Pretty hilarious, particularly because 1961 was still in essence a continuation of the 50s, so this assumed that 1950s lifestyles would still be the norm. Nothing had happened yet to make them think that Mom would be doing anything other than being a housewife, in particular.
Steve and I once commented that someone from, say, 1955 would still be able to get around Montreal, the Plateau in particular, and not find things all that out of place. I think that'd be a worse culture shock than finding everybody wearing silver jumpsuits and driving floating cars.
You'll have a home control room - an electronics centre, where messages will be recorded when you're away from home. This will play back when you return, and also give you up-to-the minute world news, and transcribe your latest mail.
Mail and newspapers will be reproduced instantly anywhere in the world by facsimile.
There will be machines doing the work of clerks, shorthand writers and translators. Machines will "talk" to each other.
Some of these aren't actually too far off, if you blur over some of the details. And they're only about 20 years off on the fortnight-vacation-to-space part of things, which roughly corresponds to the near-total dearth of innovation in human space exploration in the 80s and 90s.
I was surprised at how close this prediction was in many areas - and how far off in others. The transportation aspect has really dead-ended, due to the controling influece of oil. They do have central controllers for all a nations trains (for one company.) So the electronics wasn't bad - fax machines are a little passe, but machines that talk to other machines - the Internet, baby!.
And this isn't science fiction. It's science fact - futuristic ideas, conceived by imaginative young men, whose crazy-sounding schemes have got the nod from the scientists.
Yup, none of that unimaginative, sane-sounding sci-fi crap here!
Weird that the piece doesn't answer the most obvious questions: which scientists? working for whom? in what report?
no subject
Date: 2006-09-24 09:10 pm (UTC)Steve and I once commented that someone from, say, 1955 would still be able to get around Montreal, the Plateau in particular, and not find things all that out of place. I think that'd be a worse culture shock than finding everybody wearing silver jumpsuits and driving floating cars.
no subject
Date: 2006-09-24 11:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-24 11:22 pm (UTC)Some of these aren't actually too far off, if you blur over some of the details. And they're only about 20 years off on the fortnight-vacation-to-space part of things, which roughly corresponds to the near-total dearth of innovation in human space exploration in the 80s and 90s.
no subject
Date: 2006-09-25 12:34 am (UTC)The transportation aspect has really dead-ended, due to the controling influece of oil. They do have central controllers for all a nations trains (for one company.) So the electronics wasn't bad - fax machines are a little passe, but machines that talk to other machines - the Internet, baby!.
Yup, need to spread this one myself - thanks Sti!
no subject
Date: 2006-09-25 04:24 am (UTC)And this isn't science fiction. It's science fact - futuristic ideas, conceived by imaginative young men, whose crazy-sounding schemes have got the nod from the scientists.
Yup, none of that unimaginative, sane-sounding sci-fi crap here!
Weird that the piece doesn't answer the most obvious questions: which scientists? working for whom? in what report?
Great journalism!