This is why I know we live in the future:

http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2008/05/dean-kamens-rob/

This dude is a cyborg. Not a technical "oh you've got eyeglasses" cyborg. Not a wannabe Kevin "I've implanted a subcutaneous neurochip" Warwick cyborg. A full-on, bad-ass "I have robot arms that I control with my fucking mind" cyborg.

Um, wow. That is drop-dead unbelievable. I had no idea that thought-based control had progressed to this point. Why am I just now seeing this?!

It's not literally "thought-based." They're reading the signals from his peripheral nervous system, not his brain.

And the difference is...?

During a discussion with a friend on future technology, someone remarked that for a few days' wages ($200 for an iPod touch) you can now hold a condensed summary of all human knowledge (Wikipedia) in the palm of your hand, with near-instant access to astronomy, biology, chemistry, physics, geography, engineering, mathematics, history, sociology, economics, psychology, medicine, technology, literature, art, drama, religion, and boundless other subjects.

Yet far more often we use it for trivia and the mundane. The future is wasted on the future.

When I was in high school, I got the equivalent of a four-year degree in computer science from the internet because I was bored. It didn't feel like work.

The technology is not wasted.

"with near-instant access to astrology"

Not that your comment is incorrect, but I'm guessing you meant to say astronomy.

You're right; it's been corrected.

Of course, you can get your astrology too: http://shine.yahoo.com/astrology

What's not new is that people who are past puberty generally use technology only to make what they were already doing easier. We'll all have to die off before a majority of people develop habits and behaviors made possible by The Future.

quit living in the past, exo-memory is here, now!

Further evidence that we're in the future:

http://www.nvidia.com/object/3D_Vision_Main.html

With the right monitor, glasses, and video card, you can play Batman: Arkham Asylum in 3D.

It's here alright. Until we can communicate telepathically - via our phones I bet - being able to send instant SMS messages around the globe will have to do.

When 3G (or 4G, or the next one) is more accessible to everyone we'll have a whole array of ways to communicate instantly with literally almost everybody on earth (for reasonable values of "almost"). Twitter, traditional IM, IRC, Skype, ...

I want a netflix recommendation system, but for friends. I can communicate with anybody on earth, but I only know a handful of people in the immediate vicinity.