Paleo-Future: June 2007

Friday, June 29, 2007

Futuristic Air Travel (circa 1900)

This painting by Harry Grant Dart is one of my favorite images of the paleo-future. According to the Library of Congress it was used as the cover for an issue of All Story magazine between 1900 and 1910.

The most revolutionary aspect of this image may be the depiction of a woman at the wheel. Women couldn't even vote in the United States until the Nineteenth Amendment was ratified in 1920.

You may recall that I created some wallpapers last week using this image, among others, which can be found here.

United States a British Colony (1923)

Author and critic Henry L. Mencken makes some pretty bold predictions in the February 12, 1923 article, "Thinking Men and Women Predict Problems of World Century Hence," published in the Bridgeport Telegram (Bridgeport, Connecticut).

A hundred years hence the United States will be a British colony, its chief function will be to supply imbeciles to read the current English novels and docile cannon fodder for the British Army.

I believe that Prohibition will be overthrown and restored several times before 2022. There will be periods of Prohibition and wholesale drunkeness, as now, and periods of license and moderation. Just how the wave will be running in 2022 I hesitate to predict.

The American who will be most agreeably discussed by Anglo-American historians in 2022 will be Woodrow Wilson, the first Premier of the United American Colonies.

The greatest living American author is Dr. Frank Crane. He will be remembered long after Walt Whitman is forgotten.

See also:
Sinclair Lewis Will Be Read Until Year 2000 (1936)
Thinking Men and Women Predict Problems of World Century Hence (1923)
Pictures Stately Edifices (1923)
Thinks We'll Do Our Reading on Screen (1923)
Work Days of Two Hours (1923)

The Future of Real Estate (1953)

Steve over at Finkbuilt sent me a link to this great image of a couple buying a house in the (paleo)future. The publication appears to be from December, 1953.

Thursday, June 28, 2007

GM Car of the Future (1962)

The advertisement below ran in the Official Souvenir Program for the 1962 Seattle World's Fair. The ad proclaims that General Motors is, "setting a course for the future" by showcasing the "fully functional Firebird III space-age car." The full text of the ad is transcribed below.

Mobility - the easiest, fastest, surest kind possible - turns your world of tomorrow into an accessible and amicable place. The fret is removed from traffic and it is fun, not frustrating, to take short jaunts on vehicles which float along on a pad of air or to Sunday-drive down automatic highways.

The General Motors Corporation exhibit in the Coliseum presents a preview of the fascinating changes coming in the automobile industry. You see now the full-size, experimental Firebird III. This pace-setter for the car of the future, proven in road tests, is thrust with a turbine engine. Its simple control stick accelerates, brakes and turns. Push the control forward and the Firebird III moves ahead; swing it left or right and the wheels turn; pull back and it brakes. The electronic guide system can rush it over an automatic highway while the driver relaxes.

Although the Firebird II stands as the center attraction in the exhibit, you see other displays of the future. There is a model of the automatic highway, prototype of a stretch of experimental roadway which was built in New Jersey to demonstrate how electronics can steer cars and even stop them. This quarter-mile stretch of road has been received enthusiastically by officials, who predict that electronic mechanisms in the future can eliminate routine driving chores and make long distance highway travel safer and easier.

The General Motors exhibit includes solar energy demonstrations and you may test your skill with sun-powered guns which activate parts of the display. Yet another exhibit reveals the principles of ground effect machinery, where objects are moved along a flat surface on a cushion of air. In the next century, more people will be going more places in fascinating new vehicles . . . and they'll go safely.

See also:
Magic Highway, U.S.A. (1958)
Seattle World's Fair Official Souvenir Program (1962)
Century 21: Space Needle Designs (1962)
The Future World of Transportation

Work Days of Two Hours (1923)

Today's section of the February 12, 1923 article, "Thinking Men and Women Predict Problems of World Century Hence," was written by engineer Walter N. Polakov and predicts a future workday of just two hours.

The engineer lives and works for tomorrow; today is but a stepping stone. The dreams of engineers - Frontinus, Da Vinci, Jules Verne, Prof. Bethelot and others - came true; water power is converted in non-substantial form, flying is a reality, submarines and heavier-than-air ships are here, synthetic food and artificial rendering of barren soil into fertile gardens are no longer dreams and ideals. Indeed, the engineers are warranted to dream; nay, more, without the dreams, without ideas beyond immediate reach, the engineers are merely gravediggers.

The problems of 100 years hence will flow from the solutions of problems of today. What are they? There is but one engineering problem today, around which all others hinge: physical, intellectual, moral and spiritual welfare of man. Nothing else matter; everything else in the field of engineering is either contributing or damaging the attainment of this goal of engineering.

Nineteenth century was chained to matter; twentieth century is one of emancipation from matter and of direct control of energy devoid of bulk. This gives us a starting point.

By 2022 we shall be free from pounds of space. Thus, miles, acres, dollars will be terms the meaning of which would be looked up in dictionaries. The units in general use will be second, measures of time, energy and life. Petroleum and coal will nearly be exhausted and means will be [unreadable] to utilize directly the radioactive energy of solar rays. This will not be conducted by cables and wires but secured at the place of its utilization, much as radiograms are received today. Aerial transportation will be revolutionized as air ships need not carry the bulk of power-generating materials and equipment - it will be supplied in transit, and mode of motion will be that of gliding through attraction, with gravitation compensated.

Work will gradually become more and more mental and less physical; hours of work that 100 years ago were sixteen per day and today eight, in 2022 will be not over two hours a day because of the advance in technique. Considerable leisure created by highly specialized experts will call for regenerative recreation and play thus compensating for narrow specialization by broadest development of human personalities in all directions without the tint and sting of mercenarism.

See also:
Thinking Men and Women Predict Problems of World Century Hence (1923)
Pictures Stately Edifices (1923)
Thinks We'll Do Our Reading on Screen (1923)

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Starfire (1994)

Today we have the 1994 Sun Microsystems concept video Starfire in its entirety. You can still access individual clips of the program from the links below or you can download the video here.

New London in the Future (1909)

This 1909 illustration of New London in the future can be found in the Library of Congress collection.

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Thinks We'll Do Our Reading on Screen (1923)

The second part of the February 12, 1923 article, "Thinking Men and Women Predict Problems of World Century Hence," focuses on motion pictures.

Written by David Wark Griffith (D.W. Griffith) the piece provides some great insight into the hopes and dreams for this new medium. While he has some spot-on predictions, Griffith couldn't have been more wrong about "instantaneous transmission" (i.e. live television) never taking off.

The great publishing industry will be the publishing of motion pictures instead of print.

Motion picture libraries will be as common as private libraries - more so.

Theatres will have the same relation to these libraries as the spoken theatre today has to the printed copies of dramatic works.

By their very scope and area of appeal the films must vastly outrank the stage in importance. The artistic development should be parallel since one will always draw more or less from the other.

Talking pictures will have been perfected and perhaps have been forgotten again. For the world will have become picture trained so that words are not as important as they are now.

All pictures will be in natural [unreadable]. The theatres will have special audiences; that is, there will be specialty theatres.

I do not see the possibility of instantaneous transmission of living action to the screen within 100 years. There must be a medium upon which the dramatic coherence can be worked out, and the perfected result set firmly before the screen will be permitted to occupy the public's attention. In the instantaneous transmission there would be entirely too much waste of the public's time, and that is the important thing - time.

See also:
Movie Trends of the 21st Century (1982)
Thinking Men and Women Predict Problems of World Century Hence (1923)
Pictures Stately Edifices (1923)

Seattle World's Fair Official Souvenir Program (1962)

The Seattle World's Fair of 1962 brought us Seattle's most iconic structure, the Space Needle. Also known as the Century 21 Exposition there is much to examine for those interested in the paleo-future. The image above is the cover to the Official Souvenir Program. We'll be taking a peak inside over the next few weeks. An excerpt from the introduction to the program appears below.

The World of Century 21 awaits in the Washington State Coliseum, at the west entrance to the grounds. The building encloses the state's theme show, a dramatic concept of 21st century man's environment presented in a unique cube structure rising above the Coliseum floor. On the floor level are industrial and governmental exhibits, all contributing to the image of the future.

See also:
Century 21: Space Needle Designs (1962)
To The Fair! (1965)
Expo '92
Walt Disney Explaining the Carousel of Progress to General Electric (1964)
All's Fair at the Fair (1938)

The Coming Ice Age (1982)

The 1982 book Fact or Fantasy (World of Tomorrow) by Neil Ardley contains the two-page spread below which illustrates domed cities of the future. The domes are necessary to protect humanity from the "savage cold" yet to come.

What is our planet going to be like in the future? From the way in which the Earth moves around the Sun, we have some ideas of the kind of weather that both we and our descendants are going to suffer or enjoy. It seems that the rest of their century; in general, summers will be less warm and winters more severe. Meteorologists expect the next century to be mostly cold, but the weather should improve in about 150 years time!

See also:
Closer Than We Think! Polar City (1959)
Communities May Be Weatherized (Edwardsville Intelligencer, 1952)
Postcards Show the Year 2000 (circa 1900)
Superfarm of the Year 2020 (1979)

Monday, June 25, 2007

Moving Sidewalk Mechanics (1900)

Edison's film from the 1900 Paris Exposition is amazing, but it leaves you wondering how that moving sidewalk ....well, moves. Wonder no more. This French website answers a few questions via these great illustrations.

Pictures Stately Edifices (1923)

As promised, we have the first in a long list of predictions found in the February 12, 1923 Bridgeport Telegram (Bridgeport, Connecticut).

Today's excerpt is from architect Thomas Hastings. It's particularly unsettling to read someone from the 1920s writing about the possibility of another World War. I get such a feeling of detachment, as though watching a movie playing out through history.

Architecture expresses the life of each period. Will life a hundred years hence be freer, cleaner, saner? Inevitably the architecture of 2022 will register that. Will civilization relapse perhaps through the medium of another world war, into semi-barbarism? Then barbaric will be the architecture of that time.

There is this much to be said: Steel construction frees architectural design from limitations which masonry necessarily imposed. Thus far the result has been confusion - the one and only real confusion that has ever occurred in a continuous historic succession of architectural developments. But that is because present day architecture steers a wavering course between the Scylla and Charybdis of all modern art; on the one hand, too much archaeology or selection from the past, and on the other hand, too much sterile realism.

Granted a broadened intellectual horizon (and the probability of revolutionizing inventions - even the discovery of forces which we know nothing about now.) the architects of 2022, we can imagine, will be busying themselves with edifices of a statelines and power such as we have only dreamed of hitherto.

See also:
Thinking Men and Women Predict Problems of World Century Hence (1923)
Prelude to a Great Depression (The Chronicle Telegram, 1929)
Part-Time Robot (1923)

Monsanto House of the Future (1957)

This 1957 photo of the Monsanto House of the Future can be found in the Library of Congress collection.

See also:
Monsanto House of the Future (1957-1967)

Friday, June 22, 2007

Paleo-Future Wallpaper

A few blogs mentioned that they liked "Going to the Opera in the Year 2000" so much that they were using it as their desktop wallpaper. With that in mind, I've uploaded 3 different wallpaper designs in a variety of sizes. I haven't yet blogged about the first image but it may be one of my favorite paleo-futuristic paintings ever. Enjoy.

Flying Machine (circa 1900)
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Going to the Opera in the Year 2000 (circa 1900)
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Robot Battles (1934)
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See also:
Going to the Opera in the Year 2000 (1882)
Gigantic Robots to Fight Our Battles (Fresno Bee, 1934)

Thursday, June 21, 2007

Future Plane Travel (1920)

This 1920 cartoon of future plane travel can be found in the Library of Congress collection.

Man and the Moon (1955)

The Disneyland TV show episode Man and the Moon originally aired December 28, 1955 and was released theatrically outside the United States.

The entire episode prominently showcases Werhner von Braun's torodial space station. The clip below dramatizes what a space mission may involve some day in the distant (paleo)future.

You can view a clip of the program here and you can find this program in its entirety on the DVD set Walt Disney Treasures - Tomorrowland: Disney in Space and Beyond.

See also:
Challenge of Outer Space (circa 1950s)
Mars and Beyond (1957)
Animal Life on Mars (1957)
Plant Life on Mars (1957)

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Futuristic Phone Booth (1958)

This photo of a "futuristic phone booth" from 1958 can be found in the Library of Congress collection.

See also:
Outer Space Furniture (1964)
Governor Knight and the Videophone (Oakland Tribune, 1955)
Face-to-Face Telephones on the Way (New York Times, 1968)

Electric Belt (1903)

Many people of the early twentieth century held magical beliefs about electricity. This ad in the April 24, 1903 Manitoba Morning Free Press (Winnipeg, Manitoba) promised to cure what ails ya. From rheumatism to lame backs to stomach and bladder problems, Dr. Sanden's Electric Belt was pure magic.

For modern-day nonsense check out the Q-Ray bracelet.

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Closer Than We Think! Throw-Away Clothes (1959)

Apparently the ability to throw away your clothes is worthy of more attention than the commuter helicopters everyone's flying around in the future.

This strip ran in the October 25, 1959 Chicago Tribune.

Do your clothes need to be cleaned or washed? Are you tired of the old patterns or colors? In the future, if your answer to any of these questions is yes, you'll simply throw the old clothes away - and maybe kindle a camp fire with them.

Much of tomorrow's wearing apparel may be made out of treated paper, intended for use a few times, then for discard. The Quartermaster Corps is already investigating the use of such processed paper for parachutes, disposable uniforms, pup tents, and other shelters. It wears well, and its insulating qualities make it usable in all kinds of weather.

See also:
Closer Than We Think! (1958-1963)
Closer Than We Think! Monoline Express
Closer Than We Think! Lunar Mailbag (1960)
Closer Than We Think! Polar City (1959)
Closer Than We Think! Fish Bowl Swimming Pool (1958)
Miss A.D. 2000 (Chicago Tribune, 1952)
Envision Odd Styles in 1950 (Hammond Times, 1939)
Commuter Helicopter (1947)

Future Shock - Babytorium (1972)

As I've asserted before, Future Shock is probably the strangest motion picture ever to claim the genre of documentary. While not altogether wrong about what the future holds, the film certainly presents its case in a rather dramatic and overstated manner. Case in point, "Babytoriums" of the future.

You can find Future Shock on the DVD Yesterday's Tomorrows Today, released by A/V Geeks.

See also:
Future Shock (1972)
Future Shock - Electrical Stimulation (1972)
Future Shock - Skin Color (1972)

How Do You Like Them Apples?

I guess "Where's my Jetpack?" can no longer be the battle cry of the paleo-futurism movement.

Mexican start-up Tecnologia Aeroespacial Mexicana (TAM) offers its custom-built TAM Rocket Belt for $250,000, which includes flight and maintenance training. On a full tank of hydrogen peroxide the belt weighs 124 to 139 pounds (the bigger the pilot, the bigger the belt), and provides 30 seconds of flight. TAM's sole competitor is Jetpack Inter national, a Colorado-based company that sells what it calls "the world's longest-flying jet pack." Technically speaking, it's true — the hydrogen-peroxide-burning Jet Pack H202 can stay in the air for 33 seconds, 3 seconds longer than TAM's model. The H202 weighs 139 pounds, and is competitively priced at $155,000, flight classes and all.

See also:
Where's My Jetpack? (2007)
Jet Flying Belt is Devised to Carry Man for Miles (New York Times, 1968)
Jet Pack Video (1966)
A Wonderful Day to Fly (1980)

Monday, June 18, 2007

Going to the Opera in the Year 2000 (1882)

This lithograph from 1882 depicts the fanciful world of 2000; flying buses, towering restaurants, and of course, 1880's French attire. Albert Robida is less well-known than Jules Verne but contributed just as much to the collective imagination through his amazing illustrations.

If you speak French I recommend picking up the Robida book La vie électrique. For the record, I don't speak French. Much like a child, I got it for the pictures.

(UPDATE: Some very good questions have been raised about the date of production for this lithograph. The year 1882 came from a Library of Congress source. La Vie Electrique (published 1892) contains structures that look similar to the Eiffel Tower but are in fact lighthouses. However, I am definitely open to the idea that "circa 1900" would be a more appropriate label.)

Edison Battery Solves Old Problems (1909)

Think gasoline engines are on their way out? We've been thinking that for about a hundred years now. This story ran in the June 27, 1909 Oakland Tribune (Oakland, California).

The commercial value of the gasoline motor will then disappear. Vehicles charged with the new battery will be about as noiseless as it will be practicable to make any rapidly moving thing.

Friday, June 15, 2007

Starfire (Part 8, 1994)

And now, the thrilling conclusion to the 1994 Sun Microsystems concept video, Starfire. If you'd like to download the video in its entirety you can find it here.

Futurism's Past Littered With Faulty Forecasts

John W. Schoen over at MSNBC recently wrote an interesting piece about paleo-futurism. An excerpt appears below but you can read the entire story here.

To make a bold prediction about the future, you have to think outside the box. But as the history of these predictions shows, when you try to stare too deeply into the future, it’s all too easy to end up way outside the ballpark.

History, in fact, is littered with Big Ideas that went nowhere. From the paperless office to teleportation; flying cars and undersea cities, predicting the future can be a perilous business. But that hasn’t stopped people from trying.

See also:
Is Futurism Dead? (New York Times, 1982)

Closer Than We Think! Fish Bowl Swimming Pool (1958)

More often than not, Arthur Radebaugh's brilliant series Closer Than We Think! makes practical sense. However, this image which ran in the July 13, 1958 Chicago Tribune, threw me for a loop (cringe-inducing pun intended).

Today's spectators can see beneath the surface of a swimming pool only through windows or portholes below the water line. But tomorrow's vacationers will be able to do far better. Pools in transparent structures above the ground will enable observers to relax alongside and have the fun watching underwater aquatic frolicking at the same time.

This in-the-air pool for swimming in the future is shaped like a cocktail glass or the bottom half of a fish bowl. It is reached by a circular ramp leading to platforms and diving boards - a highly decorative addition to the grounds of tomorrow's pleasure resorts.

See also:
Closer Than We Think! (1958-1963)
Closer Than We Think! Monoline Express
Closer Than We Think! Lunar Mailbag (1960)
Closer Than We Think! Polar City (1959)

Frigidaire Kitchen of the Future (1957)

The blog Mutagenic Mushroom recently posted this photo of the 1957 kitchen of the future. I can't tell where they found it but they claim it was produced by Frigidaire. Anyone with more information about this image is encouraged to fill us in.

See also:
1999 A.D. (1967)
Monsanto House of the Future (1957-1967)

Thursday, June 14, 2007

Thinking Men and Women Predict Problems of World Century Hence (1923)

The February 12, 1923 Bridgeport Telegram (Bridgeport, Connecticut) ran an interesting piece looking at the world of 2022.

The article contains contributions from movie producers, architects, teachers, engineers, Margaret Sanger and the head of the NAACP. The introduction is below. Stay tuned as we explore each piece of the article in the coming weeks.

In these piping days of peace, when the face of the world changes as unceasingly as the view from a fast train, to avoid dizziness the eyes must occasionally be directed to that far horizon which moves only slightly - the future. And speculation, now and then, as to what lies beyond that horizon is also helpful in warding off a feeling of bewilderment. Hence this symposium.

"A Hundred Years From Now - What?" was the main question asked by the New York World of the men and women whose contributions appear below: then there were questions dealing with their special work and interests. The result, as these responses show, is a pretty consistently optimistic appraisal of the year 2022 by people who have a wide experience and many points of contact with 1922. There's a good time coming they agree, most of them. The problems that beset us, the strife and jar of normalcy, will all be banished and forgotten, and the world will be a much better place - for our great-great-grandchildren to live in.

Here and there are qualification general the prospect for a century hence seems rosy.

Omissions may be noted. No captain of industry peers ahead through the mist and cries "Land ho!" For the most part, the actual manipulators of affairs, when approached on the subject replied that they were neither prophets nor yet the sons of prophets. It is natural, of course, that a man who is striving with might and main to keep things as they are, or at least to keep them from becoming too different, should find himself staring to see a hundred years ahead. That is how it happens that the majority of contributions are by men and women of a reform, liberal or progressive turn of mind.

See also:
Prelude to a Great Depression (The Chronicle Telegram, 1929)
Part-Time Robot (1923)

Elektro and Sparko Ad (1956)

After Elektro and his dog Sparko were done showing off their skills at the 1939 New York World's Fair they toured Westinghouse retailers helping sell refrigerators. This ad ran in the July 2, 1956 San Mateo Times.

Starfire (Part 7, 1994)

Part 7 of the Starfire video shows the helmet-haired antagonist attempting to derail our heroine's brilliant business plan. Stay tuned for the thrilling conclusion.

McFly 2015 Buttons and Stickers

The people over at McFly 2015 were kind enough to send me some stickers and buttons. For those unfamiliar with the campaign, McFly 2015 seeks to pressure Nike into producing the boots Michael J. Fox wears in Back to the Future: Part II. Basically, "Where Are My Shoes?" rather than "Where's My Jetpack?"

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Metal Man Comes to Life (1939)

The May 1, 1939 Hammond Times (Hammond, Indiana) ran these images of Elektro, a robot featured at the 1939 New York World's Fair.

Elektro could supposedly "speak," distinguish between colors, smoke a cigar and direct an orchestra.

See also:
All's Fair at the Fair (1938)
Robots Will Be Kings (1949)
"I Can Whip Any Mechanical Robot" by Jack Dempsey (1930s)
Gigantic Robots to Fight Our Battles (Fresno Bee, 1934)
The Mechanical Man of the Future (1928)
The Robot is a Terrible Creature (1922)
Mammy vs Robot (Charleston Gazette, 1937)
Donald Duck's "Modern Inventions" (1937)

Solar Power of 1999 (1956)

The fascinating book 1999: Our Hopeful Future by Victor Cohn explains in chapter nine how the world will harness the power of the sun. Below is an excerpt from chapter nine titled, "We Hitch Up the Sun."

The sun rose as usual on January 10, 1999, and went to work.

In a great, sun-drenched desert, a thousand acres of collector plates soaked up the sun's heat, intensified it and relayed it to boilers. This was the energy source for an electric power plant that operated a great sea-water purification works a few miles away. The sea water irrigated the desert.

In a field, winding rows of plastic-topped trenches soaked the sun's light into a deep green liquid that turned thicker almost as you watched. This was an algae farm using the sun's energy to grow food.

On millions of roof tops, glass collectors absorbed sun heat, to be stored in tanks. These were home-heating plants without other fuel. The world of 1999 had begun to tap the greatest energy source, the daily rays of the sun, and with this golden treasure was lighting cities and making deserts bloom, milking cows and baking sunshine cakes.

See also:
Solar Energy for Tomorrow's World (1980)
Delicious Waste Liquids of the Future (1982)
Sea City 2000 (1979)

Like Earth, Only in Space .... and with monorails (1989)

This image is featured in the 1989 book Checkerboard Press Computers and Electronics (Encyclopedia Series). The caption appears below.

Space colonies are now being considered seriously by some people. The one in the picture [above] is controlled throughout by a big central computer. The colony is positioned 240,000 miles (350,000km) from Earth and about the same distance from the Moon. It consists of a great tube 430 feet (130m) across. This tube forms a ring over a mile in diameter. The tube houses the main living and agricultural areas and can support up to 10,000 people. The big wheel rotates once a minute. This makes an artificial gravity on the surface of the tube away from the center. "Up" is towards the hub and "down is away from it.

Sunlight is reflected from huge mirrors that can be adjusted to give as much or as little sunlight as required in different parts of the tube. The sunlight also gives the energy to drive the generators which produce the colony's electricity.

Long "spokes" attach the tube to a central hub. At the hub there are docking ports for spaceships and vast antenna arrays for all the colony's communications with Earth.

See also:
Space Colony Pirates (1981)
Sport in Space Colonies (1977)
Space Colonies by Don Davis
More Space Colony Art (1970s)
Mars and Beyond (1957)
Challenge of Outer Space (circa 1950s)

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Closer Than We Think! Polar City (1959)

The January 25, 1959 Chicago Tribune ran this picture of the "Polar City of the Future" as a part of the Closer Than We Think! series.

As Alaska joins the union, more rapid development of the vast open spaces of that new state can be expected. Experts are already studying the problems involved in creating the population centers that will be necessary for tapping the hidden-wealth of the area and building the defense outposts that may be required.

One possibility would be to construct arctic cities under great domes of transparent plastic or glass, where springlike temperatures could be maintained. Such domes are already in use at the Glasgow Central Station in Scotland and at a big downtown plaza in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

How would isolated polar cities, ringed by icebergs and mountains, be supplied? Our armed forces have a solution - the dirigible. Recently, the Navy told how its blimp ZPG-2 successfully flew food and other supplies to an ice island team of scientists only 500 miles from the North Pole.

See also:
Closer Than We Think! (1958-1963)
Closer Than We Think! Monoline Express (1961)
Closer Than We Think! Lunar Mailbag (1960)

Monday, June 11, 2007

Starfire (Part 6, 1994)

Part 6 of the Sun Microsystems video Starfire shows how a presentation can be prepared and presented (to floating heads).

I apologize for the glitchy video. Parts 7 and 8 should look much better.

Aerial Navigation Will Never Be Popular (1906)

The August 14, 1906 Lake County Times (Hammond, Indiana) ran an article by Sir Hiram Maxim titled, "Aerial Navigation Will Never Be Popular." An excerpt, as well as the original article in its entirety, appears below.

But I do not think the flying machine will ever be used for ordinary traffic and for what may be called "popular" purposes. People who write about the conditions under which the business and pleasure of the world will be carried on in another hundred years generally make flying machines take the place of railways and steamers, but that such will ever be the case I very much doubt.

In a Cashless Future, Robots Will Cook (1996)

The January 24, 1996 New York Times ran an article titled, "In A Cashless Future, Robots Will Cook." An excerpt appears below. You can read the entire article here.

It's a typical day in the year 2006. After a hectic afternoon of negotiating contracts with business partners in Hong Kong, London, Moscow and the Bronx, you step from your office and into your kitchen. What's for lunch? You press a hand on your personal diagnostic machine, and quicker then you can say Michael Jackson does Sinatra, the unit checks your blood pressure, cholesterol and weight-fat ratio and reads out your nutritional requirements. Up pops suggested menus.

Kitchen robots quietly go to work moving ingredients from a "smart" refrigerator that is built into a microwave oven. A minute later, out rolls a garden salad with dill dressing and an open-face pork-roast sandwich on wheat -- no crust. After lunch, you return to your home office to finish some business in South Africa. If you're done early, maybe you can squeeze in a movie: "Gone With the Wind" you reconfigured with Bruce Willis as Rhett Butler.

For much of human history, talk of the future was relegated to the musings of self-described prophets, astrologers, dreamers and fools. But as the world lurches toward the 21st century, futurism is being taken more seriously by more people. Experts of all stripes are studying the patterns of the past and present, trying to project tomorrow. Forecasts of what might be spill out of corporate boardrooms, government offices, magazine stands, talk shows and bookstores like a bubbly brew.

See also:
1999 A.D. (1967)
Call a Serviceman (Chicago Tribune, 1959)
Something must be wrong with its radar eye! (Chicago Tribune, 1959)
The Electronic Brain Made Beef Stew (1959)
Monsanto House of the Future (1957-1967)

Friday, June 8, 2007

Bubble House (1968)

This French house, designed by Antti Lovag in 1968 and photographed by Ken Sparkes in 2006, is a shining example of paleo-futuristic design.

Many thanks to Richard Green for the link.

See also:
Desolation Row
Desolation Row in Color
Taiwan Has Abandonment Issues

Starfire (Part 5, 1994)

Part 5 of the 1994 video Starfire gives us voyeurism, a subtle Jetsons reference and more video-phone technologies of the paleo-future.

Thursday, June 7, 2007

Mobile Malls (1981)

The February, 1981 issue of The Futurist featured this illustration of a "mobile mall" of the future. Below are excerpts from the accompanying article.

"It will be the age-old concept of the traveling merchant; but instead of camels or sailing vessels, the retailer of the future will transport his material via superhighway and erect his store on site," says the originator of the retailing on wheels concept, Elinor Selame of Selame Design in Massachusetts.

The advantage of mobile malls lies in their simplicity, economy, and mobility. Retailing on wheels, Selame argues, may be a popular marketing response in an era of shrinking energy supplies and hard-bargaining consumers.

See also:
Online Shopping (1967)

Starfire (Part 4, 1994)

Part 4 of the Starfire video looks at the possibilities of media creation without shooting new scenes with new actors.

Moving Sidewalks by Goodyear (1956)

As a follow-up to last week's post on the moving sidewalk of 1900, today we have an illustration published in 1956. The image below appears in the book 1999: Our Hopeful Future by Victor Cohn. It was produced by Goodyear and shows the (semi-realized) hopes for this paleo-futuristic technology.

Sinclair Lewis Will Be Read Until Year 2000 (1936)

The December 5, 1936 Chicago Daily Tribune ran a short article titled, "Sinclair Lewis Put First As Author to be Read Until 2000." Below is the article in its entirety. I've added links to the Wikipedia page for each author mentioned.

Sinclair Lewis is the American author of the present day whose books are most likely to continue to be read in the year 2000, is the verdict of subscribers to The Colophon, a book collectors' quarterly, who were asked by its editors to vote on the question of literary survival. Only living American authors were included.

Next to Mr. Lewis, whose point score was 332, comes Willa Cather with a point score of 304. These are the only authors who exceed a 300 batting average.

Eugene O'Neill with 292 points and Edna St. Vincent Millay with 205 come next, followed by Robert Frost, 180; Theodore Dreiser, 149; James Truslow Adams, 115; George Santayana, 113; Stephen Vincent Benet, 91, and James Branch Cabell, 90.