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[CortJstr]

How could anyone consider an admittedly important event that happened 40+ years ago a "current event"?

That wasn't the best choice of words but it's kind of hard to describe. I guess it's more like, it being something you remember happening vs. being History with a capital H.

[jaydub]

The first bit of national news that I was aware of was Cyclone Tracy in 1974.

Australia, people.

This may not have been the event itself, but discussion in the years immediately after that I remember.  It was the Hurricane Katrina (or Andrew) of the time/place.  I think what might have made it significant to a 5-year old was that it hit on Christmas Eve.  I was probably comparing getting a Tonka truck with getting a national disaster.

The first political thing I remember, which I've mentioned before, is the Gough Whitlam dismissal of 1975.  I remember kids in school making up taunting songs for whichever side of the dispute they disagreed with. 

I remember the Iran Hostage crisis pretty well, and I was aware of the Reagan/Carter election campaigns.  We were getting ready to return to the US at that time, and I thought I should learn about my new home.  Mount St. Helens and the inaugural flight of the Shuttle made 1980 a pretty memorable year for me.

[KeithHernandez]

We'll surf like they do in the U.S.A.
We'll fly down to Sydney for our holiday
On sunny Christmas Day
Australia, Australia

[theinevitable]

um, I forget the first big event I was aware of... but i have a really clear memory of hearing about the lewinsky scandal. we had to bring in articles for current events, and that was on the opposite side of the article I cut out, and more knowledgeable classmates made blowjob jokes which I didn't understand.

[V-Adore]

The first current-event-type event I really remember was the first Gulf War, although the '92 elections were the first ones I took a really active interest in. I, too, am a Dang Whippersnapper.

That said, we had a lot of similarly speculative books in my elementary-school library, and I too found it easy to fall in love with the future that never was. I think my favorite was a '60's-era book about the mid-'90's in which there was a lot of pontificating about how everyone was now a nudist inside the home because it was so much more healthful.

[wombat]

The nudist thing must have imagined a future with no pets. Dogs and cats jumping on one's nakedness is not terribly healthful, assuming you include an unbroken, non-bleeding layer of skin in your definition of that state.

[Carlos del Vaca]

WHERE'S OUR FUCKIN' FLYING CARS ALREADY?!?

[Doc]

We put all that research money into making the internet instead.

Also celebrity-branded running shoes.

[Lister]

Things I remember looking forward to as a child that never happened:

• Space exploration/travel/colonies
• Flying cars
• Underground cities
• Instant food delivery
• Meals in a Pill
• Holograms/3D TV
• *****s that learn but don't rip faces off
• Hovercrafts/Hovercars/Hoverboards

Things I never would have conceived of:

• DVRs
• Portable digital music players
• Digital convergence/shrinking in general (iPhone vs. Computer+Walkman+Phone+TV)
• Complete ubiquity of information
• Internet porn
• 3D games
• GPS Navigation

Seriously, it's been just over 3 decades and the future's all changed, man.  I want my ***** servant and flying car, only they'll both need wi-fi...

[theinevitable]

see, what freaks me out is... if you'd told me that we'd have

    * DVRs
    * Portable digital music players
    * Digital convergence/shrinking in general (iPhone vs. Computer+Walkman+Phone+TV)
    * Complete ubiquity of information
    * Internet porn
    * 3D games
    * GPS Navigation

I would have freaked out as well. I am not that old. This stuff all happened so fast! (I guess not the 3d games)

[jay-ell]

I think the thing that shocks me the most is online shopping.  No matter where you live, you suddenly have access to any product you're willing to pay shipping on. 

How did we find obscure products before Amazon.com and eBay? 

I suppose we just did without.  We probably, in fact, never new what we were missing. 

[theinevitable]

I read a really fantastic book last year, The Third Wave, where the author (Alvin Toffler) talked about de-centralization of media and the production of media by consumers being really important and the wave of the future. He made the comment that when our country was founded, it seemed ludicrous to suggest that one day 99% of our citizens would be able to write a letter. He then suggested that in the future, everyone would record videos, write, record songs, etc.

Now we've got blogs, youtube, cheap digital cameras, garageband, audacity, great video-editing software comes bundled with all Macs... nuts.

it's nuts.

[wombat]

I think the thing that shocks me the most is online shopping.  No matter where you live, you suddenly have access to any product you're willing to pay shipping on. 

Yeah. They never predict the really important things, do they?

[jay-ell]

Yeah. They never predict the really important things, do they?

I think the important lesson here is that you can, to a surprising extent, predict technology, but you can rarely forsee its application in daily life. 

The internet -- this series of tubes I use to communicate with the other voices in Womb@'s head -- was thought originally to be only of interest to research scientists & other academics. 

Then again, as Pedro pointed out recently, it wasn't long ago that some skeptics failed to see the practical value of the telephone. 

[Victoria Waterfield]

Yeah. They never predict the really important things, do they?

I suppose the idea was that the *****s would do our shopping for us.