31–40 of 111 posts
This is a series of Villemard postcards from 1910. There's a set of 24 on flickr (with titles): http://www.flickr.com/photos/amphalon/sets/72157615623434624... , but I think their origin on the web is from the BNF (National Library of France) exposition here: http://expositions.bnf.fr/utopie/feuill/index.htm
Earlier quoted context omitted.
They even got the helicopter and humvee right (sort of). The people in 1900s have over-estimated the usage of robotic arms. We don't have that kind of arms working on human yet, but we do have them on automotive manufacturing.
Yes, they were in the age of mechanization and the easy prediction was "everything will be mechanized"
It is 2011 and I still don't have a flying car. What a shame!
As somone who lives in Boston, I think it’s just as well that our drivers are limited to two dimensions.
Thinking of this article that was on the front page of HN a couple days ago:
They weren't so wrong... sure their form factors were way off but they had all the ideas down... 1. Electronic Books 2. High speed aerodynamic trains 3. Computer aided manufacturing 4. Motorized personal transport 6&7. Ok no one is letting a robot cut their hair or do makeup, but we're using robots for surgery 9. Aerodynamic motorcycles 10. Webcams 11. Where's my flying car! 12. Tanks 13. Electronic news etc. etc. If…
The one thing they totally failed to predict was the trend toward much more casual clothing. Partially due to technology becoming available to all the classes but even upper class people would find this level of dress over the top for current times. How long before we end up in the stereotypical white space jump suit?
Paleofuture has – as always – at least some context: http://www.paleofuture.com/blog/2007/9/10/french-prints-show... I wonder to what extent these prints are just jokes. Will someone in a thousand years look back at Futurama and think it was a serious prediction of the future?
Well, not "so wrong". For example pic 10. Today we call it skype with webcamera. And it doesn't even need a footpedal. :)
They even got the helicopter and humvee right (sort of). The people in 1900s have over-estimated the usage of robotic arms. We don't have that kind of arms working on human yet, but we do have them on automotive manufacturing.
The French started experimenting with helicopters in 1906, so it's not that surprising.
The people in 1900s have over-estimated the usage of robotic arms. We don't have that kind of arms working on human yet, but we do have them on automotive manufacturing.
We don't have robotic arms in consumer products yet (I believe this will change in the next 10 years), but they are pervasive in the manufacturing industry in general, not just in the automotive manufacturing.
The label next to "concierge" reads "descenseur". It's a reference to the French word for a lift, "ascenseur", from "ascension", "to go upwards". A descenseur would then be the exact opposite of a lift - an apparatus to go downwards. :)
http://thingist.com/t/pageview/1674/
What's interesting is that these illustrations are only 100 years old. The things we have right now, smart phones, robots, the internet, MP3 players, etc. seem far beyond what the futurists of the last century were imagining.
Honestly, the things we have now seem beyond what people were imagining even 50 years ago.
I wonder if we'll see this large of a technological revolution again in the coming 100 years (or an even bigger one [check this video out: http://vimeo.com/2319926 for an interesting take on this])
