Re: anachronisms?

In article <47892d13$0$85785$e4fe514c@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>, mcvmcv@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
 
says...
> bealoid <signup@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> > 
> > Any storage media in movies looks a bit odd to me - floppy disks look 
> > really old, but even standard optical media (which could be some form
of 
> > 'super DVD') look old fa****oned.  Using a smaller size optical media 
> > doesn't help either.
> 
> I thought they usually used some sort of crystal as storage medium.
> The problem is that it's usually a small, ****d crystal with no
> obvious place to stick a label.
> 
> While reading Asimov's _Second Foundation_, the book proudly described
> a really clever system that made it really easy for relatively untrained
> people to figure out exactly where in the galaxy they are. Before the
> invention of that item, figuring out your location took days or weeks,
> but all I was thinking was: if this process is this simple, why the
> hell isn't it automated in the first place?
> 
> Science fiction almost always falls short when it comes to computers
> and automation.
> 
> 
> mcv.
> 


Why?

In the days of sailing ****ps to navigate you used dead reckoning. It was 
accurate. However it took much work. Always you needed to have skilled 
people on-the-job recording your speed and direction. Then the figures 
had to be tabulated. It was simple but complex to do. Then Harrison came 
up with a clock.