Fears over "designer babies" were common long before we understood the science of genetics well enough to actually produce them. For many, the idea of predetermining a child’s eye color or trying to influence their intelligence or athletic prowess through genetics is the very definition of dystopia. It probably doesn’t help that we once equated embryo manipulation with shopping for plant seeds.
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Illustrated by Richard Arbib in 1972, this enormous "leisure-mobile" of the future was called the GM Bonanza. It looks like it wouldn’t have done very well during the 1970’s oil crisis. Or at any time when fuel is more than $.03 per gallon, really. [Image scanned from the 2006 book Driving Through Futures Past.]
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Last night I walked into my local Blockbuster and bought their "Next Register Please" sign. They were selling it for $5. The whole process felt like buying a corpse. Or, at the very least, a corpse’s cufflinks.
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Remember 1986? My memories of the time are a bit hazy, since I was just three years old and all. But apparently, the poor saps of the mid-1980s didn’t even have streaming HD movies pouring through their internet tubes. The horror!
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New York City at the turn of the 20th century was a pretty pungent place. Piles of garbage, millions of people cooking food, and about 2.5 million pounds of horse manure emptied into the streets per day will do that to a city. And don’t forget the 420,000 gallons of horse urine flowing through the streets each week. But some forward-thinking New Yorkers had an idea to clean up the city: establish a citywide central vacuum system.
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Palm trees and lower heating bills in Chicago? Bikinis and orange blossoms in Duluth? Back in 1958 these miracles were the promise of tomorrow, thanks to the hot new science of weather control
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The internet is abuzz with a Daily Mail report on the world’s first robot suicide. A family in Austria claims that after performing its daily duties, their Roomba robot somehow "reactivated itself" and met its demise on a hotplate. The sullen machine started a fire in their apartment and after burning for nearly an hour, the robot’s charred remains were left smoldering on the stove. We should’ve seen it coming.
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Every six months or so we hear that Paul Moller’s flying car is just a few years away! Too bad we’ve been hearing that for the past 40 years.
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Back in 1932, the world was awash in newspaper stories about a robot that had done the unthinkable: a mechanical man had shot its inventor
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Remember the last time you got pulled over for speeding? The cop slowly walked up behind your car, gave you a lecture about how the rules keep us all safe, and then handed you a ticket for a gajillion dollars.
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This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
