The Mindset of the Class of 2029

theodp writes "In response to Beloit College's 10th Annual Mindset List, which takes a stab at describing the worldview of the incoming Class of 2011 (grew up with bottled water; have always had the World Wide Web), Valleywag's Nick Douglas presages The Mindset of the Class of 2029 (have always been able to use a cell phone on a plane; 'Lord of the Rings' looks fake and the effects are laughable)."

I don't think LOTR will look fake

[Anonymous Coward]

Rather, I think they'll find it boring because it's not interactive.

add another one to the list

[wwmedia]

add another one to the list

Osama Bin Laden is still the boogey man

Re:They will be horrified...

[smchris]

I was going to say the list obviously depends upon the selectors who do the selecting and it seems a bit negative this year. But you are right. It could be worse. There's already nobody under 30 who remembers a pre-Reagan world when government could do anything right like infrastructure or the space program.
 

Movies have always come in the mail

[Aqua OS X]

Really? With OnDemand, iTunes, UnBox, Xbox Marketplace, P2P, etc. ?

Snail mailed disks are antiquated you damn old timer. Non-downloadable movies will be a laughable distant memory in 18 years.

Price of gas

[Matt Perry]

have always been able to use a cell phone on a plane

I imagine that by 2029 the price of gas will be so high that only the extremely wealthy will be able to afford plane travel.

Re:HEADLINE: 10th dirty nuke detonated this year

[JamesRose]

HEADLINE: 100th nuke detonated this year

Remember back when we should have taken care of those fundamentalist christian extremists running america?

The new mindest...

[iminplaya]

Comin' up next on The Violence Channel: An all-new "Ow, My Balls!"

what's mousepad?

[roman_mir]

So no more 2-dimensional information entry that is easily mappable to a 2-dimensional visual display?
Interesting. Maybe we'll have mind controlled computers finally.
If alive, in 2029 I'll be 53, ouch.

What will it really be like?

All newborns are imprinted with DNA sequences, that uniquely identify a person. Basically everyone's DNA will have a serial number. Obviously many will resist this but the anti-terrorist laws will be strong, comrades. From then on this tech will proliferate into all aspects of life, various ID schemes will be implemented on top of this tech. Obviously people will find work-arounds, but all illegal of-course.

Various genetic types of treatment, still no cure for AIDS, but people won't die from it directly anymore. Still no cure for many types of cancer, but detection is much better and if detected in time, survival rate will approach 90%.

Patented life forms used in manufacturing of goods. Patented viruses, bacteria, insects, cows, pigs, wheat, rice, corn, apples, etc. used to efficiently provide the population of 9 billion people with food, shelter, clothing, energy, entertainment and medication.

Patented people. AI built on top of a computer network that will use humans as nodes for intuition and any non-programmable functionality.

Polygamy legalized in China, one woman will be able to have many husbands at the same time.

Sex-bots.

Sex-cyborgs.

Arab Emirates run out of oil and become a gigantic Disney Land on drugs.

All legally bought electronics have built-in DRM, digital fingerprinting, watermarking and such. The feedback loops allow the content providers to identify those, who release copyrighted materials into 'the wild' without authorization. Laws are put in place to make copyright violations to be the most heinous crime of all times, worse than murder but not as bad as tax evasion.

Oh, and taxes. Well, they will grow.

Nothing new here

[AndyMcL]

The article is just stating current events and the author's own current likes and dislikes. More than likely many of the companies and items mentioned will be different by 2029. Especially since the rate of change is increasing. Where was Google and Yahoo 22 years ago or many of the technologies we use today? Not even on the radar back in 1985. Many of the Slashdot readers may not have even been alive yet or were still in diapers.

The only thing you can accurately predict is people will be fundamentally the same, only the tools they use will be different.

Just my 2 cents.

-Andy

Re:They will be horrified...

[Original Replica]

"There's already nobody under 30 who remembers a pre-Reagan world "

So in another 50 years no one will ever remember having faith and pride in the US government? I'm 32 and I have never had any faith or positive feelings towards Congress. I faintly remember liking Reagan, but at the time I knew nothing of politics or policies, just that Regan gave good speeches. Outside of that I have never felt proud of our government, or had an elected leader that I actually wanted to follow. I have often felt pride in being American, when traveling overseas or helping with my small part of some charitable work, but that is pride in our culture not our leaders. It seems to me that the USSR collapsed not too long after the last generation to actually believe in it died. I fear if things continue the way they have been, the same will happen here.

Re:Not sure thats a good thing

[Ayavaron]

Something tells me that even if people forget about lolcats, 4chan will stick around. lolcats are just a meme like dozens before it. There'll be new memes and the evil forces of /b/ will continue masterminding them all.

I think Nintendo will be able to keep Mario around through endless ports of old games to new portable systems and new games. They intend to keep their best franchises around forever.

Sadly, all hope is already lost for "Chaney" and "Rodgers."

Car Era

[lobiusmoop]

I suspect they will only have distant childhood memories of everybody driving their own cars wherever they wanted.

Re:Not sure thats a good thing

[reeve]

Spread the word?  About 4chan?  The mindset of a generation growing up on 4chan...  *shudder*

Lindsay Lohan was never innocent.

[garett_spencley]

"Lindsay Lohan was never innocent."

Hopefully in the year 2025/2029 it will be "Lindsay who?" and "Paris who?" and "Britney who?". And if we're *really* lucky people might actually stop obsessing so much over the lives of people that they don't know personally or have anything to do with all together.

But I guess I'm just a dreamer :(

Re:Sea change

[Stiletto]

But the kids these days -- anything they might want to know is sitting there in the computer room. They will never know a world of informationlessness. Everything from obscure programming langauges to Hatian Gods to currrent events, right in front of them.

On the flip side, however, this generation is useless when the power goes out. Most of them can't recall basic historical facts, spell properly, or do basic arithmetic without a machine to help them.

It's the "I don't need to know---I'll google it!" generation.

Re:HEADLINE: 10th dirty nuke detonated this year

[JamesRose]

It was a shot at the ignorant view that Islamic terrorists will be responsible for nuclear attacks. You know who I suspect are going to carry out nuclear attacks- PEOPLE WITH NUCLEAR WEAPONS.

A Truly Pointless Exercise

[some old guy]

Unless you just want to establish a baseline to prove the progression that the next generation, so full naive ideals, red-hot urine, and youthful self-righteousness, will turn out to be just as big a lot of destructive, selfish, short-sighted cretins as every other generation that has gone before.

Re:Not sure thats a good thing

[rhartness]

I think Nintendo will be able to keep Mario around through endless ports of old games to new portable systems and new games. They intend to keep their best franchises around forever.

I was born in 1981 so, of course, Mario in one form or another has been a constant of my life. I, personally, beleive that the video gaming industry is certainly going to continue to grow and since it is an 'industry' just like movies and music, companies like Sony, M$ and Nintendo understand the idea of branding young impressionable minds with familiar concepts.

Mario is an icon and by 2029, it wouldn't suprise me that he and his friends (Peach, Luigi, DK, etc.) are just as famous as Mickey Mouse and his firends were in the 80's (appx. fifty years after his introduction). Mario is an icon of video games that children recognize all over the world. It would be foolish for Nintendo, or any company that might buy them out in the next 18 years, to discontinue such a long running and successful trademark that literally millions of young and old people associate with happy, youthful memories.

Anyways, that's my two cents.

Re:Teledildonics

[jombeewoof]

Looking at some of todays teenagers I think you are a bit late with "worrying about computers that are smarter than they are." It's already here

It's not the kids you have to worry about with computers. They have always had them, and kids from now on will always have them.
It will be second nature, and they'll actually know how to use the computers that are smarter than they are.
I'm worried about the vast majority of people around 35 and up that have no idea how to use a computer, and likely as not they never will.
technology will get better and better and these people will be forced to use it just to fit into society, but they will have no idea what
they have and how to use it properly.

It seems to me as technology gets smarter the kids are able to cope with it better than adults.

By 2029 the people in power will have absolutely no idea how to handle the technology they have in their hands. So basically, it will be
exactly the same as it is today.

Re:Onward and upward

[glwtta]

Being a "knowledge worker" is obsolete; it's like being a manual laborer before heavy machinery. Computers are smarter than you are.

Pft, yeah - that means that the people going into school now (who will design these systems) are freakin geniuses the likes of which the world has never seen before.

Re:They will be horrified...

[Anonymous Coward]

The difference between the USSR and the USA is that in the USA you can believe in the USA and hate the government.

Apparently you don't know many Russians.