It's no secret that 2001: A Space Odyssey author Arthur C. Clarke was an avid futurist, but it's still absolutely amazing to see just how prescient the writer was. In this 1974 clip from Australian television, the science fiction visionary describes computerized life in the year 2001 with eerie accuracy. And of…
Want an iPad (or Viagra) in the afterlife? Burn a paper facsimile
Some Taoist and Buddhist funerary traditions involve the bereaved burning facsimiles of household items so the dead can enjoy their use in the afterlife. Consequently, there are shops in Asia devoted to the sale of flammable, fake consumer products.
Forbes (kinda, sorta) predicted the iPad in 2000
A Forbes Magazine article from 2000 called "Introducing the Computer of 2010" is as interesting for what it got right as for what it got wrong. Today's computer, said Forbes, would be Frisbee-sized and have a "virtual keyboard."
