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We got silly common sense warnings instead of the flying cars 80s people predicted

This is a two-panel comparison meme that jokes about the gap between 1980s expectations of the future and modern reality. The top panel is labeled 'PEOPLE IN THE 80S:' and features a photo of a stereotypical 1980s man with a mustache, looking thoughtful with his hand to his face, with a thought bubble that reads 'I'M SURE THEY'LL HAVE FLYING CARS IN 40 YEARS...'. The bottom panel is labeled 'REALITY:' and shows a pizza box with a blatantly obvious, unnecessary common-sense warning circled in red, which says 'Open box before eating pizza.' The joke highlights that instead of the advanced, futuristic technology people in the 80s predicted we would have by the 2020s, modern life is full of patronizingly simple safety warnings for basic tasks, playing on the disappointment of unmet future expectations.
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Dialogue

PEOPLE IN THE 80S:
I'M SURE THEY'LL HAVE FLYING CARS IN 40 YEARS...
REALITY:
Open box before eating pizza.

Overview

This is a two-panel comparison meme that jokes about the gap between 1980s expectations of the future and modern reality. The top panel is labeled 'PEOPLE IN THE 80S:' and features a photo of a stereotypical 1980s man with a mustache, looking thoughtful with his hand to his face, with a thought bubble that reads 'I'M SURE THEY'LL HAVE FLYING CARS IN 40 YEARS...'. The bottom panel is labeled 'REALITY:' and shows a pizza box with a blatantly obvious, unnecessary common-sense warning circled in red, which says 'Open box before eating pizza.' The joke highlights that instead of the advanced, futuristic technology people in the 80s predicted we would have by the 2020s, modern life is full of patronizingly simple safety warnings for basic tasks, playing on the disappointment of unmet future expectations.

Origin notes

This meme was sourced from an RSS feed of the Reddit r/Meme subreddit, where it was posted with the original title 'We got survival tutorials instead😂'. A watermark for @TRUTHTHEORY is visible at the bottom of the image, indicating this account is the original creator or early sharer of the meme, likely first posting it on social media platforms such as Instagram or X (formerly Twitter) before it was reposted to Reddit.

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