Can you remember seeing this?  Were you even alive when it happened?  I was a little girl in 1969 and can’t remember any of it ‘live’ but have seen countless re-runs since.

It must have been really exciting to be part of the build up and then to see Neil Armstrong take those first steps.  Apparently NASA is recruiting new astronauts with plans to get someone to Mars by the 2030’s. Incredible

Quite a few of the predictions foreseen in fairly recent times have come true.  George Orwell’s 1984 foretold the prevalence of CCTV all over the planet,and the collection of (meta) data about us all through government institutions. Internet providers gathering every last bit of information about us and regular wiretapping echo ideas about keeping tabs on the ‘proles’ (population).  But goodbye News of the World (UK) and hello Edward Snowden showing that it isn’t all a one-way street…

The planet isn’t overrun by airborne cars flying Jetson style all over the place…more’s the pity.

Hanna Barbera cartoon c.1962

But we do have high speed trains that run via magnetic levitation.  The Shanghai Maglev reaches an eye watering 500kms/hour.  I often (well sometimes) wonder if people feel sick when moving so fast?

Personally, I’d like the invention of a transformer that can ‘beam me up Scotty’ and get me safely to where I want to go (anywhere on this planet is fine, I’ll leave interstellar travel to someone else at this point…).

No more jet lag, no more stressing about getting on a plane.  Just instant travel.

Clearly, a great deal of potential to end up in a shrunken state like Mike Teavee 

tvtropes.org

after being processed through the airwaves in Mr Wonka’s factory or even worse… but hopefully there will be a pill to numb any pre-transformer anxiety and another one to get rid of the potential nightmare ‘hangover’ that total body disintegration then reformation might bring about. I wonder if Magnesium tablets would help? They are pretty useful after a work-out.

So, what invention would you like to see come about in YOUR lifetime to make your world a better place?