{"id":339718,"date":"2017-05-01T09:57:40","date_gmt":"2017-05-01T01:57:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/techcrunch.com\/?post_type=tc-media-gallery&p=1483491"},"modified":"2017-05-01T09:57:40","modified_gmt":"2017-05-01T01:57:40","slug":"imagining-five-retro-technologies-as-startup-pitches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/imagining-five-retro-technologies-as-startup-pitches\/","title":{"rendered":"Imagining five retro technologies as startup pitches"},"content":{"rendered":"

Silicon Valley is a bubble. Go into any SoMa coffee shop and you\u2019ll hear founders and investors alike singing the praises of Hyperloop and flying cars<\/a> \u2014 sci-fi tropes reincarnated by billionaires with a god complex. This isn\u2019t to say these technologies shouldn\u2019t be pursued, but sometimes it\u2019s healthy to remember that we are effectively\u00a0pulling a Facebook Stories<\/a> on\u00a0H. G. Wells and\u00a0Jules Verne.<\/p>\n

We here at TechCrunch are no strangers to big ideas\u00a0that are inspiring\u00a0on paper but don\u2019t quite work in the real world. Take Google Glass \u2014 the headline \u201cProject Glass Is The Future Of Google<\/a>\u201d once graced our home page. It happened then and it will happen again because moonshots are way more fun than\u00a0subscription box and infrastructure monitoring startups\u00a0\u2014 they also make it easy to claim superiority in a world that gives bonus points to the person\u00a0willing to address the biggest problem.<\/p>\n

Points in the game of moonshots shouldn\u2019t go to the one with the idea. Rather, they should go to the one who can work out the details.\u00a0Where do autonomous delivery drones land? How do you build underground tunnels<\/a> without disrupting\u00a0existing infrastructure? Or if you\u2019re a 1930s VC penning a thought piece for TechCrunch about how Zeppelins are\u00a0the future of travel\u00a0\u2014\u00a0addressing safety and practicality.<\/p>\n

But gosh is it fun to suspend disbelief. Billionaires shouldn\u2019t be the only ones with that right.\u00a0Here\u2019s five satirical examples of retro\u00a0technologies reimagined as moonshot startup pitches and the stories of how some people are still trying to make them work today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"\" Silicon Valley is a bubble. Go into any SoMa coffee shop and you’ll hear founders and investors alike singing the praises of Hyperloop and flying cars — sci-fi tropes reincarnated by billionaires with a god complex. This isn’t to say these technologies shouldn’t be pursued, but sometimes it’s healthy to remember that we are effectively\u00a0pulling a Facebook… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n

\n<\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a>\n<\/div>\n

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