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Checking out the French ideas from 1899-1910 on what 2000 would be like : http://publicdomainreview.org/2012/06/30/france-in-the-year-2000-1899-1910/ http://pu

by eksith 14y ago

Checking out the French ideas from 1899-1910 on what 2000 would be like : http://publicdomainreview.org/2012/06/30/france-in-the-year-2000-1899-1910/ http://publicdomainreview.org/2012/06/30/france-in-the-year-... "The New-Fangled barber" isn't quite there yet, but we do have electric razors and trimmers. Then again, the electric trimmer is fairly old at this point. "An Arial battle" and "Torpedo planes" bombers, ground attack aircraft and fighters. I'm not surprised the first use ideas for aircraft are in war. We have "Aviation police" of sorts, except they're a combination of air traffic controllers and the FAA. And the near-collisions in "Aero-Cab station" are eerily similar to what has already happened. We also have air-mail, but "Rural Postman" with his own flying machine hasn't quite happened yet. We don't have "intensive breeding" machines per-se, but the poultry industry is pretty automated these days. We have drones today except they don't have a guy with a looking glass. We have "electric floor cleaners" that don't involve a maid. Am I the only one shocked that the maid uniform has essentially stayed exactly the same (maybe with shorter skirts). I mean, look at military uniforms. The helmets in particular have changed a great deal. Same with police uniforms. The "well trained orchestra" is basically a synthesizer. "House rolling through the countryside" is real today and we call them Dollies (http://hmrsupplies.com http://hmrsupplies.com) "At school" knowledge download is not quite what we have, but Wikipedia and Google come close. After all, almost everyone these days carries a mobile device even if they have no other electronic device on them. "Madame at her toilet" is kinda out there, but you could say those new multi-head showers are almost that. "Battle cars" we've got 'em and they're tanks/armored cars. "A Croquet Party" underwater is a tourist thing and even happens in backyard pools. A "Whale bus" is basically an organic submarine that we haven't built yet, but the company Innerspace has built a dolphin sub. http://www.seabreacher.com/dolphin http://www.seabreacher.com/dolphin All in all, that's quite close to what we would have had if idealized projections came forth and other disruptive technologies like automobiles didn't become as common first. Still bitter about not having my flying car yet, damnit!

tempestn 14y ago
They sure were big on flight and diving back in 1900-1910, weren't they? Understandable that flight was the most futuristic technology conceivable at the time, but I was surprised to see all the underwater stuff (although in retrospect it makes sense for the same reason). Makes me excited to think just how unbelievable 2100 will be from today's perspective. Or, with exponential growth of technology, say 2040. You really can't extrapolate, because it's the completely new things that will be really revolutionary. (Is that redundant?)
- eksith 14y ago
  Not redundant! :D The sea was (still is?) the last frontier of exploration on our own planet, so I figure they must have thought we would have sorted out all its mysteries by now. They didn't know about deep sea smokers, tube worms or the Mariana Trench obviously, or that we'd still be flabbergasted by some of the things we find in the deep oceans today. A part of me thinks that technolgy will soon begin retreating to the background where it belongs. As Clarke's third law states : Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic Which means future tech will be tech without looking, sounding, feeling like tech... if that makes sense. I'm picturing an oak cabinet or chest of drawers that tell me how many socks I have remaining and that there are blue ones in the laundry. Or a kitchen that looks like it belongs in the 1930s, but has a smart fridge telling me it's time to turn over the trout in its marinade because I'll be putting it in the smoker Saturday. I think we'll see more of a return to original materials like wood, stone and steel (or modern materials that perfectly mimic it in texture and feel) all the while being "smart" (or the 2040 equivalent of what that means). We're already seeing a lot of that in our surroundings where people are becoming more nomadic with fewer possessions or multi use tools and a drive toward less "connectivity" as in people and more connectivity in gadgets. Bottom line is that no matter how "different" we imagine ourselves to be tomorrow, there's a thread of nostalgia connecting us to yesterday. That may be stronger than alloy we can invent.
- Narretz 14y ago
  In the postcards, there's quite a big difference between flight = diving. While the flight fantasies all involve mechanics (proven to work at least in 1910), most diving fantasies involve training sea animals in some way. So why didn't they think of using birds for flight, or the other way round, mechanics to dive? My guess is "racing fish, whale bus etc." was intended as a joke.

by eksith 14y ago

tempestn 14y ago

They sure were big on flight and diving back in 1900-1910, weren't they? Understandable that flight was the most futuristic technology conceivable at the time, but I was surprised to see all the underwater stuff (although in retrospect it makes sense for the same reason). Makes me excited to think just how unbelievable 2100 will be from today's perspective. Or, with exponential growth of technology, say 2040. You really can't extrapolate, because it's the completely new things that will be really revolutionary. (Is that redundant?)

eksith 14y ago
Not redundant! :D The sea was (still is?) the last frontier of exploration on our own planet, so I figure they must have thought we would have sorted out all its mysteries by now. They didn't know about deep sea smokers, tube worms or the Mariana Trench obviously, or that we'd still be flabbergasted by some of the things we find in the deep oceans today. A part of me thinks that technolgy will soon begin retreating to the background where it belongs. As Clarke's third law states : Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic Which means future tech will be tech without looking, sounding, feeling like tech... if that makes sense. I'm picturing an oak cabinet or chest of drawers that tell me how many socks I have remaining and that there are blue ones in the laundry. Or a kitchen that looks like it belongs in the 1930s, but has a smart fridge telling me it's time to turn over the trout in its marinade because I'll be putting it in the smoker Saturday. I think we'll see more of a return to original materials like wood, stone and steel (or modern materials that perfectly mimic it in texture and feel) all the while being "smart" (or the 2040 equivalent of what that means). We're already seeing a lot of that in our surroundings where people are becoming more nomadic with fewer possessions or multi use tools and a drive toward less "connectivity" as in people and more connectivity in gadgets. Bottom line is that no matter how "different" we imagine ourselves to be tomorrow, there's a thread of nostalgia connecting us to yesterday. That may be stronger than alloy we can invent.
Narretz 14y ago
In the postcards, there's quite a big difference between flight = diving. While the flight fantasies all involve mechanics (proven to work at least in 1910), most diving fantasies involve training sea animals in some way. So why didn't they think of using birds for flight, or the other way round, mechanics to dive? My guess is "racing fish, whale bus etc." was intended as a joke.