21st Century Buggy Whips

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poadeleted20

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We all know how 19th century buggy whips were rendered obsolete by 20th century automobiles and disappeared from the marketplace. I was at the gas station this morning, and saw a technician working on the two pay phones outside the station. It occurred to me that I haven't used a pay phone in years, and there aren't that many of them around any more. So, what 20th century devices have been or are being relegated to the rubbish heap of history by 21st century technology? Off the top of my head, I'd start with:
  • Carbon paper (by copiers)
  • Pay phones (by cell phones)
  • Typewriters (by computers)
  • Road maps? (by GPS's)
Any other ideas?
 
Pagers - replaced by Cell Phones
PDAs - replaced by Cell Phones
CRT Monitors - replaced by LCD Monitors
Dial up internet - replaced by high speed internet.

Add to that, BBSes, Newsgroups, and Paper Surveys.

I almost choke to say GA might soon fall into that category too.
 
personal responsibility (by gov't coddling)

:D Sorry, had to.
 
Newspapers.

DIY auto repair.

--

I remember taking my kids with me to a furniture store about 10yrs ago. One of the props that was used in a display was a telephone with a dial. My kids were stumped. They'd never seen one before.
 
Matthew said:
I remember taking my kids with me to a furniture store about 10yrs ago. One of the props that was used in a display was a telephone with a dial. My kids were stumped. They'd never seen one before.
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we had one in our house that i grew up in. i loved it.
 
Ron Levy said:
We all know how 19th century buggy whips were rendered obsolete by 20th century automobiles and disappeared from the marketplace. I was at the gas station this morning, and saw a technician working on the two pay phones outside the station. It occurred to me that I haven't used a pay phone in years, and there aren't that many of them around any more. So, what 20th century devices have been or are being relegated to the rubbish heap of history by 21st century technology? Off the top of my head, I'd start with:
  • Carbon paper (by copiers)
  • Pay phones (by cell phones)
  • Typewriters (by computers)
  • Road maps? (by GPS's)
Any other ideas?
Click to expand...

The younger engineer that sits next to me had never even seen a slide rule until I pulled mine out of the top drawer to show her what one looks like...

Books of logrithms and trig functions so you could get more accurate calculations than a slide rule.

Also graph paper.
 
Matthew said:
DIY auto repair.
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Naaaaah. Not buying that one.

I just put new brakes and half shafts on my minivan (front wheel drive SUCKS!!!!!).

The computer stuff just uses a new tool set. If anything, it's easier because (often) the car can tell you what is wrong.
 
Graph paper? No way, I still use that a lot.
 
All I need to do is look around my mom's house and see dozens of things. :rolleyes:
 
SkyHog said:
Driving or flying commercially.
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Those don't represent being replaced by 21st technology, though. If GA dies, it will be a tragedy, not a step forward. Pay phones? Egh, I'm happier without them.
 
DIY auto repair.
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Not sure about that one. More and more people keep coming to me to do work on their vehicles or get mechanical advice since it's either that, spend an unreasonable pile for shoddy repairs, or buy a new vehicle every year when the old one falls apart. (A friend spent a year and a half and over $2500 trying to get her 4WD to work, I fixed it in under 3 minutes with a 2ft piece of vacuum hose I had laying around for free)


Definitely headed to the rubbish bin:
1. Floppy disks of all types and desktop computers (flash drives, cd's and laptops)
2. Board games, puzzles and steel tonka toys (mindless video games and plastic taking over)
3. Non specific use bulk material for custom work (prefabricated canned society defined useful stuff only or build your own factory to get raw materials)
4. The entire repair business. (throw away society)
5. Hand drafting tools (cad and similar software)
6. Me.
 
fgcason said:
Not sure about that one. More and more people keep coming to me to do work on their vehicles or get mechanical advice since it's either that, spend an unreasonable pile for shoddy repairs, or buy a new vehicle every year when the old one falls apart. (A friend spent a year and a half and over $2500 trying to get her 4WD to work, I fixed it in under 3 minutes with a 2ft piece of vacuum hose I had laying around for free)

Yeah, I can still see that - but I think it's getting to be a lost art. With computers taking over so much of the operations and the way some newer cars are designed, there don't seem to be that many parts as much as there are modules. You can fix a part, but you have to replace a module.
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Trapper John said:
Heh, we used to replace inner and outer front wheel bearings. Now we get to buy entire hub assemblies because the bearings are sealed and non-replaceable. Yay! :mad3:
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yea but its pretty easy to just bolt them on.
 
Ron Levy said:
  • Pay phones (by cell phones)
  • Road maps? (by GPS's)
Any other ideas?
Click to expand...

Are pay phones really obsolete? Does everyone have a cellphone?
And the reality is that there are areas of the country without cell coverage.

and road maps. I hope paper road maps don't go away. If nothing
else, the batteries don't die on road maps.
 
Trapper John said:
Film cameras (by digital cameras)
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Note that Polariod (or someone) may start producing instant cameras again.
and also the film for the old Polariod cameras.
 
Bob Noel said:
Are pay phones really obsolete? Does everyone have a cellphone?
And the reality is that there are areas of the country without cell coverage.

and road maps. I hope paper road maps don't go away. If nothing
else, the batteries don't die on road maps.
Click to expand...

Sign posted on an retired army non-com's office in the building where we were developing next generation simulations: "A computer with a bullet hole in it is a boat anchor, a map with a bullet hole in it is a map."

John
 
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