Friday, August 31, 2007

Hawaii As Educational Resort (1970)

The July 31, 1970 Honolulu Advertiser ran an article by Jane Evinger about Hawaii becoming a destination for education rather than just recreation. The piece quotes heavily from the preliminary report of the Governor's Conference on the Year 2000.

Both the article and the report work under some interesting assumptions about the future, such as a guaranteed income whether you work or not. An excerpt appears below.

Within the coming 30 years, the report assumes, technology will provide far more leisure and everyone, whether he works or not, will receive guaranteed annual income.

As a result, says the task force, "since there will be plenty of time to learn, there wil be no need for compulsion."


The article was found in the 1972 book Futures Conditional.

See also:
The Future of Leisure That Never Arrived (New York Times, 2007)

Thursday, August 30, 2007

Car-on-Train Pallet System (1968)




This "car-on-train pallet system" is featured in the 1968 book Transportation in the World of the Future.

Flowers by Alice (Part 3, 1992)

Part 3 of the US West concept video Flowers by Alice shows the amazing graphics capabilities of their portable, talking computer. Those flower pots are priceless. I'm pretty sure Mario and Luigi can be spotted if you squint hard enough.



See also:
Flowers by Alice (Part 1, 1992)
Flowers by Alice (Part 2, 1992)

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Amateur Photos of NY World's Fair (1965)


Flickr user ninecormorants has a great collection of amateur photos from the 1964/65 New York World's Fair.

See also:
Transportation Exhibits at the New York World's Fair (1964)
To The Fair! (1965)

Progress to Counter Catastrophe Theory? (1975)

The November 24, 1975 Middlesboro Daily News (Middlesboro, Kentucky) ran an editorial countering the "catastrophe theory" predictions made by the Club of Rome. Per usual, neither party got everything right. Excerpts appear below, along with the piece in its entirety.

In health care, for example, a cure for cancer will be found by 1995 and will be generally available in the early 21st Century.

Closer to the present, it's felt that within two years doctors should be able to detect most genetic defects before birth and be able to prevent them by the 1990s.

In transportation, an all plastic car, except for engine and drive train, will be common by 1990. So will the electric car. The service-free, accident-proof automobile is expected to be in widespread use by the year 2000.

Ditto for automated urban transit, after becoming technologically possible in 1985 and economically feasible 10 years later.

Also by 1995, aerospace experts predict an economic alternative to petroleum fuel and full use of it by 2010.


See also:
The Futurists of 1966 Looking Toward A.D. 2000
Health Care in 1994 (1973)
Headlines of the Near Future (1972)
Closer Than We Think! Monoline Express (1961)
The Population Bomb: Scenario 1 (1970)
The Population Bomb: Scenario 2 (1970)
The Population Bomb: Scenario 3 (1970)
Future Without Football (Daily Review, 1976)
Going Backward into 2000 (1966)

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

The Tomorrowland That Never Was (1965)


This 1965 concept sketch depicts a hypothetical New Tomorrowland in Disneyland. The drawing is featured in the book Designing Disney's Theme Parks by Karal Ann Marling.

GM's Three-Wheeled Runabout (1966)


The 1966 book Automobiles of the Future features these images of General Motor's Runabout concept car. Besides having three wheels it also features a built-in shopping cart that slides out of the trunk:
Two views of the GM three-wheeled Runabout. This car of tomorrow is fitted with two shopping carts that make up the car's trunk area. The experimental design has been operated with all-electronic controls in proving ground tests.



See also:
GM Car of the Future (1962)
Automobiles of the Future (1966)
Sports Car of Tomorrow (1966)
Magic Highway, U.S.A. (1958)
The Future World of Transportation

Monday, August 27, 2007

Fuller's Traveling Cartridge (circa 1960s)

This concept drawing by Buckminster Fuller looks to have a lot in common with the airport of the future article we looked at last week.


The illustration was found in the excellent 1968 book Transportation in the World of the Future.

See also:
Airport of the Future (1967)
Disney's Magic Highway, U.S.A. (1958)
The Most Well-Documented Lives in History

Friday, August 24, 2007

Fashion Wired for Sound in Year 2000 (1957)

The May 15, 1957 Chicago Tribune ran a piece titled, "Tell Future of Fashions in Exhibit." The story described the apparel on display at Marshall Field at the time, which depicted the fashions of the year 2000. An excerpt appears below.

Most of the designers represented agreed that the fashionable woman of the future will be wired for sound, with sending and receiving equipment built into her costume. Fabrics will be treated to be warm in winter and cool in summer. Some will screen the sun to allow tanning without burning while others, used in bathing suits, will make them unsinkable.

See also:
Miss A.D. 2000 (Chicago Tribune, 1952)
Waitress of the Year 2000 (1939)
Evening Fashions of the Year 1952 (1883)

Flowers by Alice (Part 2, 1992)

Part 2 of the US West concept video Flowers by Alice features the business tools of the future. Voice recognition technology seemed to be very popular in concept videos of this era.



See also:
Flowers by Alice (Part 1, 1992)

Thursday, August 23, 2007

Cyclonic Rocket (circa 1930)


From the 1977 book Rocketship: An Incredible Journey Through Science Fiction and Science Fact:
Paul Maiwurm's fanciful Cyclonic Rocket depends on four rocket engines, unusual rotating tubular wings (wouldn't the whole vehicle tend to rotate?), scoop propellers and happy pilots. Obviously it's a California first.

See also:
Aerial Navigation Will Never Be Popular (1906)
Commuter Helicopter (1947)
Postcards Show the Year 2000 (circa 1900)
Disney's Magic Highway, U.S.A. (1958)

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Living Room of the Future (1979)

This image appears in the 1979 book Future Cities: Homes and Living into the 21st Century and illustrates the living room of the (paleo)future.


This living room has many electronic gadgets which are either in use already or are being developed for people to buy in the 1980s.

1. Giant-size TV. Based on the designs already available, this one has a super-bright screen for daylight viewing and stereo sound system.

2. Electronic video movie camera, requires no film, just a spool of tape. Within ten years video cameras like this could be replaced by 3-D holographic recorders.

3. Flat screen TV. No longer a bulky box, TV has shrunk to a thickness of less than five centimetres. This one is used to order shopping via a computerised shopping centre a few kilometres away. The system takes orders and indicates if any items are not in stock.

4. Video disc player used for recording off the TV and for replaying favourite films.

5. Domestic robot rolls in with drinks. One robot, the Quasar, is already on sale in the USA. Reports indicate that it may be little more than a toy however, so it will be a few years before 'Star Wars' robots tramp through our homes.

6. Mail slot. By 1990, most mail will be sent in electronic form. Posting a letter will consist of placing it in front of a copier in your home or at the post office. The electronic read-out will be flashed up to a satellite, to be beamed to its destination. Like many other electronic ideas, the savings in time and energy could be enormous.


The picture [above] takes you into the living room of a house of the future. The basics will probably be similar - windows, furniture, carpet and TV. There will be one big change though - the number of electronic gadgets in use.

The same computer revolution which has resulted in calculators and digital watches could, through the 1980s and '90s, revolutionise people's living habits.

Television is changing from a box to stare at into a useful two-way tool. Electronic newspapers are already available - pushing the button on a handset lets you read 'pages' of news, weather, puzzles and quizzes.

TV-telephones should be a practical reality by the mid 1980s. Xerox copying over the telephone already exists. Combining the two could result in millions of office workers being able to work at home if they wish. There is little need to work in a central office if a computer can store records, copiers can send information from place to place and people can talk on TV-telephones.

Many people may prefer to carry on working in an office with others, but for those who are happy at home, the savings in travelling time would be useful. Even better would be the money saved on transport costs to and from work.

See also:
Future Cities: Homes and Living into the 21st Century (1979)
Closer Than We Think! Robot Housemaid (1959)
Closer Than We Think! Lunar Mailbag (1960)
Online Shopping (1967)
1999 A.D. (1967)
The Electronic Newspaper (1978)
Startling Changes in Housing in Year 2000 (Chicago Tribune, 1961)
Monsanto House of the Future (1957-1967)
Picturephone as the perpetual technology of the future
Frigidaire Kitchen of the Future (1957)

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Airport of the Future (1967)

Since I was stuck at Chicago's O'Hare Airport all day, here's an article from the December 1, 1967 European edition of Stars and Stripes, which describes the airport of the future.


An architect says he has an answer to the complaint that the longest and hardest part of a trip often is getting from home to the airport.

Martin Schaffer, chairman of the board of an airplane architectural firm, envisions "containerized" passengers transported from near their homes to the plane and then to their destinations without leaving the seats in which they started.

Schaffer, who served as project coordinator on construction of O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, says new airport facilities will be obsolete before they leave the drawing board unless some drastic changes are made.

"Airlines already have enough equipment in the air and on order to swamp every airport in the country by 1970," he said.

"Getting through traffic to the airport, and the handling of passengers and their baggage becomes more of a problem daily," Schaffer said, "but with plans for 500 and 750-passenger planes to go into service in the next few years our airports will become chaotic."

Schaffer emphasized that bigger airports with more buildings are not the answer.

Shaffer's airport of the future has no large terminal buildings but consists mainly of runways for jets and circular landing pads for vertical takeoff planes. These planes are in the design stage, Shaffer said, and resemble helicopters except that they go faster and are propelled by rotating engines instead of blades.

Shaffer said long, tiring drives to the airport followed by parking problems, long ticket lines, baggage check-in lines and then the long walk to the boarding area would be eliminated by his new transport system.

Shaffer foresees passengers with their baggage boarding a "pod" from gathering points in the area serviced by the airport, Shaffer explained that the pods would be car-like compartments running on monorails through tunnels like an underground system or on an air cushion.

Several pods, carrying about 75 passengers each, would be scheduled for a specific flight, Shaffer said, and after picking up the passengers at designated stops, would go directly to the field.

Instead of seats for passengers, planes would consist of a large frame in which the pods would be inserted, the way baggage compartments are insterted into a frame now, Shaffer said.

The pods could be detached from the air frame upon landing and could carry the passengers to different points at their destination, he said.

"We've got the technology to build this type of system within the next 15 years," Shaffer said.


See also:
Commuter Helicopter (1947)

Monday, August 20, 2007

Flowers by Alice (Part 1, 1992)

The 1992 US West concept video Flowers by Alice features themes and products similar to that of Accenture's Vision and AT&T's Connections, both produced in 1993. This clip from Flowers by Alice introduces us to the main characters as well as two emerging technologies.



The skyway's backed up but the bullet train is moving right on schedule.

See also:
Vision (Clip 1, 1993)
Vision (Clip 2, 1993)
Vision (Clip 3, 1993)
Connections: AT&T's Vision of the Future (1993)
Writer and Producer of Connections: AT&T's Vision of the Future

Friday, August 17, 2007

Lost and Stolen Time Capsules

Oglethorpe University in Atlanta has a very interesting list from the International Time Capsule Society which describes the 10 most wanted time capsules. It seems that since the list's creation in 1991, two have been found.

1. Bicentennial Wagon Train Time Capsule
This capsule was supposed to hold the signatures of 22 million Americans. But on July 4, 1976, when President Gerald Ford arrived for the sealing ceremony in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, someone stole the capsule from an unattended van in the bicentennial wagon train. The capsule's maker, the Reynolds Company, had broken the mold. The thief’s identity and the whereabouts of the capsule are unsolved mysteries.

2. MIT Cyclotron Time Capsule
In 1939 a group of MIT engineers placed a brass capsule beneath an 18-ton -magnet used in a brand new, state-of-the-art cyclotron. The capsule was to be opened in 50 years but was not. No one remembered the time capsule was there (the cyclotron had long since been deactivated). But when reminded of its existence, MIT was faced with another problem: how do you get a time capsule out from under a 36,000-pound lid?

3. Corona, California, Time Capsules
The City of Corona seems to have misplaced a series of 17 time capsules dating back to the 1930s. Efforts to recover the capsules in 1986 were in vain. "We just tore up a lot of concrete around the civic center, "said the chairman of the town's centennial committee. A Los Angeles Times reporter has called Corona "the individual record holder in the fumbled time capsule category."

4. The M*A*S*H Time Capsule
Buried by cast members of the hit TV show in a secret ceremony, the capsule contained props and costumes of the show. It was buried in January 1983 -- somewhere, no one will say -- in the 20th Century Fox parking lot in Hollywood. The lot has shrunk in size, so the time capsule may be under a Marriott Hotel now. Update: According to CNN, Alan Alda recounts in his book, Never Have Your Dog Stuffed, that the M*A*S*H time capsule was found by a construction worker shortly after the show ended. When the worker tried to return the capsule to Alda and the rest of the M*A*S*H cast, Alda told him to keep it.

5. George Washington's Cornerstone
Today's custom of burying time capsules is in part an outgrowth of Masonic cornerstone-laying ceremonies. Through the centuries, Masons have officiated at rituals which often include placing memorabilia inside building cornerstones for later recovery. In 1793, George Washington, a Mason, performed the Masonic ritual upon the laying of the original cornerstone of the U.S. Capitol. Over the years, the Capitol has undergone extensive expansion, remodeling and reconstruction, but the original George Washington cornerstone has never been found. It is unknown whether there is anything inside of it.

6. The Gramophone Company Time Capsule
In 1907, Hayes, Middlesex, England, sound recordings on disc were deposited behind the foundation stone of the new Gramophone Company factory (later HMV, later EMI) by the opera singer (later Dame) Nellie Melba. During reconstruction work in the 1960s, the container was officially removed, but before it could be reburied, someone ran off with it. The whereabouts of these priceless master-pressings of Melba and other stars remains a mystery.

7. Washington Territorial Centennial Time Capsule
In 1953 Washington state celebrated its territorial centennial by burying a two-ton time capsule on the state capitol campus in Olympia. The legislature failed to approve funds to mark the site, and the capsule was lost until 1959. However, records indicate that a supplementary time capsule was prepared in 1953 for burial alongside the main capsule. The location and contents of the second capsule are unknown. The capsule may have been interred as planned; its reported location was a closet at the capitol. Update: it appears that this capsule was found in 2002.

8. Blackpool Tower
In Blackpool, Lancashire, England, a foundation deposit was interred in the late 19th century with the customary ceremony. When a search was organized recently in preparation for new building work, not even remote sensing equipment or a clairvoyant could locate the time capsule.

9. The Lyndon, Vermont, Time Capsule
First mentioned in an 1891 Vermont newspaper, the capsule is an iron box containing proceedings of the town's centennial celebration. It was scheduled to be opened on July 4, 1991. Citizens have looked in the town vault, the bank and the library but have not found the box. The time capsule may not have been buried at all, since some ceremonies were canceled due to rain. Lyndon residents have vowed not to lose their new time capsule which is set to be sealed July 4.

10. The Kingsley Dam Time Capsule
This time capsule is only listed as "found" on the Oglethorpe site.

See also:
Year 2000 Time Capsule (1958)
General Dynamics Astronautics Time Capsule (1963)
Broken Time Capsule (1963-1997)

Thursday, August 16, 2007

Highways by Automation (1958)


The August 3, 1958 Chicago Tribune ran this Closer Than We Think! strip, demostrating the automatic highway construction of the future. Something very similar to this appears in the May 14, 1958 Disneyland TV episode Magic Highway, U.S.A..

Tomorrow's turnpikes will "flow" out of giant machines like magic ribbons across the countryside. The basic equipment is already in existence; only a few improvements are needed.

The forward section of such a road-builder would be a variant of the new jungle-smashing LeTourneau "tree-crusher" combined with a grader. The middle section would pour concrete in a never-ending flow, with the rear portion leveling the still soft pavement. A line of freight helicopters would be on hand to feed the behemoth with the material necessary to keep it moving across any type of country.


See also:
Disney's Magic Highway, U.S.A. (1958)
Closer Than We Think! (1958-1963)

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Television: Medium of the Future (1949)

The 1949 book Television: Medium of the Future by Maurice Gorham correctly identifies, but dismisses, a concern about the visual age: voting with your eyes.

Fears have been expressed lest this new reliance on television may lead to choice of candidates for their face rather than their real qualities; that the film-star types will have it all their own way. Personally I see no reason to think that this is a greater danger than we have faced in the radio age. Is it worse to vote for a man whom you have seen and heard than for a man whom you have heard but never seen except for fleeting glimpses in photographs and films? Is there any more reason why a man who is good on television should be a charlatan than a man who is good on radio? Or any inherent merit in a fine radio voice uttering speeches written by somebody else?


Many people ask if Abraham Lincoln could be elected today (he was an ugly, ugly man). What do you think? Is a candidate's appearance kind of like advertising, everyone believes it only works on other people?

The Electronic Newspaper (1978)

The April, 1978 issue of The Futurist magazine ran an incredibly forward-thinking piece about the future of newspapers.

If we think of a newspaper as being a printed object delivered to our homes, we may be talking about replacing newspaper with an electronic signal. But if we think (as I do) of newspapers as organizations which disseminate news and information by the most efficient methods available - then we are thinking in terms of applying a new technology to an existing institution.

The author, Kenneth Edwards, was writing about the emerging technology of Teletext in the UK. If the newspaper industry has had 30 years to think about this concept and decided that litigation is better than a new business model, it's tough to feel bad about their declining revenue.

See also:
Tablet Newspaper (1994)
Future Newspapers Written by Advertisers (1912)
Online Shopping (1967)

Monday, August 13, 2007

The Paleo-Future Project


Remember those people you used to talk to before the Internet was invented? I think there was a name for them . . . oh yeah, family and friends! Well, here's an excuse to talk with them for the good of the Internets.

The Paleo-Future Project seeks to document our collective memory of the future. Interview your friends/family/yourself/strangers with any recording device. Post your creation to a video-sharing site like YouTube, an audio/document site like Box or a photo site like Flickr.

Let us know where to find it by sending me an e-mail [matt@paleofuture.com] or posting a comment to this post. After I receive a few I'll start linking to them here on the Paleo-Future blog.

To get you started, here are some topics you could focus on. Enjoy.

The Year 2000
What did you think the year 2000 would look like?
What most informed your idea of what 2000 would look like? Movies? Comic books? Radio? TV?

The Jetsons
What did the Jetsons mean to you? Did you see the 1960s version or the 1980s version?

Flying Cars
With what degree of certainty did you believe you would one day use a flying car?

Jetpacks
Did you ever try building your own?

Futuristic Food
Tang, meal-in-a-pill, astronaut food? What symbolized the future of food to you?
Did you grow up on a farm? What dreams/concerns did you have about the future of agriculture?

Saturday, August 11, 2007

Vision (Clip 3, 1993)

Clip 3 from the 1993 concept video Vision, produced by Andersen Consulting, shows us what the portable communications device of the future could look like. I'm pretty sure you could kill an elephant with that tablet she's holding.



See also:
Vision (Clip 1, 1993)
Vision (Clip 2, 1993)
Connections: AT&T's Vision of the Future (1993)
Writer and Producer of Connections: AT&T's Vision of the Future
Tablet Newspaper (1994)

Friday, August 10, 2007

Sincerity and the Paleo-Future

The Summer 2007 issue of The Wilson Quarterly contains a small blurb about paleo-futurism. You may even recognize the name of a certain paleo-futurist blogger. An excerpt appears below.

Cars still don't fly, the moon remains uninhabited, and at home there's no robot doing the laundry. What happened to the future? To find it, bloggers and sci-fi buffs alike are flocking to websites that explore the paleofuture - "the future that never was." Matt Novak, the man behind paleo-future.blogspot.com, says that in today's cynical age, people crave the sincere and hopeful dreams of yesteryear.


Just to clarify, while we may long for sincerity in a world where sarcasm is the norm, I would rather be around today than at any other time in history. Too often we become nostalgic for a time that never existed. While the world is by no means perfect and there is plenty to do in making it a better place to live, most of us live longer and more comfortably than our great-grandparents did.

This could very well be the naiveté of a recent college graduate, but I feel writing this blog has exposed me to the fact that doomsday prophets are almost always wrong. And I like those odds.

Those of us who love studying history must occasionally take a breath and remember that tomorrow is the only thing we can truly change. So . . . what are you doing tomorrow?

See also:
Article for MungBeing

Transportation in 2000 A.D. (1966)

This interview from the 1966 radio documentary 2000 A.D. asks William Roman, chairman of the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority, about our transportation needs for the future. An excerpt appears below but you can hear the entire (5 minute) interview here.

I think we're going to find new types of transportation. I think the vertical rise aircraft is just about to come into its own, so that we'll be able to have airports which will be close in to the central parts of our cities. And these vertical rise aircraft will take very little space. They'll be able to take-off and carry people and I think they're going to prove to be answer to what some thought the helicopter would be able to produce for us in the past.


See also:
2000 A.D. Radio Documentary (1966)
Going Backward into 2000 (1966)
Commuter Helicopter (1947)
Disney's Magic Highway, U.S.A. (1958)
Farm to Market (1958)

Evening Fashions of the Year 1952 (1883)


This illustration is from a beautiful 1981 edition of the 1883 Albert Robida book Le vingtième siècle. La vie électrique. The edition I've linked to is in French and doesn't include any color pictures such as the one above. For an English translation check out The Twentieth Century (Early Classics of Science Fiction), but again, the illustrations are in black and white.

See also:
Going to the Opera in the Year 2000 (1882)

Thursday, August 9, 2007

Headlines of the Near Future (1972)

The 1972 book Futures Conditional contains essays and lists from many different futurists of the era. This list of headlines of the near future, by Billy Rojas, presents readers with events that will "probably happen - in some cases undoubtedly happen - although not necessarily in the order presented."

1972

February
Chiang Kai-shek dead in Taiwan; new regime is created that seeks to "modernize" Formosa. Ten year plan to replace most ideographs with Roman letters is announced. Major effort is made to organize "overseas" Chinese - the millions is southeast Asia, the tens of thousands in America - into a series of formalized trade associations.

March
Safe cigarettes invented: Lorillard stock advances 20 points in one day.


July
Chicago firm begins marketing robot "housekeepers": mechanical mice to vacuum rugs and clean floors, automated kitchens that prepare hot meals according to consumer specifications, etc.


November
Team of Muskie and Adlai Stevenson III defeats Republicans for Presidency.


1973

January
J.Edgar Hoover resigns post as head of FBI.


June
Astronauts find evidence of sub-cellular life on the moon - two billion years ago.


July
Jackie divorces Ari; she plans to marry David Brinkley.


September
New Jersey becomes first state to legalize marijuana.


November
Stones break up. New music stirs U.S.; Cheyenne native rock-and-tom-tom group tops charts.


December
Peace settlement reached in Middle East; version of Allon plan adopted on a "phase-out" basis; Israel-Jordan to become joint secular state.


1974

March
Mao-Tse-tung suffers heart attack in China. Succeeded by Chou En-Lai. Red Guard "party" forms to challenge authority of the government, cultural revolution becomes an underground movement.


April
Hovercraft "grass highway" bonds approved by Congress: Boston-Richmond route.


May
Haile Selassie dies in Washington hospital. His death removes last obstacle to United States in East Africa, a new nation made up of the former states of Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda.


July
South Sudan secedes from Arab Federation; civil war erupts as rebels receive encouragement and aid from Addis Ababa.


October
Houston doctor discloses discovery of selective memory-erasing drug.


November
Reagan defeated by 350,000 votes.


1975

February
Rescue in space; Russians save Americans endangered on orbiting space platform.


April
U. of Oklahoma student disorders reach insurrection proportions; social science building destroyed, 4 police, 18 students killed.


June
"Electro-pop," completely synthetic beverage starts a new food craze: Electro-snax, Electro-suppers are marketed.


August
First space hospital (4 "beds") established by U.S.S.R.


September
Socialists return to power in Britain.


1976

May
Cabinet restructure in U.S., new secretaries of Education, Environment.


October
Sex-selection industry booms. Chemical treatments enable prospective parents to predetermine sex of offspring.


November
Allard Lowenstein defeats Buckley in N.Y. Senate contest.


1977

January
Temporary lunar base set up by U.S. - 6 men, 2 months.


June
Famine conditions worsen in India, Java. Communist revolution develops.


October
Sexual intercourse allowed in Yale sex ed. classes. Harvard follows suit.


November
Brazilian church secedes from Rome; "second reformation" as Dutch, some Americans, also walk out.


December
Tito dies in Yugoslavia, unsuccessful leftist coup to oust hand-picked successor.


1978

March
Religious revival reported in Africa: Nigeria, Dahomey, Ivory Coast, Guinea become Baha'i countries.


July
Japanese firm announces opening of sea-chains, series of floating cities to accommodate 10,000 people each; located in Polynesia.


August
Police force retired in Seattle; replaced by paid, plain clothes community people.


1979

February
First "time traveler." Star of ten-year hibernation for Minneapolis man.


September
Radio signals from vicinity of 41 Y Cygni indicate intelligent life in the universe.


October
Laser "arrays" used by commercial ships to navigate Antarctic waters; business firms start pilot plants on southernmost continent.


December
U.S. court system reformed. New features include "maximum wait law" - no more than 30 days between arrest and trial - and "obsolete statute law" - any law on the books is retired after 20 years unless specifically renewed by legislative act.


See also:
Sea City 2000 (1979)
The Future of Leisure That Never Arrived (New York Times, 2007)
Space Colony Possible (The News, 1975)
Civilized Adultery (1970)
Space Colony Pirates (1981)
The Population Bomb: Scenario 1 (1970)
The Population Bomb: Scenario 2 (1970)
The Population Bomb: Scenario 3 (1970)
Closer Than We Think! Robot Housemaid (1959)

Wednesday, August 8, 2007

Farm to Market (1958)


This clip from the May 14, 1958 Disneyland TV episode, "Magic Highway, U.S.A." depicts the high-speed freightways of the future. Simplicity and efficiency reign supreme in this streamlined future of yesteryear.



These non-stop farm-to-market freightways will bring remote agricultural areas to within minutes of metropolitan markets. At transfer points within the city, individual units automatically separate from the truck-train for immediate delivery to shopping centers.





See also:
Disney's Magic Highway, U.S.A. (1958)
Superfarm of the Year 2020 (1979)
Delicious Waste Liquids of the Future (1982)
Robot Farms (1982)

Fuzzy-Duzzy, The Computer You Cuddle (1976)

The August, 1976 issue of The Futurist magazine ran this blurb about the need for humanized machines, which would make technology less intimidating for the average user. The piece appears to have originally appeared in Hal Hellman's 1976 book Technophobia: Getting Out of the Technology Trap.

We need "humanized machines." Wes Thomas, editor of the future-oriented newsletter Synergy Access and a computer expert, once told me of a "dream" he has. "What I'd like to do," he said, "is develop computer systems that are more 'human,' that people are not afraid of, in fact that they would get along with and even enjoy." He would like, therefore, to develop the "Fuzzy-Duzzy."

Today, he explains, computer terminals are made out of metal and plastic. They are cold and uninviting; therefore most people are immediately turned off by them. And they look menacing, like something a mad scientist would create.

With Fuzzy-Duzzy, he says, "you would put your hands into this warm, inviting Teddy-Bear thing, and you would be able to look inside through a porthole. Inside there would be these big knobs you could get hold of and turn, instead of the usual miniature keys everybody keeps making mistakes on. By moving things around, you'd be able to communicate with the machine.

"And the pictures that come on the screen would not be the usual angular shapes, but nice, round organic forms.

"So I'm interested in developing a sort of organic computer terminal that people will feel at home with immediately."

When I mentioned this to an acquaintance, he became furious. He called it underhanded, meretricious, and worse. A machine has no right being "friendly."

Thomas's "dream" is a bit extreme, I will admit. Yet humanized machines combined with people who are not afraid of them (and who understand where and how to use them) may be the way we will eventually do many of the things that remain to be done in basic education and job training, in health care and perhaps in many other applications as well. Just as the supermarket put the customer to work, so too may it be necessary for patients and prospective patients to do some of the pre-entry work themselves, aided by computers - humanized ones, of course.

Machines will also help us provide sight for the blind and hearing for the deaf, mobility for the lame and dexterity for the handicapped. Will humanization of such machines be necessary too?

Sports Car of Tomorrow (1966)


This Ford concept car appears in the 1966 book Automobiles of the Future by Irwin Stambler. The description of the car appears below.

Exotic engines of tomorrow may provide the power for a sports car such as this, which could be mass-produced while keeping the appearance of a racing car.

See also:
Automobiles of the Future (1966)

Tuesday, August 7, 2007

Vision (Clip 2, 1993)

This clip from the 1993 concept video Vision demonstrates why the videophone has never caught on.



There is nothing communicated between the characters that necessitates visuals. If the best application of videophone technology you can think of is proving that helicopters exist, there probably isn't a pressing need for the technology.

See also:
Vision (Clip 1, 1993)
Connections: AT&T's Vision of the Future (1993)
Writer and Producer of Connections: AT&T's Vision of the Future
The Road Ahead: Future Homes (1995)
Starfire (1994)
Apple's Grey Flannel Navigator (1988)
Apple's Knowledge Navigator (1987)
AT&T "You Will" (1993)

Monday, August 6, 2007

Jamaican Food in 2000 A.D. (1969)

The December 4, 1969 Daily Gleaner (Kingston, Jamaica) ran a piece by James MacDonald titled, "Food in 2000 A.D." that examined the food of the future within the context of Jamaican beef imports and communal eating.

It is interesting to note that the communal kitchen concept was very much in vogue in the late nineteenth century (see Looking Backward by Edward Bellamy) and seemed to make a comeback in the 1960s and 70s. Below are excerpts from the piece.

Milk that never saw a cow, fruit that never grew on a tree or in the ground, and steak bearing no relation to a bullock -- in other words, fabricated food. It sounds a little distasteful and perhaps unbelievable but, according to eminent scientists studying food science it is inevitable and will be soon on our tables.

Take the steak for instance. Soya beans can be woven to resemble a bullock's muscle, the fat presents no problem nor do vitamins, colouring is simple and flavour can be injected to order. The stuff can be even made to suit the taste buds of an institutional canteen or those who like to see blood.

The development is not a new one - vegetarian Seventh Day Adventists have been eating this type of meat for the past forty years - but it is developing rapidly in recent years, and could hang a large question mark over the future of beef herds. Here in Jamaica it might solve the problem we have of having to import so much beef though I doubt if a patty would ever taste the same again.

Food Technologists also forecast the days of communal feeding, when whole sections of the community, several streets joined together, would be served by a communal kitchen. Mrs. Community, tired of her cooking chores, will simply pick up the phone and order any variety of quality convenience foods from the self-serving central chef. An indication of this trend is visible at the moment in the home delivery services of some restaurants and also the ready to heat TV Dinners. Quality at the moment may leave a lot to be desired but in the future, new methods of keeping food such as A.F.D. (Accelerated Freeze Drying) and cooking Infra-Ray Ovens will keep the gourmets happy. The result - less time spent on cooking and shopping and more time for leisure.


See also:
That Synthetic Food of the Future (Ogden Standard-Examiner, 1926)
Food of the Future (Indiana Progress, 1896)
Delicious Waste Liquids of the Future (1982)

The Complete Book of Space Travel (1956)

The classic 1956 book The Complete Book of Space Travel contains some amazing imagery. The book was targeted at young boys and had that unique blend of sincerity, wonder and confidence we so often see in 1950s futurism. As early as 1956 the question was not if we'd explore the moon and other planets in our solar system, but when we would make this a reality. Chapter 22 is even titled, "If We Are Visited First."

Below is the introduction to the book as well as an illustration from the title page. Stay tuned as we look deeper into this paleo-futuristic classic in the coming weeks.

The first space pilot has already been born. He is probably between ten and sixteen years of age at this moment. Without doubt both he and his parents listen to radio and television programs dealing with much space adventure but with few accurate facts. This book is designed to outline the facts of space travel, and the conditions we expect to find in space and among the planets and stars. These facts alone are sufficiently exciting, since they are factors in man's greatest single adventure - the exploration of the universe.


This book has not been written for the space pilot alone. It is written for his engineer, his astrogator, the vast grounds crews who will design the ship, and the many people whose taxes and investments will make it vital to understand the problems and progress of space travel.

Space travel is already here. Flying saucers are probably indicative of space travel by a race other than ours. We are slowly solving the problems of man's own survival in space. It is only a matter of a few years, and many, many dollars, before our first space pilot will launch himself into the last frontier of exploration, adventure, and commerce.

We read much about space stations, the small man-made satellites which will be designed to circle the earth at an altitude of several thousand miles. Actually, these space stations will be very useful, even if space travel never develops any further, and we should know about them too.

Although much has been written about space travel, much of this material deals with the mechanics of ship construction to get us into space.

It is the purpose of this book, on the other hand, to show that space travel is also a biological problem, even perhaps to a greater extent than it is an engineering problem. Moreover it is the purpose of this book to describe, to the best of present knowledge, what we expect to encounter when we get to space. This is important, because the success of man's greatest adventure will depend upon being well prepared.

Today, space travel is one of the ultimate goals of scientific and military research. The familiar cry, "Who rules the moon controls the earth!" reflects our readiness to exploit space. Our military might is ready for space; our economic strength is ready for space; soon our ships will be ready for space.

Let's find out what space travel is all about.


See also:
Man and the Moon (1955)
Mars and Beyond (1957)
Challenge of Outer Space (circa 1950s)
Animal Life on Mars (1957)
Plant Life on Mars (1957)

Saturday, August 4, 2007

Flying Machines (circa 1885)


This image, depicting many different flying machines, is from the Library of Congress, dated circa 1885. The full image appears below along with many different cropped versions showing the detail of the piece. The Library of Congress description of the engraving also appears below.

No. 18 shows a collapsible Montgolfier balloon from 1784; no. 23 is the design for a glider balloon as described in "Reflections on the aerostatic sphere," 1783 (September); no. 24 depicts Jean-Charles (l'avocat) Thilorier's plan for transporting troops across the English Channel to invade England, ca. 1800; and no. 32 shows the dirigible balloon glider used by Charles Guillé for an attempted ascension in Paris, November 13, 1814.










See also:
Going to the Opera in the Year 2000 (1882)
Postcards Show the Year 2000 (circa 1900)
Collier's Illustrated Future of 2001 (1901)
Paleo-Future Wallpaper: Round 2

Friday, August 3, 2007

WALL-E Promo Postcards


In what seems to be another example of postmodern paleo-futurist design (repurposing past visions and versions of the future) we have promotional postcards for the upcoming Disney/Pixar movie WALL-E. Apparently these were given out at Comic-Con 2007. (via The Disney Blog)

You can view the teaser trailer for WALL-E here.

See also:
Disney Calls Future a Thing of the Past (1997)
Postmodern Paleo-Future
Article for MungBeing

Going Backward into 2000 (1966)


This clip from the 1966 radio documentary 2000 A.D. is of a short interview with Philip Johnson, an architect that designed the John F. Kennedy Memorial in Dallas, Texas.

Mr. Johnson sounds quite pessimistic about the future of American cities but ends the interview with an oddly optimistic tone. Below are excerpts from the interview.

How about innovations for the American home? How will we be keeping ourselves warm or cool?

I don't believe in innovation. I think we'll probably go slightly backward in that regard. We've had too much and we can't keep the air-conditioning systems running that we've put in.

What about green grass and trees and fresh water and clean air?

Ah, green grass and clear water and beautiful air . . . it's a nice dream, uh, are we going to have it or not I think depends on what the people of America want.

See also:
2000 A.D. Radio Documentary (1966)

Nazi Paleo-Futurism (1941)

Heliport/Railway StationMartin Kappler has scanned and uploaded a German poster from 1941 which shows Third Reich images of the paleo-future. The poster was in a book called Durch die weite Welt vol. XIX, one in a series of books for boys.

Many thanks to Flickrfy for the tip, and of course, Martin Kappler for scanning and translating this poster.


The headline and main text read:

What new things will the technology of tomorrow bring?
Today still a venturous plan - tomorrow maybe reality

Technology and economy in the Greater German Reich have gone into an unexpected upswing. The largest network of Autobahn highways has been constructed in just a few years, whole new industries were created and great architectural and urbanistic tasks are about to be realised. Although the war, that was forced upon us, makes it necessary to concentrate our economy on the war efforts, the great plans for the buildup are drawn with the certitude of our victory in mind. Many keen inventions and many thoughts that still seem fantastic today will then be realised. The pictures in this poster show on which branches the engineers are working today and what the technology of tomorrow will bring.



Underground Train called "Driving Torpedo"
Stratospheric Airplane
Ocean Liner
Water Airplane
Double Decker Bus
Motel
Submarine With Rotating Outer Hull

See also:
Commuter Helicopter (1947)
Postcards Show the Year 2000 (circa 1900)
Disney's Magic Highway, U.S.A. (1958)

Wednesday, August 1, 2007

Vision (Clip 1, 1993)

In 1993 Andersen Consulting (now known as Accenture) created a concept video called Vision, which demonstrated the communications possibilities of the future. The clip below shows us a universal language translator, digital personal assistants, a tablet, as well as the pervasive videophone culture we were supposed to see by now.



(Thanks to the iSight camera on my Mac, the barcode scanner shown at the beginning of the video is essentially a reality. I'd be a little surprised if we didn't see barcode applications for all of our mobile phones soon.)

See also:
Connections: AT&T's Vision of the Future (1993)
Writer and Producer of Connections: AT&T's Vision of the Future
The Road Ahead: Future Homes (1995)
Starfire (1994)
Apple's Grey Flannel Navigator (1988)
Apple's Knowledge Navigator (1987)
AT&T "You Will" (1993)

Start 'em Young (1991)


I have three questions about this picture:

1. Why did we believe paper faxes were the future?

2. Does that toddler have Wi-Fi?

3. Why does the teddy bear have a phone?


This illustration by Tom Chalkley ran in the November-December, 1991 issue of The Futurist magazine.

See also:
Apple's Grey Flannel Navigator (1988)
Connections: AT&T's Vision of the Future (1993)
Starfire (Part 3, 1994)
Online Shopping (1967)

Lyndon B. Johnson on 2063 A.D. (1963)

Today we have Lyndon B. Johnson's predictions for the future of space exploration, as printed in the book 2063 A.D..

Perhaps the outstanding feature of a prediction about the next century in space is that our imagination today is too limited to visualize the vast possibilities. In other words, more will be accomplished in space than we can now come anywhere near labeling as specific projects and benefits.

Among the space activities in the next one hundred years will probably be: weather control, global communication, global navigation, regular travel of people and freight between places on earth and space stations and the planets, and international policing against space and terrestrial conflicts.

The benefits flowing from space activities will be even more widespread than the space activities per se. Education, language, living standards, and world peace will all benefit as space exploration and space living become a permanent part of man's institutional structure.

See also:
General Dynamics Astronautics Time Capsule (1963)
Broken Time Capsule (1963-1997)