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According to several members of older generations, pigs are flying and hell has officially frozen over. There are several things they never thought they’d see which have come to pass.
1. Privatized Space Travel
The idea that an endlessly-funded government agency would go to space was unfathomable enough. Now the guy who owns Twitter is doing it?
2. Placing Phone Calls From The Desert
You’re telling me you can be in the middle of the Sahara Desert (or Siberia or Oklahoma) and call your grandkids without a dropped connection? Even the “Can you hear me now?” guy might have trouble believing the ubiquitous state of cellphone coverage today.
3. Electric Cars
Most octogenarians probably thought they’d see flying cars before an all-electric vehicle. Funny how things work out.
4. 3D Printing
More specifically, 3D printers that can make homes. D-D-D-Dat’s unbelievable.
5. Hourly Weather Reports
Back in the day, you’d feel a drop of liquid on your head and go, welp, looks like it’s going to rain. Today, thanks to The Weather Channel app, you can plan your entire week to a T. Well, almost.
6. The State of Modern Music
There was a time when Elvis shaking his hips was the height of raunchiness. Just imagine the shock and awe when Grandma got a load of Cardi B or Megan Thee Stallion for the first time.
7. Children Refusing To Play Outside
In the 50s, 60s, 70s, and even the 90s, you had to threaten a child with physical violence to get them inside before sundown. Take away a kid’s iPad or Xbox today, and they’ll unleash physical violence on you.
8. Legal Drugs
What in the name of Reefer Madness is this? A store that sells nothing but ganja? Take a toke, gam-gam!
9. Vietnam 2.0
Vietnam veterans were certain that nobody would ever repeat the mistake of invading an unfathomably foreign country occupied by hardened guerrilla fighters based on a questionable (at best) motivation.
“Hold my beer.” – G.W.B. and Congress
10. Smartphones
Believe it or not, having the Library of Alexandria in one’s pocket wasn’t conceivable in 1983.
11. Lockdowns
Virus-prompted lockdowns. School safety lockdowns. The frequency and scale of lockdowns have caught most by surprise, including those of an older generation.
While the Cold War and nuclear scares prepared some for this strange time, the concept of an entire country staying home from work for a month-plus once seemed like a dystopian nightmare. If you live long enough, your nightmares become a reality.
12. ChatGPT
To be fair, nobody saw ChatGPT coming. But those who are old enough to remember typewriters really didn’t see ChatGPT coming.
13. American Decline
Regardless of what you think about America’s moral history, there’s no denying its status as an economic and cultural juggernaut throughout the vast majority of the 20th and early 21 centuries. The export of American manufacturing, the rise in addiction rates, the decline of the dollar’s might, and general uncertainty in America would have been unfathomable even 30 years ago.
14. General Technological Advancements
Shows like The Jetsons hinted at rapid technological advancement, but seeing it is wholly different. In addition to smartphones, technology like Bluetooth, blockchain, virtual stock trading, and text messaging have blown older folks’ collective craniums in addition to smartphones.
Source: Reddit.
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