Where's My Flying Car?
In November of 1968, Mechanix Illustrated asked, "What Will Life Be Like in the Year 2008?" It was only forty years ago, but they had some pretty lofty ideas:
IT’S 8 a.m., Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2008, and you are headed for a business appointment 300 mi. away. You slide into your sleek, two-passenger air-cushion car, press a sequence of buttons and the national traffic computer notes your destination, figures out the current traffic situation and signals your car to slide out of the garage. Hands free, you sit back and begin to read the morning paper, which is flashed on a flat TV screen over the car’s dashboard. Tapping a button changes the page.
The car accelerates to 150 mph in the city’s suburbs, then hits 250 mph in less built-up areas, gliding over the smooth plastic road. You whizz past a string of cities, many of them covered by the new domes that keep them evenly climatized year round. Traffic is heavy, typically, but there’s no need to worry. The traffic computer, which feeds and receives signals to and from all cars in transit between cities, keeps vehicles at least 50 yds. apart. There hasn’t been an accident since the system was inaugurated.
Can you imagine trusting your life at 250 mph to a public computer network? I hope it isn't Windows based!
The article is pretty funny, but my favorite bit is at the end:
No need to worry about failing memory or intelligence either. The intelligence pill is another 21st century commodity. Slow learners or people struck with forgetful-ness are given pills which increase the production of enzymes controlling production of the chemicals known to control learning and memory. Everyone is able to use his full mental potential.
Anyone who has experienced a "senior moment" would appreciate memory pills. On the other hand, an intelligence pill should would make politics awfully dull. Just imagine a world without socialists!
Blog post #7078 in category
Entertainment and Lifestyle
posted 18 November 08