The Far Far Off Future That Is The 21st Century

[Finn]

As inspired by the 22nd Century threads, I got to wondering what people, especially pundits and other academic individuals about a hundred years ago thought what the world would be like today, in the 21st Century.

Are there any records or writings anywhere that shed light on this.

 

[Finn]

Re: The Far Far Off That Is The 21st Century

Nuts. I left out "future" in the thread title

 

[trekkiedane]

Re: The Far Far Off That Is The 21st Century

Tales of the Future Past has a lot of past SciFiction on that particular subject!

I personally love that site!

And as you see from my sig. -which I got from there- it isn't all from the lesser informed fanboys of the time.

 

[scotpens]

Re: The Far Far Off That Is The 21st Century

Not quite a hundred years ago, but forty years ago this what we would all be driving in the 21st century.

 

[RJDiogenes]

Nuts. I left out "future" in the thread title

Fixed.

In the past, people expected the future to consist of space travel, flying cars and miniskirts. At least we got the miniskirts.

 

[Cheapjack]

We're all going to be pigging miserable, that's for sure.

Those sites were great, though. AC Clarke used to read stuff like that.

 

[trekkiedane]

In the past, people expected the future to consist of space travel, flying cars and miniskirts.

They sure did!

At least we got the miniskirts.

We sure did!

 

[RJDiogenes]

I was always disappointed that they wimped out on those unisex miniskirts from Season One.

 

[Bill Morris]

Re: The Far Far Off That Is The 21st Century

Not quite a hundred years ago, but forty years ago this what we would all be driving in the 21st century.

Yeah, yeah, but how about this for a car of the near future?

 

[Nardpuncher]

A little bit on topic:I've thought that current movies are kind of weird in that they're obviously set in the year 2010 since that's when they were made.But they're not sci-fi.
What I mean is take a RomCom like The Switch. It's set in 2010 of course...but 20 or 30 years ago you'd obviously only set a movie in 2010 if it was sci-fi...like umm, 2010. But there aren't any robots or flying cars in The Switch.

 

[Pingfah]

Re: The Far Far Off That Is The 21st Century

Not quite a hundred years ago, but forty years ago this what we would all be driving in the 21st century.

Yeah, yeah, but how about this for a car of the near future?

It looks remarkably similar to cars that people drive now, so I can't say i'd be overly surprised.

 

[Cheapjack]

Can you remember the Probe3 Probe4 and Probe5, from ford in the 80's?

Whatever happened to the Probe projects?

 

[Lindley]

Speculative fiction from over 120 years ago:
http://www.amazon.com/Looking-Backward-Signet-Classics-Bellamy/dp/0451527631

 

[scotpens]

. . . take a RomCom like The Switch. It's set in 2010 of course...but 20 or 30 years ago you'd obviously only set a movie in 2010 if it was sci-fi...like umm, 2010. But there aren't any robots or flying cars in The Switch.

That's because the future is never what it used to be.

In the 1950s, we thought that by the 21st century we'd be living in plastic houses.

 

[Marten]

In some areas, we are clearly behind what people thought (Or perhaps dreamed about), but in some areas (Like computing), I don't think anybody could have guessed how far we'd get.

 

[trekkiedane]

In the 1950s, we thought that by the 21st century we'd be living in plastic houses.

Tales of the Future Past actually contains an interesting article (with lots of photos) about that specific exhibit

 

[RJDiogenes]

Re: The Far Far Off That Is The 21st Century

Not quite a hundred years ago, but forty years ago this what we would all be driving in the 21st century.

Yeah, yeah, but how about this for a car of the near future?

It looks like something Wallace and Gromit would drive.

 

[MANT!]

Re: The Far Far Off That Is The 21st Century

Some wonderful thoughts from GM's "Futurama" exibits from the 1939 World's Fair

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74cO9X4NMb4[/yt]

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WU7dT2HId-c&feature=related[yt]

And the 1964 World's Fair "Futurama " ride
[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-5aK0H05jk[/yt]

 

[Trekker4747]

Cenutry 21 Calling:



[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnznVNJ40Dw&feature=related[/yt]

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujjQFr2vCig&feature=related[/yt]

Design for Dreaming:

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9nHxwzw-2o[/yt]