The Future Was Wrong It Would Seem

The idea behind encasing bicycles in plastic was one for safety. If somebody could use a spray can and increase the rigidity of these devices at certain points, then they would feel much safer during their travels. Older bike structural failures were often the result of poor welding or decaying components. If you ride an old road bike it will have numerous problems with its drivetrain that could cause an accident. Brake cables and unoiled chains are subject to rust. Eventually without proper maintenance these components will reach a point of failure. A plastic coating isn’t really what made the bicycle safer. The use of alloys did a much better job of that. The majority of modern bicycles are made out of either aluminum or carbon fiber. People still look for a simple solution as one may have thought plastic would be in those days. The future of bicycles now is based on really finicky concepts such as a tiny increase in aerodynamic efficiency. They are aware of stress points on the bicycle and are able to cover those with stronger materials in order to prevent a break. This is why the chain stays and seat stays are incredibly thin compared to the down tube. On old steel bikes there is not much of a difference.

Replacing teeth with those donated by other people was spawned out of vanity, as so much of the products that people use today are. This prediction isn’t the method used, as I would know. I happen to be missing ten teeth genetically, so I have been put in a situation of understanding what sort of solutions there are these days. The solution that I will undergo in a few years is a false tooth implant. Quite the opposite of what was envisioned in 1966, I will have a titanium screw inserted into my jaw, and one month later they will place a tooth-like cap on it. These have been around for about 30 years, and they have shown no signs of significant wear for a person. I would have preferred that natural teeth would be in my skull, but this will sadly not be the case.

Photo courtesy of bloop

             

   Our culture is still safety and vanity obsessed. They will probably never move away from those concepts as untimely death is always a tragedy and people will always support products that are designed to make themselves look better/more normal. People will always remain optimistic about future advances though. Even now people are researching ways to genetically grow teeth so that a person could have their own teeth put into their head if one of them was defective or missing. This may or may not ever come to fruition, as only time will tell. Certain values may change over the years, but some concepts will remain as solid as they were centuries ago. These concepts vary from noble to greedy such as they values I chose for this post. Safety is for the benefit of all people and vanity is for the benefit of an individual. No matter the method, a whole list of ideas of improvement will more than likely always accompany such values.