A lot of science fiction or "futurologists" predictions get close to the mark... they just tend usually to be wildly overoptimistic about the timescale. I know this article has a lot of very large scale stuff they got glaringly wrong, but there's actually a lot that they got very close to the mark!
*flat screen TVs mounted in cars (except ours are mounted on the back of the front seats, for the backseat passengers to use)
*TV phone (a small flat screen)... not so different from a mobile, except this is fixed in the car.
*[while riding in a car] "A business associate wants a sketch of a new kind of impeller your firm is putting out for sports boats. You reach for your attache case and draw the diagram with a pencil-thin infrared flashlight on what looks like a TV screen lining the back of the case. The diagram is relayed to a similar screen in your associate’s office, 200 mi. away. He jabs a button and a fixed copy of the sketch rolls out of the device. He wishes you good luck at the coming meeting and signs off."
A tablet and laptop with wireless internet will do this. The associate with a colour printer attached to any computer. Both of you hooked up with webcams or just mics/headsets.
Frankly given the technology available in the late 60's it's incredible what we can do now, and what some of them could envision back then.
*"Private cars are banned inside most city cores" a lot of European cities ban cars from the CBD.
*"Electrostatic precipitators clean the air" - lots of people now have air ionisers at home or work to clean the air, and if they get the fancy ones, to create negatively charges ions of oxygen. "and climatizers maintain the temperature and humidity at optimum levels." Air-conditioners, anyone? There's a few variants that do humidity too.
*"Other conveniences ease kitchenwork. The housewife simply determines in advance her menus for the week, then slips prepackaged meals into the freezer and lets the automatic food utility do the rest. At preset times, each meal slides into the microwave oven and is cooked or thawed. The meal then is served on disposable plastic plates. These plates, as well as knives, forks and spoons of the same material, are so inexpensive they can be discarded after use."
I know there's people out there who eat like this all the time, when they don't have company. Of course, they have to manually take prepackaged food out of the freezer and put it into the microwave. When did disposable plastic cutlery and plates hit the supermarkets and fast food outlets, anyway? sounds like it hadn't happened yet in 1968.
* "The single most important item in 2008 households is the computer. These electronic brains govern everything from meal preparation and waking up the household to assembling shopping lists and keeping track of the bank balance...
Computers also handle travel reservations, relay telephone messages, keep track of birthdays and anniversaries, compute taxes and even figure the monthly bills for electricity, water, telephone and other utilities. Not every family has its private computer."
Come ON! This is GOOD!
*" Sensors in kitchen appliances, climatizing units, communicators, power supply and other household utilities warn the computer when the item is likely to fail. A repairman will show up even before any obvious breakdown occurs."
Households ARE increasingly wired, especially new houses built for the wealthy. Sensors are more likely to be on timers to automate appliance functions, granted. (like opening and closing blinds, turning off lights, turning on the coffeemaker...)
*"Money has all but disappeared. Employers deposit salary checks directly into their employees’ accounts. Credit cards are used for paying all bills. Each time you buy something, the card’s number is fed into the store’s computer station. A master computer then deducts the charge from your bank balance.
Computers not only keep track of money, they make spending it easier. TV-telephone shopping is common. To shop, you simply press the numbered code of a giant shopping center. You press another combination to zero in on the department and the merchandise in which you are interested. When you see what you want, you press a number that signifies “buy,†and the household computer takes over, places the order, notifies the store of the home address and subtracts the purchase price from your bank balance. Much of the family shopping is done this way. Instead of being jostled by crowds, shoppers electronically browse through the merchandise of any number of stores."
Not exactly Right, Exactly right, Very close to right, Right, Right, Right, Right, and Right Again.
*"Most of this study is in the form of programmed TV courses, which can be rented or borrowed from tape _ * libraries. In fact most schooling—from first grade through college—consists of programmed TV courses or lectures via closed circuit. Students visit a campus once or twice a week for personal consultations or for lab work that has to be done on site. Progress of each student is followed by computer, which assigns end term marks on the basis of tests given throughout the term."
This is true now for a lot of remote country kids, and quite a lot of tertiary students.
*"Besides school lessons, other educational material is available for TV viewing. You simply press a combination of buttons and the pages flash on your home screen. The world’s information is available to you almost instantaneously."
Before the internet ever existed... this is a pretty good description of it.
*"In addition to programmed TV and the multiplicity of commercial fare, you can see top Broadway shows, hit movies and current nightclub acts for a nominal charge. Best-selling books are on TV tape and can be borrowed or rented from tape libraries."
Pretty close, between TV and the Internet, and video/DVD Rental stores.
*"While city life in 2008 has changed greatly, the farm has altered even more. Farmers are business executives running operations as automated as factories. TV scanners monitor tractors and other equipment computer programmed to plow, harrow and harvest. Wires imbedded in the ground send control signals to the machines. Computers also keep track of yields-, fertilization, soil composition and other factors influencing crops. At the beginning of each year, a print-out tells the farmer what to plant where, how much to fertilize and how much yield he can expect."
Family farms HAVE mostly given way to massive agribusiness companies. Some of the equipment they run is ENOURMOUS, some is roboticised, and there IS a lot of automation, computerisation and electrification.
*"Areas in bays or close to shore have been turned into shrimp, lobster, clam and other shellfish ranches, like the cattle spreads of yesteryear."
Yes.
* "Medical research has guaranteed that most babies born in the 21st century will live long and healthy lives. Heart disease has virtually been eliminated by drugs and diet. If hearts or other major organs do give trouble, they can be replaced with artificial organs."
There are drugs for heart disease. There are artificial hearts. Seen the latest? patients with it don't have a heartbeat. They just have to be REALLY sure to keep their batteries charged.
Edited, Mar 28th 2008 10:23am by Aripyanfar