Category:
Yesterday’s Tomorrows

Predictions for 2016 from 1966

In 1966, Margaret Thorne, a member of the Junior Historian Club of Woodrow Wilson High School in Beckley, West Virginia, published some predictions for the year 2016 in her local paper. Here's what she envisioned for the year we've now arrived at:

The growth of suburbia: "the only land untouched by suburbia will be the national and state parks and forests, that our ancestors were foresighted enough to conserve and a few farms of enormous size in the midwest."

Work: "the vast majority of the people will be seated in front of man's ingenious invention, the computer."

Food: "People will take a pill for breakfast that will supply them with needed nourishment. Algae, a very simple plant, which can be grown in great vats and will multiply rapidly, can be made into very appetizing morsels."

Fuel: "More sources of fuels must be found and methods for bringing the natural resources to the surface. Someone must find ways to captivate the sun's radiation and make it work for us. The sun will need to be our major fuel in the years to come."

Water: "Our water supply will need to be taken from the seas as our lands get drier and drier."

Not bad, all in all. The food-in-pills and ubiquitous spread of suburbia were misses. But she scored on the increasing importance of computers, and she kind of anticipated the development of fracking and growth of solar technology, as well as the water scarcity (which is certainly true here in California).

The Raleigh Register — Apr 25, 1966

Posted By: Alex - Fri Jan 01, 2016 - Comments (5)
Category: Predictions, Yesterday’s Tomorrows, 1960s

The Stout Scarab


The 1936 Stout Scarab is referred to by some as the first minivan. Its definitely one cool car!

Posted By: Alex - Fri Sep 25, 2015 - Comments (4)
Category: Design and Designers, 1930s, Cars, Yesterday’s Tomorrows

The Continental-2 Stereo Round Jukebox

image



One sold for $2800.00 recently on eBay.

Posted By: Paul - Fri Sep 04, 2015 - Comments (1)
Category: Space-age Bachelor Pad & Exotic, 1960s, Yesterday’s Tomorrows

Tomorrow:  Television!

Posted By: Paul - Thu Apr 30, 2015 - Comments (4)
Category: Technology, Television, 1940s, Yesterday’s Tomorrows

Mystery Illustration 3

image

This "futuristic" plane was:

1) conceived in the 1920s to occur in the 1940s

2) conceived in the 1930s to occur in the 1950s

3) conceived in the 1940s to occur in the 1970s

4) conceived in the 1950s to occur in the 1980s

The answer is here.

Posted By: Paul - Mon Dec 01, 2014 - Comments (7)
Category: Futurism, Air Travel and Airlines, Yesterday’s Tomorrows

The Car of 1980

This is what Jack Charipar, director of Plymouth's product-planning team, imagined in 1961 that cars would look like in 1980. Source: Newsweek - Jan 23, 1961.

Posted By: Alex - Sat Aug 09, 2014 - Comments (7)
Category: 1960s, Cars, Yesterday’s Tomorrows

Driverless Cars of Yesteryear

image

Why can't Google do a fun ad like this for their robot cars?

Original ad here.

Posted By: Paul - Sun Jul 13, 2014 - Comments (5)
Category: AI, Robots and Other Automatons, 1950s, Cars, Yesterday’s Tomorrows

Ghia Jet Turbine Car



Now we know where the sound of the 1966 Batmobile came from.

Be sure to watch until they open the hood.

Details here.

Posted By: Paul - Sun Feb 02, 2014 - Comments (7)
Category: 1950s, Cars, Yesterday’s Tomorrows

An engineer in 1964 looks to the future

From the Hattiesburg American - Feb 18, 1964

Many of the engineers' dreams are soon to become realities. Plans are now under way for twin 110-story towers in New York City which will dwarf the Empire State Building. The tunnel under the English Channel now seems assured. Covered, air-conditioned baseball stadiums are being built to do away with the need for rain checks. And the engineers soon hope to place a man on the moon, the first major step toward the exploration of our own galaxy and the galaxies beyond.

He got all this correct!

Fifty years from now some writer will look back and reflect that the in the 60's an engineer who dreamed of the weekend trip to Mars, the University of Space located on Jupiter, the completely automated home where housework consisted of pushing buttons, the aerial highways and helicars, and other commplace things in the year 2014 was considered a "screwball" by his fellow citizens.

An automated home is the closest to being a reality. The rest of it—not even close.

Posted By: Alex - Mon Jan 06, 2014 - Comments (5)
Category: Predictions, Yesterday’s Tomorrows, 1960s

Welcome to 2014!

Here's a prediction that did the rounds of many newspapers and magazines (including this one) back in 1915 and 1916:


The current world population is approximately 7,137,616,500.

Posted By: Alex - Wed Jan 01, 2014 - Comments (8)
Category: Yesterday’s Tomorrows

Page 5 of 10 pages ‹ First  < 3 4 5 6 7 >  Last ›




weird universe thumbnail
Who We Are
Alex Boese
Alex is the creator and curator of the Museum of Hoaxes. He's also the author of various weird, non-fiction, science-themed books such as Elephants on Acid and Psychedelic Apes.

Paul Di Filippo
Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over thirty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. He has recently begun blogging on many curious topics with three fellow writers at The Inferior 4+1.

Contact Us
Monthly Archives
March 2024 •  February 2024 •  January 2024

December 2023 •  November 2023 •  October 2023 •  September 2023 •  August 2023 •  July 2023 •  June 2023 •  May 2023 •  April 2023 •  March 2023 •  February 2023 •  January 2023

December 2022 •  November 2022 •  October 2022 •  September 2022 •  August 2022 •  July 2022 •  June 2022 •  May 2022 •  April 2022 •  March 2022 •  February 2022 •  January 2022

December 2021 •  November 2021 •  October 2021 •  September 2021 •  August 2021 •  July 2021 •  June 2021 •  May 2021 •  April 2021 •  March 2021 •  February 2021 •  January 2021

December 2020 •  November 2020 •  October 2020 •  September 2020 •  August 2020 •  July 2020 •  June 2020 •  May 2020 •  April 2020 •  March 2020 •  February 2020 •  January 2020

December 2019 •  November 2019 •  October 2019 •  September 2019 •  August 2019 •  July 2019 •  June 2019 •  May 2019 •  April 2019 •  March 2019 •  February 2019 •  January 2019

December 2018 •  November 2018 •  October 2018 •  September 2018 •  August 2018 •  July 2018 •  June 2018 •  May 2018 •  April 2018 •  March 2018 •  February 2018 •  January 2018

December 2017 •  November 2017 •  October 2017 •  September 2017 •  August 2017 •  July 2017 •  June 2017 •  May 2017 •  April 2017 •  March 2017 •  February 2017 •  January 2017

December 2016 •  November 2016 •  October 2016 •  September 2016 •  August 2016 •  July 2016 •  June 2016 •  May 2016 •  April 2016 •  March 2016 •  February 2016 •  January 2016

December 2015 •  November 2015 •  October 2015 •  September 2015 •  August 2015 •  July 2015 •  June 2015 •  May 2015 •  April 2015 •  March 2015 •  February 2015 •  January 2015

December 2014 •  November 2014 •  October 2014 •  September 2014 •  August 2014 •  July 2014 •  June 2014 •  May 2014 •  April 2014 •  March 2014 •  February 2014 •  January 2014

December 2013 •  November 2013 •  October 2013 •  September 2013 •  August 2013 •  July 2013 •  June 2013 •  May 2013 •  April 2013 •  March 2013 •  February 2013 •  January 2013

December 2012 •  November 2012 •  October 2012 •  September 2012 •  August 2012 •  July 2012 •  June 2012 •  May 2012 •  April 2012 •  March 2012 •  February 2012 •  January 2012

December 2011 •  November 2011 •  October 2011 •  September 2011 •  August 2011 •  July 2011 •  June 2011 •  May 2011 •  April 2011 •  March 2011 •  February 2011 •  January 2011

December 2010 •  November 2010 •  October 2010 •  September 2010 •  August 2010 •  July 2010 •  June 2010 •  May 2010 •  April 2010 •  March 2010 •  February 2010 •  January 2010

December 2009 •  November 2009 •  October 2009 •  September 2009 •  August 2009 •  July 2009 •  June 2009 •  May 2009 •  April 2009 •  March 2009 •  February 2009 •  January 2009

December 2008 •  November 2008 •  October 2008 •  September 2008 •  August 2008 •  July 2008 •