I see.
August 28, 2011 7:58 PM Subscribe
they nailed it!
posted by Hoosier Prospector at 8:05 PM on August 28, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by Hoosier Prospector at 8:05 PM on August 28, 2011 [1 favorite]
Also imagined in 2008 and 2007. Didn't mind seeing this double again though... cool set. The clothing fashions, though, still very much 1910. What's up with that?
posted by crapmatic at 8:06 PM on August 28, 2011
posted by crapmatic at 8:06 PM on August 28, 2011
In 2000 everyone will do everything in a plane, apparently.
posted by WinnipegDragon at 8:06 PM on August 28, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by WinnipegDragon at 8:06 PM on August 28, 2011 [2 favorites]
"Your Fleshlight, sir, as requested via the speak-o-trumpet."
posted by tumid dahlia at 8:09 PM on August 28, 2011 [39 favorites]
posted by tumid dahlia at 8:09 PM on August 28, 2011 [39 favorites]
So the Chinese are riding some sort of levitated train... yeah, that seems right. Also, flying policemen, just like Minority Report, and... holy crap, facetime is in there. Wow, people in 1910 were damn precient.
posted by Huck500 at 8:11 PM on August 28, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by Huck500 at 8:11 PM on August 28, 2011 [1 favorite]
It's interesting to think that the concept of "future progress" is only a couple of hundred of years old, dating back to the Age of Enlightenment, the Industrial Revolution, and the American War of Independence.
posted by KokuRyu at 8:12 PM on August 28, 2011 [6 favorites]
posted by KokuRyu at 8:12 PM on August 28, 2011 [6 favorites]
Also, selling a horse at auction? Is that what's happening there?
posted by kenko at 8:12 PM on August 28, 2011
posted by kenko at 8:12 PM on August 28, 2011
So the first illustration is right on; the school administrator is shredding the subversive material while the state pumps distracting entertainment and news media through the student's earph ... OHHHH never mind I see now.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 8:13 PM on August 28, 2011 [9 favorites]
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 8:13 PM on August 28, 2011 [9 favorites]
"In the year 2000, all wars will be silly."
WoW addict.
posted by tumid dahlia at 8:13 PM on August 28, 2011 [1 favorite]
WoW addict.
posted by tumid dahlia at 8:13 PM on August 28, 2011 [1 favorite]
If you just keep scrolling, the prescience becomes unbearable.
posted by swift at 8:13 PM on August 28, 2011 [4 favorites]
posted by swift at 8:13 PM on August 28, 2011 [4 favorites]
The architect and his robot building crew is very close the the Wikihouse 3D printing that was posted the other day.
posted by arcticseal at 8:15 PM on August 28, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by arcticseal at 8:15 PM on August 28, 2011 [2 favorites]
Actually, I think the first one gives us a view into what some people think Kindles mean to the future of books.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 8:19 PM on August 28, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by MCMikeNamara at 8:19 PM on August 28, 2011 [2 favorites]
I really liked the videophone. I guess people were talking up how awesome those would be without thinking about how much it would suck to have to answer the videophone in your pajamas for longer than I thought.
posted by BlueJae at 8:19 PM on August 28, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by BlueJae at 8:19 PM on August 28, 2011 [1 favorite]
In 1900, we aimed (and hoped) for the sky, then aimed for the moon, and made it to both.
Where are we aiming now? Where are the audacious predictions for 2100? I really hope that we haven't completely lost our vision...
posted by schmod at 8:19 PM on August 28, 2011 [2 favorites]
Where are we aiming now? Where are the audacious predictions for 2100? I really hope that we haven't completely lost our vision...
posted by schmod at 8:19 PM on August 28, 2011 [2 favorites]
We still have gramophones? Hell, I haven't even seen a record in a good 10 years.
posted by Gilbert at 8:20 PM on August 28, 2011
posted by Gilbert at 8:20 PM on August 28, 2011
I like the one I think of as 'talking books': the audio-newspaper at #13.
posted by easily confused at 8:21 PM on August 28, 2011
posted by easily confused at 8:21 PM on August 28, 2011
What People in 1910 Thought the Year 2000 Would Be Like?
Yes, it is!
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 8:21 PM on August 28, 2011 [3 favorites]
Yes, it is!
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 8:21 PM on August 28, 2011 [3 favorites]
What French People in 1910 Thought the Year 2000 Would Be Like?
oh lord, the french, failed to predict the transistor, jet propulsion. They nailed displaying horses though, so kudos i suppose.
posted by the noob at 8:26 PM on August 28, 2011 [3 favorites]
oh lord, the french, failed to predict the transistor, jet propulsion. They nailed displaying horses though, so kudos i suppose.
posted by the noob at 8:26 PM on August 28, 2011 [3 favorites]
Yeah, I didn't get at all what the horse one was. But some of the ones are so prescient that it seems a bit like a scam. I did enjoy the artwork though.
posted by gjc at 8:30 PM on August 28, 2011
posted by gjc at 8:30 PM on August 28, 2011
Gjc: Horses are a curiosity, not used in everyday life.
Uniliteral: All the food is really tiny.
posted by curuinor at 8:35 PM on August 28, 2011 [3 favorites]
Uniliteral: All the food is really tiny.
posted by curuinor at 8:35 PM on August 28, 2011 [3 favorites]
What's the futuristic aspect of this one?
The waiter is Jon Lovitz, they were predicting the end of his career.
posted by dixiecupdrinking at 8:36 PM on August 28, 2011 [10 favorites]
The waiter is Jon Lovitz, they were predicting the end of his career.
posted by dixiecupdrinking at 8:36 PM on August 28, 2011 [10 favorites]
What's the futuristic aspect of this one?
Farting on your way out of a crowded room wasn't a "thing" yet in 1910. Note the waiter's cheeky countenance.
posted by tumid dahlia at 8:37 PM on August 28, 2011 [3 favorites]
Farting on your way out of a crowded room wasn't a "thing" yet in 1910. Note the waiter's cheeky countenance.
posted by tumid dahlia at 8:37 PM on August 28, 2011 [3 favorites]
In all of these, technology is futuristic, but culture is sticky: it's easy to imagine a future of flying machines, high-speed trains, videophones (or is that a DVD player?) and horse auctions by moving pictures (I think that's the horse one: it's being projected on a screen). But it's almost impossible to imagine futuristic clothing, hairstyles, or class divisions: there are servants, women wear long skirts, and the world is essentially identical to that of 1900.
posted by jrochest at 8:37 PM on August 28, 2011 [6 favorites]
posted by jrochest at 8:37 PM on August 28, 2011 [6 favorites]
I think the horse one is maybe that horses are nearly extinct, and ooh, what an amazing privilege to see a LIVE HORSE!
I could be way off, though.
posted by Mister Moofoo at 8:38 PM on August 28, 2011
I could be way off, though.
posted by Mister Moofoo at 8:38 PM on August 28, 2011
I'm fresh off a bad year writing online training courses in corporate nowhereseville. That first one pretty much predicted my job.
posted by dr. boludo at 8:39 PM on August 28, 2011
posted by dr. boludo at 8:39 PM on August 28, 2011
Also, elevator to China ought to become a real thing.
posted by Mister Moofoo at 8:41 PM on August 28, 2011
posted by Mister Moofoo at 8:41 PM on August 28, 2011
Funnily enough, there's almost a greater disjoint in what people in 1990 thought 2000 would be like.
According to thousands of breathless articles, 2000 was meant to be all virtual sex using teledildonics, but somehow they completely failed to predict sexting.
posted by UbuRoivas at 8:42 PM on August 28, 2011 [2 favorites]
According to thousands of breathless articles, 2000 was meant to be all virtual sex using teledildonics, but somehow they completely failed to predict sexting.
posted by UbuRoivas at 8:42 PM on August 28, 2011 [2 favorites]
These pictures are probably no more inaccurate than today's predictions about tomorrow. Most predictions assume the future will be like today, only more so. In fact it's usually completely different or exactly the same. 1910 assumed we'd have bigger airships today instead of jet liners, but people still fall in love just the same.
posted by joannemullen at 8:44 PM on August 28, 2011
posted by joannemullen at 8:44 PM on August 28, 2011
I'd like a double dirigible, dammit.
These, of course are the Chunnel excavators being airlifted to the White Cliffs of Dover, exactly on schedule.
posted by halfbuckaroo at 8:45 PM on August 28, 2011
These, of course are the Chunnel excavators being airlifted to the White Cliffs of Dover, exactly on schedule.
posted by halfbuckaroo at 8:45 PM on August 28, 2011
I sense new inspiration for hipsters. Expect to see horses making a resurgence, fixed gear bikes are so yesterday.
posted by arcticseal at 8:46 PM on August 28, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by arcticseal at 8:46 PM on August 28, 2011 [2 favorites]
This brings to mind Wittgenstein's statement that even if a lion could talk, we could not understand him.
posted by Flashman at 8:46 PM on August 28, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by Flashman at 8:46 PM on August 28, 2011 [1 favorite]
Trying to work out where these came from.
There this photoset from amphalon on flickr, which credits them to a M Villemard, and there's also this exhibition no the Bibliotheque National de France website.
I cannot find anything else that relates to M Villemard except these postcards.
posted by motty at 8:48 PM on August 28, 2011
There this photoset from amphalon on flickr, which credits them to a M Villemard, and there's also this exhibition no the Bibliotheque National de France website.
I cannot find anything else that relates to M Villemard except these postcards.
posted by motty at 8:48 PM on August 28, 2011
These pictures are probably no more inaccurate than today's predictions about tomorrow.
Actually the thing that strikes me about living today is that people have stopped predicting the future. We're living in the future now.
posted by KokuRyu at 8:49 PM on August 28, 2011 [5 favorites]
Actually the thing that strikes me about living today is that people have stopped predicting the future. We're living in the future now.
posted by KokuRyu at 8:49 PM on August 28, 2011 [5 favorites]
I have a book called The World In 2000, written in the 1960s. In it, we're supposed to have wall-sizes flat TVs, and teletypes hooked up to mainframes in every home.
But the people who makes these things aren't scholars trying to accurately predict the future -- they're artists trying to draw a different world. There are some obvious problems with picking up drinks from a restaurant in your biplane without landing, problems any engineer could have noticed in 1910. But I think the market for ho-hum predictions of the future is smaller than that for zany ones.
posted by miyabo at 8:58 PM on August 28, 2011 [4 favorites]
But the people who makes these things aren't scholars trying to accurately predict the future -- they're artists trying to draw a different world. There are some obvious problems with picking up drinks from a restaurant in your biplane without landing, problems any engineer could have noticed in 1910. But I think the market for ho-hum predictions of the future is smaller than that for zany ones.
posted by miyabo at 8:58 PM on August 28, 2011 [4 favorites]
jrochest: In all of these, technology is futuristic, but culture is sticky.
This. The compelling thing about these images for me is not what was guessed, but what was assumed.
The guessers didn't even consider the immense cultural shifts regarding gender and class. I wonder what they'd say if they knew that in 2000, most of Europe would voluntarily have entered into a monetary and political(ish) union. Or that Korea and Japan would be considered economically and politically on the same level as the nations of Europe and North America.
posted by tivalasvegas at 8:59 PM on August 28, 2011 [3 favorites]
This. The compelling thing about these images for me is not what was guessed, but what was assumed.
The guessers didn't even consider the immense cultural shifts regarding gender and class. I wonder what they'd say if they knew that in 2000, most of Europe would voluntarily have entered into a monetary and political(ish) union. Or that Korea and Japan would be considered economically and politically on the same level as the nations of Europe and North America.
posted by tivalasvegas at 8:59 PM on August 28, 2011 [3 favorites]
I think the horse one is maybe that horses are nearly extinct, and ooh, what an amazing privilege to see a LIVE HORSE!
From The Ladies' Home Journal 1900 - What may happen in the next hundred years.
From The Ladies' Home Journal 1900 - What may happen in the next hundred years.
The horse will have become practically extinct. A few of high breed will be kept by the rich for racing, hunting and exercise. The automobile will have driven out the horse.Bonus point:
The extermination of the horse and its stable will reduce the house-fly.posted by unliteral at 9:05 PM on August 28, 2011 [6 favorites]
how come no one had a monkey flying out of their ass?
posted by kitchenrat at 9:08 PM on August 28, 2011
posted by kitchenrat at 9:08 PM on August 28, 2011
how come no one had a monkey flying out of their ass?
Future pants.
posted by arcticseal at 9:10 PM on August 28, 2011 [3 favorites]
Future pants.
posted by arcticseal at 9:10 PM on August 28, 2011 [3 favorites]
Neat pictures and all, but man do I hate that particular breed of confusing spammy website.
posted by Pruitt-Igoe at 9:18 PM on August 28, 2011 [8 favorites]
posted by Pruitt-Igoe at 9:18 PM on August 28, 2011 [8 favorites]
Here's a fantastic set from Hildebrands Chocolate.
posted by unliteral at 9:39 PM on August 28, 2011 [3 favorites]
posted by unliteral at 9:39 PM on August 28, 2011 [3 favorites]
That Ladies Home Journal one is actually pretty good, though the one about how University education will be free for everyone kinda bums me out.
posted by NoraReed at 9:42 PM on August 28, 2011 [3 favorites]
posted by NoraReed at 9:42 PM on August 28, 2011 [3 favorites]
Trying to work out where these came from.
Isaac Asimov, AllPosters and Wikipedia credit the illustrations to Jean Marc Côté.
posted by unliteral at 10:00 PM on August 28, 2011 [1 favorite]
Isaac Asimov, AllPosters and Wikipedia credit the illustrations to Jean Marc Côté.
posted by unliteral at 10:00 PM on August 28, 2011 [1 favorite]
And a couple of the links above are from this wonderful website...
posted by jrochest at 10:11 PM on August 28, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by jrochest at 10:11 PM on August 28, 2011 [1 favorite]
I remember the postcards from earlier discussions. But is the LHJ article legit? I think they got the average life expectancy of their own time wrong. (He will live 50 years instead of 35 ...)
In that one, pre-cooked meals and the various means of instantaneous communications weren't bad predictions. However they were a little off the mark on air travel. (But don't worry, we can get to England in two days on a real fast electric ship.)
And they sure had the length and cost of my commute wrong.
posted by NorthernLite at 10:19 PM on August 28, 2011 [1 favorite]
In that one, pre-cooked meals and the various means of instantaneous communications weren't bad predictions. However they were a little off the mark on air travel. (But don't worry, we can get to England in two days on a real fast electric ship.)
And they sure had the length and cost of my commute wrong.
posted by NorthernLite at 10:19 PM on August 28, 2011 [1 favorite]
They nailed displaying horses though
Since these images have come up a lot I have heard a number of explanations for the Horse Displaying and the best ones seem to bout "Oh what a novelty it will be to see a horse!" because you have a very agricultural world on the cusp of mass industrialization having fun with the idea that something so fundamental and basic as a horse would be worthy enough to surprise and delight people in the far future.
(There was also this strange bent in futurism of this peroid about ELIMINATING USELESS ANIMALS, not pests, but anything that wasn't directly useful to man would be limited to a circus curiosity at best, it seems to dovetail with the growing eugenics movement there so, yeah, creepy)
Replace horse with cell-phone and you have a more modern version. It's why some contemporary show people cutting up a huge strawberry for Christmas dinner and people who "whu?" and it's well no think of the insane luxury of a Strawberry, now imagine it big enough to carve like a turkey ...cheap enough for a humble family .. and in the middle of winter, and it tells you a lot of about the society that produced that image.
posted by The Whelk at 10:25 PM on August 28, 2011 [5 favorites]
Since these images have come up a lot I have heard a number of explanations for the Horse Displaying and the best ones seem to bout "Oh what a novelty it will be to see a horse!" because you have a very agricultural world on the cusp of mass industrialization having fun with the idea that something so fundamental and basic as a horse would be worthy enough to surprise and delight people in the far future.
(There was also this strange bent in futurism of this peroid about ELIMINATING USELESS ANIMALS, not pests, but anything that wasn't directly useful to man would be limited to a circus curiosity at best, it seems to dovetail with the growing eugenics movement there so, yeah, creepy)
Replace horse with cell-phone and you have a more modern version. It's why some contemporary show people cutting up a huge strawberry for Christmas dinner and people who "whu?" and it's well no think of the insane luxury of a Strawberry, now imagine it big enough to carve like a turkey ...cheap enough for a humble family .. and in the middle of winter, and it tells you a lot of about the society that produced that image.
posted by The Whelk at 10:25 PM on August 28, 2011 [5 favorites]
Anyway the best thing is how they perverse the minutiae of the societal routine just Grander and Bigger and more Futuristic, of course people in the Future take time to play gentle sport before tea with nearby older relations.
posted by The Whelk at 10:27 PM on August 28, 2011
posted by The Whelk at 10:27 PM on August 28, 2011
These pictures are probably no more inaccurate than today's predictions about tomorrow.
Nowadays, people seem to think one of two things. Either "There's no way we can predict the future, so why try?" or "If you can imagine it, it'll be possible!"
posted by reductiondesign at 10:29 PM on August 28, 2011
Nowadays, people seem to think one of two things. Either "There's no way we can predict the future, so why try?" or "If you can imagine it, it'll be possible!"
posted by reductiondesign at 10:29 PM on August 28, 2011
In all of these, technology is futuristic, but culture is sticky
I think that's more a reflection of what this particular illustrator was going for than a general blindness to culture shifts when predicting the future. (Plus, I bet there could be shocking cultural changes shown in any of these that we simply wouldn't notice, not being of the culture they came from.) I'm reminded of the many many 1970s and 1960s SF extrapolations of cultural changes, some of which hilariously overshot and some of which hilariously undershot and some of which extrapolated in a completely different direction from real history. Often the more of a cultural extrapolation there was, the less technical extrapolation— you need to have some context in common with the reader in order to show the changes in a comprehensible way.
posted by hattifattener at 10:49 PM on August 28, 2011 [1 favorite]
I think that's more a reflection of what this particular illustrator was going for than a general blindness to culture shifts when predicting the future. (Plus, I bet there could be shocking cultural changes shown in any of these that we simply wouldn't notice, not being of the culture they came from.) I'm reminded of the many many 1970s and 1960s SF extrapolations of cultural changes, some of which hilariously overshot and some of which hilariously undershot and some of which extrapolated in a completely different direction from real history. Often the more of a cultural extrapolation there was, the less technical extrapolation— you need to have some context in common with the reader in order to show the changes in a comprehensible way.
posted by hattifattener at 10:49 PM on August 28, 2011 [1 favorite]
I liked this more when it wasn't posted on a spamblog.
posted by delmoi at 10:49 PM on August 28, 2011 [3 favorites]
posted by delmoi at 10:49 PM on August 28, 2011 [3 favorites]
I predict that in a hundred years we will be living like Europeans did in 600 ad.
posted by dibblda at 10:55 PM on August 28, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by dibblda at 10:55 PM on August 28, 2011 [1 favorite]
dibs on the metal tools cause I can't make anymore cause the technology wont e rediscovered for a hundred years and this forms the basis for several strains of folklore!
posted by The Whelk at 10:59 PM on August 28, 2011
posted by The Whelk at 10:59 PM on August 28, 2011
There's a number of different illustrations showing... um, automata (the word robot wouldn't be coined until 1921), but a single illustration that depicts machinery in an industrial setting. (The construction picture.) It's interesting that the artist thought there would be so much labour saving automata in the service economy and daily life, when it was actually factories and manufacturing that embraced them wholeheartedly.
posted by Kevin Street at 11:01 PM on August 28, 2011
posted by Kevin Street at 11:01 PM on August 28, 2011
We do have some labour-saving devices: washing machines, dryers, dishwashers, vacuums. But the main labour-saving "device" in the Western world is super-cheap, processed food and clothes so cheap there is no point in mending them.
posted by Harald74 at 11:09 PM on August 28, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by Harald74 at 11:09 PM on August 28, 2011 [2 favorites]
I wonder if the artist assumed that labour saving machines would mainly be used by the middle and upper classes, because replacing factory workers with automata would take away the jobs of the poor. And that would just be silly! They'd sit around all day and get into trouble. Probably start listening to gramophone lectures on socialism or something...
posted by Kevin Street at 11:18 PM on August 28, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by Kevin Street at 11:18 PM on August 28, 2011 [1 favorite]
I saw a movie once that predicted that around the year 3500 or thereabouts, man would revert to a primitive mute state, save for a few pockets of quasi-religious folk in caves, and the rest of the world, or at least what was formerly New York State, would be run by talking Apes, also with a fondness for horses.
posted by juiceCake at 11:21 PM on August 28, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by juiceCake at 11:21 PM on August 28, 2011 [2 favorites]
how come no one had a monkey flying out of their ass?
Future pants.
Future Pants!
posted by mannequito at 11:29 PM on August 28, 2011
Is there a source for this? I don't like us giving traffic to creepy linkfarms.
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 11:30 PM on August 28, 2011
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 11:30 PM on August 28, 2011
(There was also this strange bent in futurism of this peroid about ELIMINATING USELESS ANIMALS, not pests, but anything that wasn't directly useful to man would be limited to a circus curiosity at best, it seems to dovetail with the growing eugenics movement there so, yeah, creepy)
What's creepy about this?
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 11:31 PM on August 28, 2011
Also, where DO all those creepy, broken English headlines I see everywhere (and on this blog) come from?
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 11:34 PM on August 28, 2011
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 11:34 PM on August 28, 2011
Bonus point:That really happened. My grandmother told me that when she was a child living in London, when they went into the bakers to get a cake, he would wave his hand and a huge black cloud of buzzing flies would rise from the shelf. After the horses and their manure went, so did most of the flies.
The extermination of the horse and its stable will reduce the house-fly.
posted by TheophileEscargot at 11:48 PM on August 28, 2011 [4 favorites]
>What People in 1910 Thought the Year 2000 Would Be Like?
You mean "What One Dude in 1910 Thought the Year 2000 Would Be Like?" Unless these were illustrations attatched to poll results or something.
>Trying to work out where these came from.
Same here. It was on the internet so it must be true. Hmmm.
posted by uncanny hengeman at 11:48 PM on August 28, 2011 [1 favorite]
You mean "What One Dude in 1910 Thought the Year 2000 Would Be Like?" Unless these were illustrations attatched to poll results or something.
>Trying to work out where these came from.
Same here. It was on the internet so it must be true. Hmmm.
posted by uncanny hengeman at 11:48 PM on August 28, 2011 [1 favorite]
unliteral, I thought the same thing, I couldn't spot it. I thought maybe the waiters were robots, but they don't make it obvious so probably not.
It might be one the unknown author[s] chucked in from left field. In 2000 we will still eat together like we used to.
posted by uncanny hengeman at 11:56 PM on August 28, 2011
It might be one the unknown author[s] chucked in from left field. In 2000 we will still eat together like we used to.
posted by uncanny hengeman at 11:56 PM on August 28, 2011
in 2000 mommy and daddy will be married again
posted by klangklangston at 12:06 AM on August 29, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by klangklangston at 12:06 AM on August 29, 2011 [1 favorite]
I thought maybe the waiters were robots, but they don't make it obvious so probably not.
Turns out that it's a 'chemical dinner'. Oh! and the three-legged chairs.
It was on the internet so it must be true.
These pictures seem to be attributed to Villemard and Côté almost equally on the internet. Because of Asimov I would tend toward Côté myself.
posted by unliteral at 12:12 AM on August 29, 2011
Turns out that it's a 'chemical dinner'. Oh! and the three-legged chairs.
It was on the internet so it must be true.
These pictures seem to be attributed to Villemard and Côté almost equally on the internet. Because of Asimov I would tend toward Côté myself.
posted by unliteral at 12:12 AM on August 29, 2011
If this is the future, why are we not seeing Doraemon?
posted by arcticseal at 12:30 AM on August 29, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by arcticseal at 12:30 AM on August 29, 2011 [2 favorites]
Some of these are like a hidden picture puzzle to me. I honestly needed to read this thread to figure out what was going on with the restaurant/dinner picture, and now I feel like I read a spoiler instead of solving the riddle myself.
I really like the motorcycles with riot shields and machine guns attached to them, though. It's like a 1910 vision of Mad Max.
posted by subject_verb_remainder at 12:56 AM on August 29, 2011
I really like the motorcycles with riot shields and machine guns attached to them, though. It's like a 1910 vision of Mad Max.
posted by subject_verb_remainder at 12:56 AM on August 29, 2011
BlueJae: "I really liked the videophone."
Ohh, that's a videophone. I honestly thought it was a method for ordering ghosts around.
posted by ArmyOfKittens at 1:04 AM on August 29, 2011
Ohh, that's a videophone. I honestly thought it was a method for ordering ghosts around.
posted by ArmyOfKittens at 1:04 AM on August 29, 2011
remember the postcards from earlier discussions. But is the LHJ article legit? I think they got the average life expectancy of their own time wrong. (He will live 50 years instead of 35 ...)
I saw that too and looked it up. The average American life expectancy in 1900 was 46, according to some sources. So 35 was a bit off, but that's still shockingly low by today's standards. I wonder if that's because of averaging including lots of childhood deaths, though? I.e. if you made it to 15 or so, maybe you had a much longer lifespan than 46 on the whole.
posted by lollusc at 1:23 AM on August 29, 2011
I saw that too and looked it up. The average American life expectancy in 1900 was 46, according to some sources. So 35 was a bit off, but that's still shockingly low by today's standards. I wonder if that's because of averaging including lots of childhood deaths, though? I.e. if you made it to 15 or so, maybe you had a much longer lifespan than 46 on the whole.
posted by lollusc at 1:23 AM on August 29, 2011
The original French caption of the horse says "Une curiosité" i.e. "A novelty" or "A rarity".
posted by elgilito at 1:44 AM on August 29, 2011
posted by elgilito at 1:44 AM on August 29, 2011
Interesting that the artist thought specific activities would change, but assumed that clothing styles would remain exactly the same.
posted by crunchland at 1:59 AM on August 29, 2011
posted by crunchland at 1:59 AM on August 29, 2011
Actually the thing that strikes me about living today is that people have stopped predicting the future. We're living in the future now.
Well, there still is Star Trek. But mostly we've stopped predicting that the future will somehow be utopian. Most predictions nowadays are rather apocalyptic: we've reached the future and there's nowhere to go but downhill.
posted by Sourisnoire at 2:25 AM on August 29, 2011 [1 favorite]
Well, there still is Star Trek. But mostly we've stopped predicting that the future will somehow be utopian. Most predictions nowadays are rather apocalyptic: we've reached the future and there's nowhere to go but downhill.
posted by Sourisnoire at 2:25 AM on August 29, 2011 [1 favorite]
This would be the internet if the guy slung a few kittehs and some French "postcards" into the machine too.
posted by Decani at 2:47 AM on August 29, 2011
posted by Decani at 2:47 AM on August 29, 2011
What's the futuristic aspect of this one?
In the future, we still have the rich.
posted by chavenet at 2:58 AM on August 29, 2011 [1 favorite]
In the future, we still have the rich.
posted by chavenet at 2:58 AM on August 29, 2011 [1 favorite]
I'm worried that the boy turning the crank isn't getting a proper education.
posted by tykky at 3:14 AM on August 29, 2011 [5 favorites]
posted by tykky at 3:14 AM on August 29, 2011 [5 favorites]
I "turned the crank" a lot when I was a lad and I turned out fine, if near-sighted.
posted by maxwelton at 4:06 AM on August 29, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by maxwelton at 4:06 AM on August 29, 2011 [1 favorite]
As far as Italian Futurists go, this one is a pretty apt description of how they saw warfare. Speed; technology; singlemindedness.
posted by flippant at 4:12 AM on August 29, 2011
posted by flippant at 4:12 AM on August 29, 2011
Why is the lady on the other end of the videophone not talking into her own videophone?
posted by Metroid Baby at 4:29 AM on August 29, 2011
posted by Metroid Baby at 4:29 AM on August 29, 2011
That Ladies Home Journal one is actually pretty good, though the one about how University education will be free for everyone kinda bums me out.
That fact that England had free University education and now has not I find deeply depressing. Good on the Scots for going their own way and keeping in free though.
posted by antiwiggle at 4:38 AM on August 29, 2011
That fact that England had free University education and now has not I find deeply depressing. Good on the Scots for going their own way and keeping in free though.
posted by antiwiggle at 4:38 AM on August 29, 2011
The fact that England had free University education and now has not I find deeply depressing.
Same here in Australia.
posted by unliteral at 5:57 AM on August 29, 2011
Same here in Australia.
posted by unliteral at 5:57 AM on August 29, 2011
The secret to future-prediction: underestimate the short-term, overestimate the long term.
posted by blue_beetle at 5:58 AM on August 29, 2011
posted by blue_beetle at 5:58 AM on August 29, 2011
What French People in 1910 Thought the Year 2000 Would Be Like?
oh lord, the french, failed to predict the transistor, jet propulsion. They nailed displaying horses though, so kudos i suppose.
Did the French run over your cat? The sarcasm sounds a bit misplaced considering that French guy who had predicted underwater, air and space travel before they existed.
posted by ersatz at 6:08 AM on August 29, 2011 [2 favorites]
oh lord, the french, failed to predict the transistor, jet propulsion. They nailed displaying horses though, so kudos i suppose.
Did the French run over your cat? The sarcasm sounds a bit misplaced considering that French guy who had predicted underwater, air and space travel before they existed.
posted by ersatz at 6:08 AM on August 29, 2011 [2 favorites]
I wonder if the artist assumed that labour saving machines would mainly be used by the middle and upper classes, because replacing factory workers with automata would take away the jobs of the poor.
What made me laugh was that there were 2 robot barbers for the 2 customers but there were 2 meat barbers to operate the 2 robots. So no jobs lost there. I just feel sorry for the poor meat barber who gets to stand and operate levers for 8 hours instead of interacting with other people.
Also in the future, upper class ladies will still be solazy delicate that they will require a machine to brush their hair after they have done away with their maid.
I note that in the future when everyone is flying around in their personal planes, only traffic cops will have their own...well let us call it a jet pack...even though at first sight I thought he was a prisoner with manacles around his ankles.
In the future, dining room chairs will have, at most, 3 legs
And the diners only have one leg each.
These were fun. Thank you for posting.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 6:20 AM on August 29, 2011
What made me laugh was that there were 2 robot barbers for the 2 customers but there were 2 meat barbers to operate the 2 robots. So no jobs lost there. I just feel sorry for the poor meat barber who gets to stand and operate levers for 8 hours instead of interacting with other people.
Also in the future, upper class ladies will still be so
I note that in the future when everyone is flying around in their personal planes, only traffic cops will have their own...well let us call it a jet pack...even though at first sight I thought he was a prisoner with manacles around his ankles.
In the future, dining room chairs will have, at most, 3 legs
And the diners only have one leg each.
These were fun. Thank you for posting.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 6:20 AM on August 29, 2011
"While the operator was experienced, Monsieur Christophe was clearly confused as to purpose of the pornograph."
posted by griphus at 6:41 AM on August 29, 2011
posted by griphus at 6:41 AM on August 29, 2011
...the new attachment to his pornograph...
Goddammit, griphus, you fucked up the joke.
posted by griphus at 6:47 AM on August 29, 2011 [1 favorite]
Goddammit, griphus, you fucked up the joke.
posted by griphus at 6:47 AM on August 29, 2011 [1 favorite]
the one about how University education will be free for everyone kinda bums me out
A University education is free. A University degree, on the other hand, carries a high pricetag.
posted by fings at 7:40 AM on August 29, 2011 [2 favorites]
A University education is free. A University degree, on the other hand, carries a high pricetag.
posted by fings at 7:40 AM on August 29, 2011 [2 favorites]
The non-spammy source for this may have been this Paleo-Future blog post (although I haven't checked to see if all the images are the same in both).
posted by Richard Holden at 7:42 AM on August 29, 2011
posted by Richard Holden at 7:42 AM on August 29, 2011
In the year 2000, a man will carry a large cupcake on a platter. They were only off by about 10 years.
posted by cereselle at 7:48 AM on August 29, 2011 [3 favorites]
posted by cereselle at 7:48 AM on August 29, 2011 [3 favorites]
I like the title of Correspondence Cinema. Better name than Lovefilm.
posted by paduasoy at 10:48 AM on August 29, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by paduasoy at 10:48 AM on August 29, 2011 [1 favorite]
A University education is free.
The individual guidance abd evaluation I received from professors during my college years was a big part of my education, and it isn't free.
posted by jayder at 10:54 AM on August 29, 2011
The individual guidance abd evaluation I received from professors during my college years was a big part of my education, and it isn't free.
posted by jayder at 10:54 AM on August 29, 2011
I like the 1950 article also on paleofuture - particularly the bit about how women will "go frilly only after dark". Looks like the writer of the bit about women was Dorothy Roe, of whom I hadn't heard, but think she must be the same journalist discussed here.
posted by paduasoy at 11:03 AM on August 29, 2011
posted by paduasoy at 11:03 AM on August 29, 2011
Here's another post on paleofuture with a bit more about the French prints. Asimov wrote a book about them apparently.
posted by paduasoy at 11:06 AM on August 29, 2011
posted by paduasoy at 11:06 AM on August 29, 2011
It's not obvious, but #15 is a radioactive fireplace. It's titled "Heating With Radium".
posted by memophage at 11:40 AM on August 29, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by memophage at 11:40 AM on August 29, 2011 [1 favorite]
This looks more like what people today thought 1910 was like.
What with the steam powered internet and goggles n'all.
posted by Smedleyman at 11:48 AM on August 29, 2011 [4 favorites]
What with the steam powered internet and goggles n'all.
posted by Smedleyman at 11:48 AM on August 29, 2011 [4 favorites]
In the year 2000, a man will carry a large cupcake on a platter.
I think that cupcake is actually the hair on top of the lady on the other side of the table. The more I look at that particular postcard the more perplexed I am. Now it looks to me as if the tray is hovering over the butler's hand.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 12:42 PM on August 29, 2011
I think that cupcake is actually the hair on top of the lady on the other side of the table. The more I look at that particular postcard the more perplexed I am. Now it looks to me as if the tray is hovering over the butler's hand.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 12:42 PM on August 29, 2011
I vaguely remember that Marshal McLuhan said there were more horses around now (then) than there were when they were the predominant beast of burden. Just that they were used in different ways.
Of course they are seen differently now
posted by jan murray at 3:38 PM on August 29, 2011
Of course they are seen differently now
posted by jan murray at 3:38 PM on August 29, 2011
Actually the thing that strikes me about living today is that people have stopped predicting the future. We're living in the future now.
Really? You need to watch more sci-fi. People make predictions about the future all the time.
posted by Hoopo at 3:43 PM on August 29, 2011 [1 favorite]
Really? You need to watch more sci-fi. People make predictions about the future all the time.
posted by Hoopo at 3:43 PM on August 29, 2011 [1 favorite]
In the future, they have put motors on roller skates, but they have not yet discovered a way to keep people from falling down while roller skating. Oh, what folly!
posted by davejay at 4:31 PM on August 29, 2011
posted by davejay at 4:31 PM on August 29, 2011
"Really? You need to watch more sci-fi. People make predictions about the future all the time."
Absolutely! It's just that we're all so divided into subcultures now, the people who make predictions don't always interact with a mass audience.
Oh, and that radium fireplace sounds neat. No need for extra lighting on the coldest winter night. Just start it up and read Le Monde by the soft blue glow.
posted by Kevin Street at 4:38 PM on August 29, 2011
Absolutely! It's just that we're all so divided into subcultures now, the people who make predictions don't always interact with a mass audience.
Oh, and that radium fireplace sounds neat. No need for extra lighting on the coldest winter night. Just start it up and read Le Monde by the soft blue glow.
posted by Kevin Street at 4:38 PM on August 29, 2011
This is exactly what my life is like. I would post more but I must veloci-roll post haste to the Horse On A Stage emporium.
posted by foursentences at 4:45 PM on August 29, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by foursentences at 4:45 PM on August 29, 2011 [2 favorites]
It's like a 1910 vision of Mad Max.
God, why does this movie not exist?
posted by Amanojaku at 2:03 PM on August 30, 2011
God, why does this movie not exist?
posted by Amanojaku at 2:03 PM on August 30, 2011
Actually the thing that strikes me about living today is that people have stopped predicting the future. We're living in the future now.
Yeah, seconding Hoopo's point, we're thinking about and predicting the future all the time, on the TV, in our books, in our movies, its ubiquitous. In fact, a hallmark of our culture is telling stories about the future. Properly put (thanks Iain Banks), Sci Fi is literature that deals with change and the large scale effects of changes. But much of it is also predicting the future, either in a serious, satirical or apocalytpical way (which is exactly what these drawings are doing).
posted by memebake at 2:46 PM on August 30, 2011
Yeah, seconding Hoopo's point, we're thinking about and predicting the future all the time, on the TV, in our books, in our movies, its ubiquitous. In fact, a hallmark of our culture is telling stories about the future. Properly put (thanks Iain Banks), Sci Fi is literature that deals with change and the large scale effects of changes. But much of it is also predicting the future, either in a serious, satirical or apocalytpical way (which is exactly what these drawings are doing).
posted by memebake at 2:46 PM on August 30, 2011
Actually the thing that strikes me about living today is that people have stopped predicting the future. We're living in the future now.
Or, if what you're saying is, "no one makes such charming pictorial predictions of the future anymore", then just look at the kinds of pictures 8 year olds draw. Simple extrapolations, like 'everything will be done in airplanes' are the kinds of ideas we have during childhood now.
posted by memebake at 2:49 PM on August 30, 2011
Or, if what you're saying is, "no one makes such charming pictorial predictions of the future anymore", then just look at the kinds of pictures 8 year olds draw. Simple extrapolations, like 'everything will be done in airplanes' are the kinds of ideas we have during childhood now.
posted by memebake at 2:49 PM on August 30, 2011
Well, it's all so complex these days. Back in 1910 it wasn't hard to see that things like airplanes and Victrolas would have a big impact on future living, but today there's so much information and so many new technologies the prediction of things to come can be a bit daunting. To really know what you're talking about you've got have at least a little understanding of many different scientific fields, and current sociological trends as well.
posted by Kevin Street at 3:40 PM on August 30, 2011
posted by Kevin Street at 3:40 PM on August 30, 2011
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