Technology
Boldly Into the Future
Marvelling at the Marvel Universe™; Pixel Time; Privacy inside the Panopticon; Cut-through Advertising; Meta™ injected tracking code; Click-bait; All the news that's fit make the feeds pop
While Technology could often be an asset, what you tended to see was never quite what you got.
Topic Images
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There are currently 80 photographs in this section.
On the road to serfdom
Productivity-enhancing infrastructure was just a bullet-point away
Locked-down pedestrian crossing button, near QVB Sydney [Nov-2020 145KB]
Deferred consumption model
As we grew older, we could finally afford the things we wanted so much when we were young
A mint green 1977 BMW 633 CSi at the Classic Throttle Shop showroom at Milsons Point [Dec-2020 170KB]
Waves don't vote
Roughly 2TW of energy was freely available in the form of coastal wave-power, but it was ignored because fossil fuel production was electorally more important
The abandoned 2006 Oceanlinx Mk1 Wave Generator prototype at Oilies Beach, Port Kembla. In June 2017 it was eventually towed out to sea and sunk [Sep-2014 559KB]
We have some planes
All this technology, yet commercial airliners could be made to disappear by flipping a transponder switch
Church Street cone sculpture, removed in 2021 by the Parramatta Light Rail Stage 1 construction [Feb-2017 649KB]
Tip of the spear
The most inspiring thing about the Kamikaze was that every problem had exactly the same solution
Lockheed A-12 engine aerospike at the Intrepid Museum, NYC [Oct-2017 87KB]
415 Unsupported Media Type
Yesterday's broadcast-quality analogue equipment was reutilised as landfill
Tape-based off-line editing equipment in a dumpster at Darling Harbour [Jan-2013 256KB]
Carbon capture
Wholesale deindustrialisation led to scaling back fossil-fuel and carbon-related activities, eventually
The abandoned remains of the Illawarra Coke Company at Coalcliff [Sep-2014 559KB]
Astounding Science Fiction
Superconducting NbTi coils; Holmium magnetic flux condensers; 4°K liquid helium insulated within a liquid nitrogen jacket; A suitcase-sized helium condenser; A FFT-processing rack more powerful than a dozen 1980s mainframes… A 3T magnetic field from a machine the size of a family SUV, to obtain non-intrusive millimetre resolution 3D internal body images
The 3T MRI scanner at a medical imaging practice at Penrith, in Sydney [Sep-2013 148KB]
Orderly exodus
When we were finally done, we got into our white vans and disappeared
Toyota HiAce vans await delivery at Penrith [Apr-2017 483KB]
Edgy by order
Zeitgeist-y environments were created to have fun, be niche, leverage the likes & disrupt the new normal
Disposable bicycles on Pitt Str, outside World Square [Jan-2018 240KB]
Induced dependency
To what extent was a person's sense of belonging determined by the world around them?
Pitt Street Mall passageway [Aug-2018 424KB]
Your privacy was taken very seriously
The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner; The Information and Privacy Commission of NSW; The NSW Information Commissioner; The NSW Privacy Commissioner; The Privacy Amendment (Enhancing Privacy Protection) Amendment Act 2012 (Cth); The Australian Privacy Foundation; The Cyberspace Law and Policy Community; The NSW Council for Civil Liberties; The Law Council of Australia Business Law Privacy Sub-committee; The Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) Serious Invasions of Privacy in the Digital Era Inquiry; The Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) to replace the National Privacy Principles and Information Privacy Principles; The drone "roundtable" inquiry by the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs; The Royal Guide Dogs of Tasmania Privacy Officer
A Menckenesque kaleidoscope ensured that everyone in Wollongong could see you taking a bath [Feb-2011 438KB]
Meaningful social interactions
Facebook, Twitter “X”, WhatsApp, TikTok, WeChat, Instagram, Snapchat, Tumblr, LinkedIn, LLM-based generative AI, 4/8Chan: elaborate frameworks were created to ensure you could never ever be alone
Stargazer lawn at Barangaroo Reserve, Sydney [Aug-2016 753KB]
Remarks
The imperfect panopticon
Own nothing, have no privacy and life has never been better
(Auken, 2016)
Apartment courtyard surveillance cameras awaiting connection at Victoria Park. The cameras were still not connected in 2018, four years after this photo was taken… [Sep-2014 189KB]
Beat the bowser
Our vehicle preferences said a lot about what really mattered
Suzuki hatchback vs. Ford dual-cab ute, Glenbrook station car park [Mar-2024 510KB]
In the days of the citizen journalist
Broadcast-quality equipment was no longer required to craft good stories
Media-workers at the Sydney Opera House [Jul-2014 348KB]
Remarks
0xDEADBEEF
if ( generations < 3 ) {
$core→assemble( byhand );
$size = MAINFRAME::room;
}
else {
$my→teraflops( laptop );
}
The 1963 ICT 1301 mainframe display at the Otago Settlers Museum in Dunedin NZ [Nov-2017 285KB]
Chariots of freedom
You could only be what you drove
Custom licence plates, Sydney [Jul-2023 468KB]
Gaming the system
The Volkswagen “dieselgate” story, in which the company helped their cars pass emissions tests under special conditions that they later failed when the car was driven normally, was not an isolated incident
(The Conversation, 2015)
Befouled VW automobile, Summer Hill [Sep-2015 710KB]
408 Request Timeout
2000-08-07 purchase Omega Speedmaster Automatic watch (35105000) #56462628 $2150
2001-01-13 repair under warranty for loud rattling inside watch
2005-03-29 repair due to watch stopped $595
2009-08-03 repair due to watch requiring movement replacement $655
2017-07-20 watch gains 10 minutes every hour, Omega quote to replace movement and watch hands $1295 (+ $75 courier fee)
2017-07-25 quote declined and watch returned without repair
2017-08-15 watch thrown into landfill at Blaxland Waste Management Facility
A luxury wristwatch achieved its destiny as a piece of garbage at Blaxland [Aug-2017 436KB]
The automotive chrysalis
The 3-tonne car of your dreams came with its own shroud
SUV promotion, Darling Harbour Sydney [May-2023 532KB]
The spam massif
We facilitated a global network of unsolicited urgent messages
Sydney University public noticeboards [Oct-2017 788KB]
Honest mistakes
Just because we were reckless didn't mean we didn't care
The MV Baragoola before (Sept 2018) and after (Feb 2022) sinking, Waverton [Feb-2022 413KB]
The fruits of ascendancy
Electric vehicles solved one problem by creating a multitude of others
Enmore Road mechanic spare parts automobiles [May-2023 513KB]
Staging server
What was once esoteric technology confined to a research lab, was now routinely used for entertainment
Stage technician, Campbells Cove Sydney [Jan-2019 311KB]
Remarks
Rust-belt agriculture
I'd rather put my trust in looking at the sheep and seeing how it performs, than in some number dreamed up by some scientists on a bit of paper
(Merriman, 2012)
Farm sculpture, Cathedral Street Woolloomooloo [Jul-2018 902KB]
Fighting a war for the future
A branch-office economy was adopted to ensure the redundancy of skilled workers
3801 heritage locomotive at Central [Oct-2022 303KB]
Perpetual congestion
Once the great symbol of individual freedom and personal mobility, the car has become a ball and chain. Slow, expensive, and surrounded by endless others, automobiles have taken us as far as they can
(Hume, 2012)
Weedon Avenue garage at Paddington [Mar-2017 567KB]
Pan atomicus
48 tonnes of reactor fuel blown into the sky; 500K liquidators to clean up the mess; 335k evacuees; 6k+ deaths; 90k+ animals culled; 20× increase in mutations; 2600 km² exclusion zone; €2.15G for the New Safe Confinement; $235G in damages; the collapse of the USSR… The effects of 1986-04-26 are with us still (National Geographic, 2019)
Heritage locomotive at Central Station, Sydney [Jun-2019 261KB]
Think small
A charismatic and perfectionist architect; Engineers hamstrung by 1960s tech; A meddling public broadcaster; Timorous bureaucrats & spiteful politicians… The Sydney Opera House looked magnificent from afar, but up close it was riddled with defects caused by years of controversy, indecision, compromise and bickering
Domestic fountain at Church Street, Croydon [Sep-2016 630KB]
Remarks
Stasi without the politics
HD-CCTV; IP address logging; Cookie tracking; SMM Profile Harvesting; Google Chrome & Android; EFTPOS transaction records; Data-mining; Phone-hacking; Location-sensitive personalised marketing; Mandatory QR Code scanning; Live facial-recognition surveillance; The National Bowel Cancer Screening Program; The unassailable cult of predicting future demand by collecting every scrap of information about what everyone has ever done
CCTV, Satellite, UHF and cable communications at Marrickville, in Sydney [Sep-2012 321KB]
Kernel panic
LCD in the bedroom; OLED in the lounge-room; Playstation, XBox, iPhone, Galaxy, Note, iPad, iOS and Android everywhere else
Home entertainment in suburban Kingswood, in Sydney's West [Sep-2010 655KB]
The upgrade escalator
Every nine months there was always something just that little bit better
York Street escalators, Wynyard station [Jul-2018 451KB]
The flipped classroom
A tremendous benefit of student BYOD was the ability to collect quality data to inform our effective & evidence-based focus on Action Learning, along with facilitating the continuous improvement in teaching skills and excellence
At the State Library of NSW [Oct-2014 595KB]
Faisal's gambit
The engine warning light came on in October 1973, but we covered it over and kept going
Abandoned shops (since demolished), Parramatta Road Homebush [Jun-2016 327KB]
Radical self-reliance
The smartest thing a person could do was marry well and inherit big
Indigo Slam at Chippendale [Jul-2017 225KB]
Stack overflow in Mathlib
Mate, I dropped “maffs” in school as fast as I could!
At the One Circular Quay construction site, Sydney Cove. The site had been abandoned for months because the offshore developers had run out of money [Oct-2017 724KB]
Start your holidays in hell
School-break queues snaking out the door; One flight cancelled, the next delayed; Overweight baggage fees; Overhead locker-bin arguments; Drunken footy players booted from first class and warned; A 40 minute wait for take-off clearance; The oversized bloke kicking the back of your seat; Barefoot passengers using headrests as footrests; Screaming toddlers, scrolling teens and impassive parents; Instantaneously reclining seats; The window-view of the port side ailerons
Budget airline on final approach at Rockdale [Dec-2013 541KB]
Call the police
It has been said one Police horse is more effective than ten foot Police when performing crowd & traffic control
(Australian Police, 2019)
Mounted Police at the Winter Magic Festival, Katoomba [Jun-2023 495KB]
The Great Reset
Wearing face-masks was every academic's favourite nostrum, until it wasn't
Masked commuters at Granville try to get home after another network meltdown [May-2021 271KB]
∇×H
The implementation of renewable energy struggled beneath a mantle of ignorance, obfuscation and lies
Distribution cables (since demolished) in College Lane, at Stanmore in Sydney [Sep-2012 615KB]
Let them drive cars
How was the world's largest network of private toll-roads ever going achieve it's projected ROI if people weren't encouraged to use them?
Abandoned bus at Opoho Road, Dunedin NZ [Dec-2017 702KB]
It just works
Release now, patch later
Jensen Avenue at Dover Heights [Nov-2016 405KB]
Remarks
Well maintained infrastructure
Continuous effort was required to sustain our vibrant economy
New Canterbury Road Lewisham and Light Rail construction Sydney CBD [Jul-2016 561KB]
Accidental monuments
Civil Engineering 101: slap it together as cheap as you can and then completely rebuild it later at 5× the cost, to solve issues you should have addressed the first time
Zigzag Railway upper viaduct, Clarence [Jul-2019 826KB]
Remarks
Embrace a better tomorrow
Technological progress turned out to be a bit of a chimera
Dalek ornament at Wilson Street, Lawson [Aug-2021 692KB]
Cut-through messaging
Make your mark, repeat, move on
Vandalised rail-car at the Zigzag railway, subsequently destroyed by the 2019 summer bushfires, Clarence [Jul-2019 569KB]
Remarks
Interconnected loose-ends
Sprawling cities were serviced by deliberately substandard public transport
Southern Cross station, Melbourne [Apr-2019 463KB]
Logic-bomb
Our love affair with (ICE) came to a sudden end
Georgina Street white paint, Newtown [Jun-2023 547KB]
Peace through superior fire-power
Build it and they will die
Vought F-8 Crusader at the Intrepid Museum, NYC [Oct-2017 310KB]
404 Not Found
We could detect Gravitational Waves (LIGO, 2015), prove Fermat's last theorem (Wolfram, 2014) and even ridicule Wall Street's misuse of Gaussian copula functions (Wired, 2009) — but no-one could figure out the true cost of mobile-phone plans (WSJ, 2013)
Mobile phone users at Martin Place, Sydney [Dec-2014 473KB]
Big data and the cloud
Off-line storage by the exabyte → provided you could afford to live in an area with a fast-enough network connection
Mobile phone tower and clouds from a summer storm, at Faulconbridge in the Blue Mountains [Dec-2012 164KB]
Reeks & Wrecks in Dumpstercopia
A sustainable future could only be found in scavenging, scrapping and repairs
Cardboard packaging in Blue Anchor Lane at Circular Quay, awaiting transport to an interstate landfill [Nov-2017 802KB]
Fermions coralled
Everything depended upon the flow of wave-particles which before 1897 no-one knew existed
33kV AC transmission tower outside the Penrith Transmission Substation [Jul-2011 288KB]
Built for comfort
Cruise control ✓ Loudspeakers ✓ Touch-screen TV ✓ Dual petrol tank caps ✓ National flag ✓ Oversized padded seat ✓
Indian Roadmaster motorbike at Mandible Street, Alexandria [Aug-2019 498KB]
All our tomorrows
Don't be afraid — we loved you more than our grandchildren! You were our greatest and most cherished asset, an organic talisman that gave us light and warmth and votes and windfall profits, and glistened so beautifully in the dying sun…
Anthracite in Lithgow, NSW [Jun-2019 212KB]
Congestion busting
At election time Very Fast Trains were on everyone's agenda
Bushfire wreckage, Zigzag Railway Clarence NSW [Jul-2019 721KB]
Building new pathways to wealth
A culturally unbalanced society where BScs and BEs were displaced by BAComs, CPAs, LLBs, MPsychs, FRACGPs and BA(Hons)MT
Sand-blasting and repainting the Sydney Harbour Bridge to replace the decades-old lead-based paint [Jul-2011 483KB]
Aerotropolis now
Because airlines never supplied customers with carriage on any “particular flight”, but rather “a bundle of contractual rights” which they may (or may not) redeem at any time in the future
Sydney International Airport in twilight [Nov-2017 140KB]
Fabricating nostalgia
A lot was written about the impacts of deindustrialisation, but few missed the unimaginative and dangerous work
Davy press at ATP Eveleigh Workshops museum [Sep-2017 600KB]
Hazard perception test
There was an emotional component about driving vehicles that spoke of freedom, independence and to be in control of one's own destiny
2013 Ford G6E Turbo wreckage, Blue Mountains [Mar-2014 611KB]
Traction in an attention economy
100 km/hr in 2.85 and a top speed of 340 km/hr, while the maximum permissible speed limit in NSW was 110 km/hr
Ferrari 488 Pista, Pitt Street Sydney [Nov-2022 370KB]
Project attention deficit disorder
Every Prague Spring had its tanks
Construction cranes at the Central Park development at Broadway, in Sydney [Oct-2012 313KB]
A fist full of pills
Many of us were kept alive by medicine which didn't exist as little as twenty years ago
Six days worth of cardiovascular, diabetes & cholesterol tablets, Nepean Hospital Kingswood [Jul-2023 541KB]
Rattle & roll
With a maximum cruising speed of 130 km/hr, you could theoretically travel between Sydney and Melbourne in 7½ hours. In practice it took 12. During the trip, you could rock yourself to sleep to the sound of squeaking bogie springs and the rumble from turbocharged diesel-electric engines, while your 1980s XAM sleeper car jerks about on back-country tracks and even occasionally becomes airborne, landing a moment later with a satisfying KERBOOM
XPT trains at Sydney Central terminus. After decades of service, they were due to be retired in 2023 [Apr-2019 472KB]
Moving forward
Supersonic airliners; Monorails; Jet-packs; Hover-boards; Space-elevators; Bubble-canopy aero-cars; Submersible cars; Cars with a KITT computer; Fully autonomous vehicles effortlessly navigating suburban streets…
First Lane at Hurstville, Sydney [Sep-2016 582KB]
Quickly check the feeds
… and then a coffee and a meal
Café patrons, QVB Sydney [Jan-2024 533KB]
DDoS attack
Governments and unions enthusiastically collaborated to build a rail-system so fragile that even the slightest disturbance would cause city-wide meltdowns
Parramatta station during yet another Sydney train network failure [May-2021 193KB]
Off-line storage
Acres of tank-farms to cache our dreams
Storage tanks at Tempe [Sep-2012 545KB]
Nostalgic Futurism
The Eighties didn't quite get the future right
The now dismantled Sydney Monorail at One Dixon Street, Sydney's Chinatown [Jan-2012 309KB]
Lifespans & outcomes
Living longer lives no longer needed to be an curse
Anzac Day marcher, Liverpool Street Sydney [Apr-2018 217KB]
Fibre nescience
Do consumers really need data transfer rates that only fibre could provide?
(Liberal Party of Australia, 2013)
Mothballed satellite dishes in Rozelle, in Sydney's East [Jan-2013 462KB]
X-out & scroll
First they came for the factory workers, then it was our turn
Gomo Sportswear prior to its demolition to make way for Granville Place [Jul-2017 592KB]
Force carrier
Sometimes we just couldn't contain ourselves
Electrical junction box at Chippendale, Sydney [Jul-2017 729KB]
Scheme Number 218
It took only fifty years and an extra $AUD 300M to rectify most of the Stage III issues (SOH Renewal, 2022)
Sydney Opera House, Concert Hall exterior [Dec-2018 494KB]
Eloi wonderland
We gathered by the harbourside, sipping infused agave nectar and nibbling on sweet fuyu persimmons, and were astonished by the vast contraptions built by our distant ancestors
Sydney Harbour sunrise kayaks [Jan-2019 345KB]
Remarks
Means of ascension
Those who could afford to do so, raced toward an off-grid future
Cars on the Eastern Distributor at Woolloomooloo [Jul-2018 266KB]
Option V for victory
The UPU Terminal Dues System was adjusted to ensure only developing countries received generous subsidies when exporting small parcels to the west
Airport Drive, outside Sydney International Airport [Oct-2019 192KB]
Retro-tech
Some Edwardian technologies weren't as clueless as we originally thought
The pantograph of a NSW Heritage “Set F1” suburban carriage, Central station [Jun-2019 154KB]
Sound of sirens
Everything you could possibly ever want, via your smart-phone
Mobile phone users, Sydney CBD [Mar-2015 464KB]