Will Life Be Worth Living In 2,000AD?

SOme interesting stuff here in this picture copy of a magazine from 1961 predicitng life in 2000 AD. It's interesting to me because with the return of my childhood comic book and TV favourites in film [Thunderbirds, Spiderman] and the release of others on DVD [Captain Scarlet, Joe 90 etc] I have cause to reflect on what they and we thought 200o would be like: you have to remember that to a child growing up in the 60's the year 2000 seemed ages away and with what seemed to be the rate of technological progress, well almost anything seemed possible.

So what of these predictions? Soem have turned out clearly to be vapourware. TAblets instead of food? Not so appetising or fun to consume and what about the roughage -that's dietary fibre, to you Madam. As to driving helicopters or hovercraft; forgot about oil being a non-renewable resource and the sheer cost of powering them [likewise the idea I recall of commuting to work with jet packs].

I love the line about scientists looking into the future and telling us what life we would be living: the naive optimism of it seems a world away, doesn't it? Untainted by the onset of post-modernism.

Still some of the ideas have come to pass given a few adjustments an electronic control room has become the PC and if the TV hasn't grown as much as this article predicted it is at least quite close to being global. The garbage processing is a lovely idea but the technology to do something like it has only recently come about [see this article Or this and follow up the links]

Some seem like a laugh: Dad will work a 24-hour week: sensibilities that were never dreamed of then are offended as well as the ironic smile we give as we think about the increases in the length of the working week ... The view of trnasportation would have been possible but somehow never came to pass: perhaps the car got in the way? And that's a sobering reflection in itself. And the 'if only' on the medical front: no common cold? Cancer gone? If only ...
There is an interesting note however, the last line "If there's any world left". I guess they were thinkng of nuclear destruction back in 1961; Rachel Carson was yet to publish Silent Spring and kick-Start the environmental movement which eventually brought to light another scenario for the end of the world as we know it ... Isn't hindsight wonderful?!