What is Possible That You Once Thought Impossible

So I just wrapped up watching Dark on Netflix. For those that don't know, Dark is a German made show that was aired in the US by Netflix (I don't know if it was aired in other countries in other ways). Before that, I had watched The Kingdom, a Korean made TV show on Netflix. A few years ago, I watched a French show called The Returned on Netflix (now only the first season is on there, which is a bummer). Last night, I watched Parasite, the South Korean film that won best picture at the Oscars, on Hulu. Getting this exposure to so many different types of film and TV shows from so many different countries than my own still amazes me.

When I was a kid in the early 90's, my shows and film were either what was shown in movie theaters or put over the air on cable. It was primarily US made, with occasional European productions (mostly UK productions). That 30 years later (which where the hell did those thirty years go?) we can stream movies and shows from around the globe to your living room is a dramatic change and one I think is for the better for cultures around the world. Film/shows' impact on culture is time tested and that we can experience these from so many different perspectives will only broaden the awareness and improve the compassion for those that watch them. Let alone that many of these productions are extremely good.

I'm sure I could go on about other topics that amaze me (that NVME drives are the size of a stick of gum, for example), but I think the streaming topic is the perfect example of question that I'm curious how you all would answer; what is possible now that you once thought would be impossible? Or improbable? Or even that you wouldn't have even considered as a concept but now amazes you that it is possible (which is where streaming content made around the world would likely fall for me)?

100% Deepfake technology. I always thought the idea of creating believably fake video/audio was sci-fi and that there was a certain factual basis to the photographic and audio recording form. That will increasingly no longer be the case. I think the only thing that will save people from mass deception will be democratically controlled institutions to create certifiably factual videos/audio recordings so that our society is not overrun by unverifiable conspiracy bullshit.

music recording tech becoming accessible and affordable. it's totally possible now to record a full album's worth of material from a bedroom studio- when i was a kid i thought this was strictly the purview of pro recording studios. but now, it's totally possible to do everything from home and not go bankrupt in the process.

same goes for youtube, really. you want your own tv show? ok- get a computer and a camera, upload to youtube and boom! done.

doesn't mean any of these home projects are outstanding- but the barriers to access have largely been removed.

While i would never want one, It's kinda cool that we were able to use foldable glass for those phones. Glass doesn't fold or bend, it cracks or shatters! You crazy!

Being able to edit genomes and cut up DNA-strands at certain spots with a CRISPR 'cutting enzyme' that acts as scissors is pretty wild too.

And i guess i never thought about the possibility that we would use AI to create higher definition images than the original. The FF9 backgrounds come to mind.

We are using incredibly powerful computers that are based on a chip that's 7 nanometers in size? wow.

The fact that I carry a computer in my pocket exponentially more powerful than the desktops I grew up with (and mine's a $50 phone I bought at a Rite Aid, FFS) still blows my mind. Hell, there's a million things I could mention just regarding mobile tech: We carry the majority of all human knowledge with us (yet still argue over whether science and general knowledge are a political conspiracy... sigh), the long anticipated advent of "video calls", mobile games that look and run like console games, etc., etc.

Affordable VR in the home that blows the shit I tried in the 90s out of the water also still amazes me.

3D printing. I mean, holy hell.

Even little things like animated advertisements on the sides of bus stops and such, touch screens everywhere, even Roombas... the sci-fi future snuck up on us so gradually (yet so quickly) that we barely notice we're in it.

And that's just tech! I haven't even touched on societal and cultural changes I never thought I'd see, although many of them are admittedly a byproduct of tech advancements anyway.

I'm 41. At this point almost everything in society gives me this feeling.

I remember in the late 90’s thinking it would be amazing to be able to play GTA on some sort of mobile computer.

Also I have this distinct memory of my older brother telling me in 1995 that his friend had a 133mhz computer and I said “imagine in the future a computer having a THOUSAND MHz?!”

I wanted three things as a kid. A device that formed into any toy I could imagine, the ability to read peoples minds and a pocket sized terminal that had all the information in the entire world.

1 out of 3 is acceptable given my demands.

People playing video game music on the internet for money. I really should've taken my basement jams onto Youtube when it launched, but who would care about that?

Also, portable handheld computers everywhere.

You're one 3D printer away from making the first one possible.

I think it's real hard to top just..what cell phones are now. There's a reason it's always like the first thing that comes to mind if you have that whole "what would you take back in time to impress people" question.

On a more personal note I grew up on sub 56k download speeds and if you told me then that I would have 40mb down and ALSO complain about it still being too slow... I'd have just assumed you were a lunatic.

OH BOY YOU'RE RIGHT. Now I just need to practice my mind reading skills.

I remember reading some What Will The Future Be Like book in elementary school that had people talking on video phones. Back then I thought the idea of video calls was crazy nonsense that would never ever happen, or if they did they would only be available to insanely rich people or the government. It would break 6-year-old me's brain to learn that the tech is now so ubiquitous and mundane that I barely even think about it except when my connection goes to shit in the middle of a D&D session and I yell at my iPad.