- My Forums
- Tiger Rant
- LSU Recruiting
- SEC Rant
- Saints Talk
- Pelicans Talk
- More Sports Board
- Fantasy Sports
- Golf Board
- Soccer Board
- O-T Lounge
- Tech Board
- Home/Garden Board
- Outdoor Board
- Health/Fitness Board
- Movie/TV Board
- Book Board
- Music Board
- Political Talk
- Money Talk
- Fark Board
- Gaming Board
- Travel Board
- Food/Drink Board
- Ticket Exchange
- TD Help Board
Customize My Forums- View All Forums
- Show Left Links
- Topic Sort Options
- Trending Topics
- Recent Topics
- Active Topics
Started By
Message
Isaac Asimov predicts the future for 2014 while attending the 1964 World's Fair
Posted on 10/22/14 at 9:51 pm
Posted on 10/22/14 at 9:51 pm
quote:
One thought that occurs to me is that men will continue to withdraw from nature in order to create an environment that will suit them better. By 2014, electroluminescent panels will be in common use. Ceilings and walls will glow softly, and in a variety of colors that will change at the touch of a push button.
quote:
Kitchen units will be devised that will prepare "automeals," heating water and converting it to coffee; toasting bread; frying, poaching or scrambling eggs, grilling bacon, and so on. Breakfasts will be "ordered" the night before to be ready by a specified hour the next morning. Complete lunches and dinners, with the food semiprepared, will be stored in the freezer until ready for processing.
quote:
However, by 2014, only unmanned ships will have landed on Mars, though a manned expedition will be in the works and in the 2014 Futurama will show a model of an elaborate Martian colony.
quote:
For short-range travel, moving sidewalks (with benches on either side, standing room in the center) will be making their appearance in downtown sections. They will be raised above the traffic. Traffic will continue (on several levels in some places) only because all parking will be off-street and because at least 80 per cent of truck deliveries will be to certain fixed centers at the city's rim. Compressed air tubes will carry goods and materials over local stretches, and the switching devices that will place specific shipments in specific destinations will be one of the city's marvels.
quote:
The appliances of 2014 will have no electric cords, of course, for they will be powered by long- lived batteries running on radioisotopes. The isotopes will not be expensive for they will be by- products of the fission-power plants which, by 2014, will be supplying well over half the power needs of humanity. But once the isotype batteries are used up they will be disposed of only through authorized agents of the manufacturer.
quote:
Communications will become sight-sound and you will see as well as hear the person you telephone. The screen can be used not only to see the people you call but also for studying documents and photographs and reading passages from books. Synchronous satellites, hovering in space will make it possible for you to direct-dial any spot on earth, including the weather stations in Antarctica (shown in chill splendor as part of the '64 General Motors exhibit).
For that matter, you will be able to reach someone at the moon colonies, concerning which General Motors puts on a display of impressive vehicles (in model form) with large soft tires*intended to negotiate the uneven terrain that may exist on our natural satellite.
quote:
As for television, wall screens will have replaced the ordinary set; but transparent cubes will be making their appearance in which three-dimensional viewing will be possible. In fact, one popular exhibit at the 2014 World's Fair will be such a 3-D TV, built life-size, in which ballet performances will be seen. The cube will slowly revolve for viewing from all angles.
quote:
In 2014, there is every likelihood that the world population will be 6,500,000,000 and the population of the United States will be 350,000,000. Boston-to-Washington, the most crowded area of its size on the earth, will have become a single city with a population of over 40,000,000.
LINK
This post was edited on 10/22/14 at 9:52 pm
17
Posted on 10/22/14 at 9:59 pm to weagle99
He was damn near spot on
Posted on 10/22/14 at 10:05 pm to weagle99
Crazy
Posted on 10/22/14 at 10:06 pm to DBeaux225
I would say he had a few things right but was
way off on a LOT of things.
way off on a LOT of things.
Posted on 10/22/14 at 10:11 pm to Walt OReilly
He wrote a book called Murder at the ABA. It wasn't Science Fiction (go figure). I was grounded and decided to read it. Not bad.
Posted on 10/22/14 at 10:12 pm to DBeaux225
quote:
He was damn near spot on
No, he was only very roughly on target. I mean that as a compliment FWIW, not many can come even that close. Let's discuss some of the less spot on predictions ...
quote:
Windows need be no more than an archaic touch, and even when present will be polarized to block out the harsh sunlight. The degree of opacity of the glass may even be made to alter automatically in accordance with the intensity of the light falling upon it.
I dunno, but I still have a window and so does everyone else. I'm aware that polarized windows exist but they are mostly a curiosity.
quote:
The appliances of 2014 will have no electric cords, of course, for they will be powered by long- lived batteries running on radioisotopes. The isotopes will not be expensive for they will be by- products of the fission-power plants which, by 2014, will be supplying well over half the power needs of humanity.
quote:
There is every likelihood that highways at least in the more advanced sections of the world*will have passed their peak in 2014; there will be increasing emphasis on transportation that makes the least possible contact with the surface. There will be aircraft, of course, but even ground travel will increasingly take to the air*a foot or two off the ground. Visitors to the 1964 fair can travel there in an "aquafoil," which lifts itself on four stilts and skims over the water with a minimum of friction. This is surely a stop-gap. By 2014 the four stilts will have been replaced by four jets of compressed air so that the vehicle will make no contact with either liquid or solid surfaces.
Jets of compressed air will also lift land vehicles off the highways, which, among other things, will minimize paving problems. Smooth earth or level lawns will do as well as pavements. Bridges will also be of less importance, since cars will be capable of crossing water on their jets, though local ordinances will discourage the practice.
Posted on 10/22/14 at 10:13 pm to weagle99
Asimov was a great and intelligent man. My nutty high school physics teacher met him at a dinner party one time. He said Asimov was telling dirty jokes all night.
Posted on 10/22/14 at 10:15 pm to weagle99
Pretty good but he really missed on Futurama. That show has been off the air for years.
This post was edited on 10/22/14 at 10:16 pm
Posted on 10/22/14 at 10:15 pm to weagle99
Not very close on much, but very accurate with population numbers and scary accurate about communications.
Posted on 10/22/14 at 10:15 pm to weagle99
quote:
Isaac Asimov
frick him.
Next year is 2015, Emmet Brown showed us we'll be using hover boards!
This post was edited on 10/22/14 at 10:16 pm
Posted on 10/22/14 at 10:19 pm to weagle99
Bif > Asimov
Posted on 10/22/14 at 10:33 pm to Bullfrog
quote:
Pretty good but he really missed on Futurama. That show has been off the air for years
its last episode was August 2013
Posted on 10/22/14 at 10:33 pm to Kankles
Roads? Where we're going, we don't need roads. JK, we still need roads.
Posted on 10/22/14 at 10:40 pm to weagle99
but he never got laid 
Posted on 10/22/14 at 10:44 pm to weagle99
transparent 3D cubes in every home and still no fricking jet packs huh
Posted on 10/22/14 at 10:46 pm to weagle99
He got a lot of it right. Asimov was one of my favorite authors as an adolescent. One thing that I find funny is that he would have advanced civilizations based thousands of years in the future that still used film for data storage. Can't get it all right. We haven't advanced as far as he thought in some areas, and there are others where we lept to things that he didn't even imagine.
Posted on 10/22/14 at 10:58 pm to foshizzle
Despite the fact Asimov was a socialist, even he barely could see the burden of federal control and blight of antiquity that some corporations in control have held us within.
Examples:
Flying cars could be mass produced costing consumers around 50k...the lack of public safety controls prohibits their rise.
GM has actively poured entire pensions into government officials to keep cars stagnant for nearly 50 years.
This has an additional affect of city planners not using their space wisely in eliminating need for the car...
Mostly because the fed has been shying away from nuclear enterprise since the 70s...with federal roadblocks steering toward coal production...mitigating chances of power surplus and likewise becoming a threat to national security, as a team of smart terrorists could shut down power on the east coast for weeks.
He was not able to capture the full weight of our government in his vision...while ironically, his greatest works, Foundation was entirely about that...and how to prevent its collapse.
Examples:
Flying cars could be mass produced costing consumers around 50k...the lack of public safety controls prohibits their rise.
GM has actively poured entire pensions into government officials to keep cars stagnant for nearly 50 years.
This has an additional affect of city planners not using their space wisely in eliminating need for the car...
Mostly because the fed has been shying away from nuclear enterprise since the 70s...with federal roadblocks steering toward coal production...mitigating chances of power surplus and likewise becoming a threat to national security, as a team of smart terrorists could shut down power on the east coast for weeks.
He was not able to capture the full weight of our government in his vision...while ironically, his greatest works, Foundation was entirely about that...and how to prevent its collapse.
Posted on 10/22/14 at 11:03 pm to weagle99
Isaac Asimov, smart guy.
Posted on 10/22/14 at 11:22 pm to UL-SabanRival
quote:
Not very close on much, but very accurate with population numbers and scary accurate about communications.
He was pretty close on a lot,
Electrolumnesent panels exist as doe many kinds of multicolor LED lighting, but we have chosen to stick with more traditional lighting in our homes.
A form of automated kitchen/pre-prepared food technology has been around a long time, but instead of being in our homes, it is at McDonalds Etc.
The windows in most house built today are just for appearance, very few are ever opened, and are usually covered with curtains. When Asimov wrote this most did not have AC in their homes and windows were a necessity.
Todays 80in 3D flat panel TV comes pretty close to his prediction of a wall TV, as do home theater projectors.
He did not factor in changes in human behavior such as where we now eat most of our meals, and areas where human behavior as been slow to change, like the design and furnishing we prefer in our homes.
This post was edited on 10/22/14 at 11:26 pm
Posted on 10/22/14 at 11:34 pm to EA6B
He was pretty much wrong on everything I read except the kitchen.
Page 1 of 2
Popular
Back to top
Follow TigerDroppings for LSU Football News