It's hard to keep up with the future

Disney World in general is nothing but a big ad, with the lowest point probably being the ABC cafe in MGM, where you are subjected to mediocre food and hundreds of television sets that do nothing but advertise ABC television shows.  (Which my 11yr old summed up as "Bad comedy, kissing, and guns.")

But Epcot has the hardest job.  It's supposed to remain on the cutting edge of the future.  I was reading a science fiction novel recently in which "cutting", as in "cutting edge" had become slang for "old fashioned"—I can believe it.  But the Innoventions section, although it has some fun stuff to do, basically has very little that you wouldn't find in someone's living room.  IBM was there advertising ViaVoice—a product I tried out at least three years ago.  There were some heads-up displays and videogames made larger, but nothing awe-inspiring.

The most ironic moment came as I was sitting in a quiet spot working on my laptop.  Periodically this guy would trundle by pushing a "robot" supposedly being taken somewhere for repairs.  He and the robot were having some ongoing banter over something.  This was supposed to be a glimpse of the future of course.  But as I watched him, a tourist walked by apparently talking to his coffee mug (he had a bluetooth cell phone headset on, but the mug was at his mouth), and a Disney employee zipped by on a Segway.  The guy pushing the robot on a two-wheeled lift looked positively cutting.