing up other moons and planets, we should solve some of our issues here. If we can’t find a way to live on earth without destroying it or each other, do we really deserve a second shot on another planet?

We’ve already sent a lot of trash out into the universe, so I’m not sure we’re off to a good start doing things differently in space.

Teleportation

Yeah . . . that would be pretty cool. But think of the learning curve. People coming back together inside walls, with parts out of order . . . inventors would undoubtedly experiment with animals and you KNOW I wouldn’t be happy with that one.

Slow down, you move too fast . . .

Besides, maybe what we should really have learned by now is that faster isn’t always better. Can you imagine if instead of drunk dialing (bad enough) you could teleport yourself into your ex’s bedroom in the middle of the night?

Or soldiers could be sent anywhere, anytime, from any country. Just think about that one for a moment . . .

And who doesn’t love a road trip?

How much incredible scenery would we miss by NOT driving across country.

Do we really need to be at someone’s physical beck and call 24/7 from anywhere in the world?

It’s true, I haven’t gotten all the things I might have looked forward to forty years ago, but maybe that’s a good thing.

There are inventions I’m looking forward to . . .

I’m looking forward to self-driving cars, though I understand the loss of jobs there too. There’s no such thing as a free lunch.

I won’t fly domestically anymore, however, I’ll just kick back and watch the scenery go by.

Even more importantly, I enjoy what I have now.

We have an amazing crew who cleans our house every other week. They are good to our animals and earn a decent living.

I married a man with an excellent wine cellar, what do I need mind altering drugs for when I have a tasty Cab on the counter?

My horses wouldn’t have grazing on the moon, so I think I’ll stay right here. Where no one can teleport into my living room, except when I watch reruns of Star Trek.

What inventions do you wish we had now? or maybe are glad we don’t? Post in the comments, I’d love to hear from you.

Happy New Year – I hope 2020 brings you enjoyment with what you already have, appreciation for the people in your life, and the ability to take a breath, slow down, and watch the scenery go by.

Flying car by markreading on Pixabay, click the link here for more information.

Peace sign by inspiredimages on Pixabay, click the link here for more information.

Scenic drive by derwiki on Pixabay, click the link here for more information.

Header photo by qimono on Pixabay, click the link here for more information.