Tomorrow’s Tech … Today!

Tomorrow’s Tech … Today!

Many futuristic inventions have come to pass, while some may never be realized.

[Some of this was used as content for the Program Book of SoonerCon 24 in June 2015.  Hope you like the idea!]

          The May, 1971 issue of National Lampoon featured a series of satiric features on “The Future.”  Articles included “Toilets of the Extraterrestrials”; instructions on forecasting the future with alphabet soup; and a horror comic dated 2571, written by cockroaches, about the warm-blooded “!Thing frum 20th Sentury” (man).

          A 1989 book by Malcolm Abrams and Harriet Bernstein titled Future Stuff made hundreds of projections of items “that will be available by the year 2000.”  Here are a few of the entries, some of them with their modern-day equivalents:

·         smart house

·         deodorant underwear

·         homing device implant (RFID chip)

·         pocket computer (smart phone)

·         watch pager (Apple watch)

·         hand-scanning security

·         interactive game network (MMORPG)

·         aquatic exercise machine (endless pool)

·         supermarket self-checkout

·         do-it-all computer notepad (tablet/smart phone)

·         automobile collision-avoidance system (now available)

·         voice-activated typewriter (speech recognition software)

·         high-fiber cupcakes

·         touchless faucet

·         no-calorie sugar

·         computer shop-at-home (eBay, Amazon, etc)

·         non-fattening fat (Olestra, anyone?)

·         car navigation system (GPS)

·         Velcro diapers

·         guerrilla information network (Yelp, Twitter)

·         electronic book (Kindle, Nook)

·         simulated golf (Wii golf)

TV eyeglasses (iTV goggles)

See you Thursday.