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French artists in 1899 envisioned what life would look like in the year 2000
- Affric 3y agoIt’s interesting because they got so much right but they just couldn’t quite imagine the computer so they have humans pulling levers, remotely operating machinery, being carried by advanced surveillance helicopters… Perhaps this hints that our vision of the future should have us doing less.
- sotillan 3y agoYeah, I do think the thing that will date most 20th century science fiction is that it usually has humans actively doing most things, like mining, piloting space ships, fighting battles, etc. When it seems more likely that almost all of that will be done by AIs, with humans directing them at best.
- mc32 3y agoProbably more like AI doing everything and very few humans overriding a few things here and there, negative things.
- shantara 3y agoRegarding space sci-fi in particular, the image of a human manually piloting a space ship is iconic in both Western and Soviet fiction. Before the advent of real world human spaceflight era, it could be linked both to the lack of understanding of computers and other technical systems, along with the eternal popularity of the heroic explorer/captain/pilot archetype. However, even as public knowledge of space exploration has advanced, this portrayal persists in fiction. We humans just like good engaging stories, even if they are not always realistic.
- m4rtink 3y agoIt might still make sense to pilot a ship manually for landing or proximity operations. Even deep space maneuvers can be done manually if you know what you are doing - point ship engines in right direction and thrust for right number of seconds/minutes. Sure, for stuff like orbital launch, some crazier Oberth effect burns or continuous thrust propulsion (ion, solar sail) you definitely want computer control.
- shantara 3y agoFor modern spacecraft such as Dragon capsule, almost all operations are completely automated by default: launch, landing, ISS docking. Manual overrides exist, but they are intended to be used only as a backup in case of a computer failure. I can see an argument for manual landing on another cosmic body, given the famous story of Neil Armstrong saving Apollo 11 landing by manually landing the capsule. Though the latest generation of lunar landers can perform the procedure fully autonomously, using machine vision to find an optimal landing spot. I tried looking up, whether manual or automated moon landing is planned for HLS program, but couldn't find anything specific. It's probably going to be some mix of both.
- kwhitefoot 3y ago> they just couldn’t quite imagine the computer Or they imagined that such devices would be much more powerful but much less general than what we actually have. The card showing books being shredded and fed into students by headphone looks like a computer to me even though it is cranked manually. Quite a lot of my software development career was dedicated to programs that transformed knowledge in one form (specifications and domain expertise) into knowledge in a different form (detailed drawings, bills of materials, and descriptions of the final product.
- timeon 3y ago> Perhaps this hints that our vision of the future should have us doing less. People in Matrix movies were not doing much.
- Affric 3y agoGood catch. It's unskilled. People will still be performing feats of dexterity, strength, courage, and genius in the future. They won't be shoving books into a woodchipper.
- mseepgood 3y agoIt's also interesting to see what they could not envision. For example, they obviously could not imagine that women could wear anything other than a dress.
- UncleSlacky 3y agoStrictly speaking, Parisian women could not legally wear trousers until 2013: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-21329269 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-21329269
- redeeman 3y agoWOULD, not "could"
- redeeman 3y agoto downvoters: are you suggesting it was illegal for women to wear pants back then? (and no, the paris decree does not count). There were female marketed "trousers" appearing in the 1850s, so it is clearly completely retarded to suggest that the french artists "couldnt envision women wearing pants". But carry on with the official party line, but do so knowingly that it is fake.
- macintux 3y agoIt's quite possible that the downvotes were expressing confusion/annoyance at the brevity and lack of context of your comment without additional explanation. There are three different "could"s in the comment to which you're replying. I think, had your comment included the second paragraph, it would have been much more useful.
- joks 3y agoSomething does not need to be illegal for it to be unacceptable at the time
- redeeman 3y ago
- dado3212 3y agoThis might be a better source, with all of the images. https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/a-19th-century-vision-of-the-year-2000/ https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/a-19th-century-vis...
- geor9e 3y agoMy favorite one is "Chemical dinner". Literally just people eating dinner. The idea of chemicals in their food was science fiction to them. https://the-public-domain-review.imgix.net/collections/a-19th-century-vision-of-the-year-2000/En_lan_2000_00039.jpg https://the-public-domain-review.imgix.net/collections/a-19t...
- eastbound 3y agoThey are all my favourite. “Radium heating” with everyone gathered around a futuristic fireplace.
- geor9e 3y agoThat one reminded me of soviet UV baths https://natgeofound.tumblr.com/post/48043261031/children-circle-around-an-ultraviolet-lamp-to-get https://natgeofound.tumblr.com/post/48043261031/children-cir...
- bombcar 3y agoChemical may be also translated something like medicinal - note the butler has tiny pills on his plate; it’s the “meal in a pill” that comes up now and then (famously in Willy Wonka).
- geor9e 3y agoThat makes much more sense. Now I see that it's a plate of pills, with a woman's hair behind it. I thought it was a cupcake.
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- SunlitCat 3y agoWhich makes me wonder what people in future will think about our science fiction media.
- eastbound 3y agoWhich science fiction media? Is there any dream that is physically possible while unrealized? - Going to other galaxies: As opposed to flying, those are physically impossible, - 2100 utopia would be about ecology and people consuming less, not more, - When I was a kid, I used to dream about flying blades (drones) or minicomputer in our hands where would could read stuff of program. Today I don’t see a single thing that I would like to dream about. Maybe social relationships?
- type0 3y ago> 2100 utopia would be about ecology and social relationships Silent Running https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067756/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067756/
- IshKebab 3y agoFusion power, flying cars (air taxis), fully reusable rockets, driverless cars, AGI, wow you really couldn't think of anything?
- skydhash 3y ago> Is there any dream that is physically possible while unrealized? The unified computing ecosystem from The Expanse. The public transport from Westworld
- southernplaces7 3y agoIf anyone thinks anything about the future of humanity will involve us consuming less instead of more, they're forgetting the entire history of most human endeavors and tendencies up to the present day, completely. We may find cleaner, better, less invasive ways of consuming and creating things from what we consume (I would hope), but I would bet any amount of money that across all metrics of practical use, humans will consume more food, energy, needed materials and so forth by far in 2100 than they do today, unless some truly enormous catastrophe sets our civilization back or causes depopulation. I can see us consuming less of any given resource we heavily use now, but only because we no longer need it due to some new innovation, and for no other reason.
- zabzonk 3y agoseems mostly right to me: 1) ok, but should be staring at iphones 2) not this one perhaps, given our treatment of whales 3) john deere tractors - it's a thing 4) could see many of our overvalued billionaires going for this 5) drone strike 6) robo hoover - available everywhere
- simonsarris 3y agoOne of the interesting things about these photos is that, aside from all the under-water ones, many of the contraptions exist. We just call them Roomba, Kubota tractor, Audible, Philips All-In-One Trimmer, etc. One consistent facet is that many of our modern technologies are a lot more complex on the inside, but simpler in appearance. There really is one guy pushing buttons to harvest thousands of acres. There's a complex kitchen one, and many people do have robot butlers in their kitchen today, they're just corporate chic instead of nearly alchemical, and called a Keurig. Though I would not invite such a creature into my home on account of its aesthetics I do admit its impressive. Another observation is that we've abstracted away the robot-ish nature of a lot of these machines. There's a special factory that makes k-cups, so that our home environment can have the simpler machine. We decided to pave millions billions(?) of miles of road, and also perfectly flatten the square footage of nearly every store and warehouse, just to make the machines run smoother. I think it would be hard for a person from 1899 to understand just how much flatness we've engineered for our cars and roombas and shopping carts to work universally.
- badpun 3y agoPeople desired flat roads before cars. There was a huge effort in XIX century to develop better roads for the horse-drawn buggies and stagecoaches.
- simonsarris 3y agoI think, like with almost all of these, the scale of our modern success is out of the scope of any of their beliefs.
- eastbound 3y agoYes. In 1899, they hadn’t even invented the lift, necessary for skyscrapers. Imagine showing them, not Dubai, but a mundane success story like Bangkok. Edit: The Eiffel Towers had some, earlier than that. See comments ;) Sorry.
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- thih9 3y agoNow I’m curious what would be a today’s vision of life in 2124. Also, could we use these to train an AI? As in: pair 1899 predictions with the actual outcome, train a model, and later provide today’s predictions of 2124 as input?
- karolist 3y ago"AI" of today would spit out real artist interpretation mashups of today, nothing you wouldn't find on DeviantArt
- pmontra 3y agoOne of the most difficult things seems to be forecast fashion but probably the artist didn't even attempt to envision future clothing, except for technical ones. That would distract from the main point. There is even a gown in the underwater game of croquet.
- type0 3y agoThey envisioned robotic tailors and even today we are far away from that it's last one this slide https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/a-19th-century-vision-of-the-year-2000/ https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/a-19th-century-vis...
- naasking 3y agoRobotic tailors might not be close, but we can try on outfits digitally for form and fit, so part of it kind of exists.
- mncharity 3y ago> They envisioned robotic tailors and even today we are far away from that There was a startup 3 decades ago, where you ordered custom khakis on the web. As a first step towards broader custom clothes. Entering assorted measurements, or modifying the dimensions of a previous purchase, a custom pattern was quickly laser cut, manually stitched in one of the last garment factories in the US, and overnighted. Patented, sold, bungled, abandoned. Stitching automation continues to improve, but full automation isn't quite there yet? Body scanning seems close. So near-term next-day almost-automated tailoring from Mexico?
- type0 3y agoMargins are too low, unless we experience some sort of 3d printer like revolution for clothing it's likely to never catch up
- withinboredom 3y agoAt least until wherever the current sweatshops are decide to unionize.
- a1o 3y agoI read somewhere that people understimate how much things in the long time and overstimate how much things change in the long time. Seeing this drawings is interesting because it's possible lots of things that happened are old ideas like automation in farms. The ideas are correct in some with the visuals or details different, but overall very interesting. Shows how important it is having a vision.
- freitzkriesler2 3y agoThey're not that wrong.
- type0 3y agoShould we wait until 2099 to get a usable brain computer interface that school systems will adopt?!
- datavirtue 3y agoIt will come sooner than that but will be made popular with a fart app.
- krisoft 3y agoI’m reading your thoughts through a very usable brain-computer interface. It consists of a high resolution display which optically couples your thoughts into my visual processing system. This is probably not what you meant, but instead you are looking for a direct brain-computer interface? Why do you think that would be a good thing?
- redbell 3y agoIn the midst of rapid technological progress, encompassing breakthroughs in AI, chips/semiconductors, alongside the unsettling surge in global geopolitical tensions and the transformative impact of certain social media, particularly affecting Gen Z & Alpha, I find myself constantly pondering the trajectory of our future. The relentless pace of change prompts me to question what life may entail in the next 10, 40 years, or even beyond 2010. Personally, I am inclined to think that as time unfolds, the complexities of forecasting the distant future intensify. Just a month ago, the notion of individuals donning AR/VR headsets while walking down the streets seemed far-fetched. However, with the release of the Vision Pro and folks using it in public places as it was a phone, I realized I would not be able to predict much in the coming future and just live the moment and hoping the best for humanity.
- datameta 3y agoI have similarly found a shorter time horizon in my imagining of the future, which I find less need to do because the present is so advanced in comparison to even my predictions in 2010. With an accelerating pace of change, thinking linearly as before makes less and less sense. I find myself trying to stay abreast of current developments of which there are so many.
- layer8 3y ago> Just a month ago, the notion of individuals donning AR/VR headsets while walking down the streets seemed far-fetched. Maybe you missed the Google Glass phase a decade ago.
- dotnet00 3y agoI think anyone who was paying even a little attention to the tech in modern smartphones could see that really the only reason AR headsets aren't commonly worn outside is that no one has come up with a compelling enough application and associated compelling enough packaging, not a lack of technical ability to make such a device, and I doubt Vision Pro will accomplish that either, just like with Google Glass, its main source of popularity is that it's from a brand that many people consider their identity.
- ffgjgf1 3y ago
- Solvency 3y agoAnd today we have corporate FAANG whose only vision for the future is a TV quite literally strapped to your head.
- datavirtue 3y agoWhen you put it that way, it just seems really dumb. The veil has been lifted.
- CatWChainsaw 3y agoNo, it's TV drilled straight into your brain with no off switch.
- guyomes 3y agoThis reminds me of this 1947 documentary [1] in French that imagined smartphones. Many scenes are surprisingly accurate. [1]: https://youtu.be/ZKfOcR7Qbu4 https://youtu.be/ZKfOcR7Qbu4
- cracoucax 3y agoWhat it imagined is in fact a world where handled TVs would be a thing, based on a sci fi novel by Barjavel. But yes those people all focused on their tv walking in the street /really/ look like current day smartphone users.
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- orr94 3y agoI love scifi art from this era. La Vie Électrique (1890) had some killer illustrations. I highlighted some of my favorites here: https://sundry.jerryorr.com/2023/10/28/la-vie-electrique https://sundry.jerryorr.com/2023/10/28/la-vie-electrique
- pomtato 3y agothese are pretty cool! thanks!
- samdung 3y agoI found more of these: https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/a-19th-century-vision-of-the-year-2000/ https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/a-19th-century-vis...
- olabyne 3y ago"la correspondance cinéma-phono-télégraphique" was a good guess. That's exactly our modern video calls, except with smaller devices. "La curiosité" is a good one too, most city kids are seeing a horse like they would see a lion
- lelag 3y agoA few were not very insightful, but likely obvious to anyone paying attention. Automobiles de guerre: tank were already right around the corner, 15 years away. Audition du journal: commercial broadcasting was 20 years away, with early efforts starting as soon the early 1900s.
- omoikane 3y agoSee also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retrofuturism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retrofuturism
- p0w3n3d 3y agoThe first image is really accurate, except for the content. Content is no book-knowledge! It's something different...
- ein0p 3y agoAnd we still aren’t quite there where it comes to freeing people from hard manual labor. A bit depressing if you ask me. Nobody can even make a decent house cleaning robot which knows how to clean around cables and won’t paint your entire apartment in dog diarrhea if your dog poops where it shouldn’t have.
- executesorder66 3y agohttps://existentialcomics.com/comic/540 https://existentialcomics.com/comic/540
- BrandoElFollito 3y agoThese pictures, 120 years old, look old and so different from current standards. I like to think that in 100 years what seems modern will look the same to our descendants (if there is no event that brings us back to the Middle Ages). Even today's science-fiction movies are limited by an imagination that is born from what we see around, including the ones with magic.