io9
retro futurism
Posts Tagged “
Predictions
”
retro futurism
predictions
The Video Surveillance Market Is About to Explode!
Video surveillance is the hot new thing. Tech market think tank ABI Research has just come out with a new study predicting that the global video surveillance market will "expand from revenue of about $13.5 billion in 2006 to a remarkable $46 billion in 2013." In a press release only Philip K. Dick could love, ABI gushes excitedly about all the fun new uses of the vidcams and databases you could be manufacturing, buying, and selling to the surveillance-craving masses. More »
retro futurism
An Inconvenient Truth--in 1955
In the 1950s Pageant was a digest-sized general-interest magazine, given to pretty cover girls and sensational stories like "Sex: The American Way Is Best" and "9 Hours In Hell With A Dope Addict." But with the help of a pair of geologists from Columbia University, in February 1955, Pageant looked at "Our World in 30,000 Years." Some of the article sounds suspiciously familiar, especially if you've seen An Inconvenient Truth. First of all, rising seawater eventually swamps the east coast under 500 to 600 feet of water. And there's more. More »
retro futurism
Corporate America Predicts the Future at the 1962 Seattle World's Fair
"What'll It Be Like in 2000 A.D.?" asked Popular Science in its April 1962 preview of the marvels to be found at the Seattle World's Fair, which opened that month. First up on Popular Science's tour of the future was the Standard Oil diorama. Not surprisingly it featured a host of gas-guzzling vehicles for land and air—and failed to predict either fuel shortages or oil at $100 a barrel. More »
retro futurism
In 1975, Arthur C. Clarke Predicted Flying Cars and Smarter Pets
One of the best Christmas presents I ever received was David Wallechinsky and David Wallace's The People's Almanac. Published in 1975, the Almanac covered all sorts of juicy topics to keep an impressionable 14-year-old happy—famous crimes, oddities, utopias, and (oh, baby!) sex. There was even an entire chapter devoted to predictions given by not only the usual psychics, but an array of "Modern Scientists," among them the "prolific writer of science fiction" and famous predictor, Arthur C. Clarke. Here's how some of his People's Almanac predictions for 1991-2000 and beyond are stacking up. More »
retro futurism
In the Faraway Tomorrow of 1975, All Women Will Be Babes
In 1955, Tempo magazine made some predictions for the faraway world of twenty years hence. Despite the mag's cheesecake cover (peek below fold for full effect), universal babedom was not among them, but here's a smattering of what "Your Life In 1975" did promise.More »
predictions
Using the deadly SARS flu outbreak as a template, researchers have created a model that can predict the spread emerging global epidemics. A team of researchers in the US and Europe incorporated travel and census data from 3100 urban areas and 220 countries to figure out where a virus would travel and how fast.
More »
Do You Live In A Flu Epidemic Zone?
Using the deadly SARS flu outbreak as a template, researchers have created a model that can predict the spread emerging global epidemics. A team of researchers in the US and Europe incorporated travel and census data from 3100 urban areas and 220 countries to figure out where a virus would travel and how fast.
More »
space war
