Author Topic: What the 21st-century home looked like in 1967  (Read 2368 times)

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Offline Rapunzel

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What the 21st-century home looked like in 1967
« on: February 14, 2013, 04:15:35 am »
http://realestate.msn.com/blogs/listedblogpost.aspx?post=a9d77ea4-183e-4846-8c5f-ed786f7d6e0b

What the 21st-century home looked like in 1967
Program with Walter Cronkite accurately predicted the rise of the home office and the big-screen TV. But we're still waiting for robot maids and meals that cook themselves.
By Teresa at MSN Real Estate 9 hours ago

 

Video still of Walter Cronkite in ‘The 21st Century’ in 1967 (© Everett Collection)Some of you may remember when the idea of 2001 was the stuff of science fiction.

 

Back in 1967, newscaster Walter Cronkite did a half-hour episode of his regular “The 21st Century” program envisioning the home of 2001. Several bloggers have recently taken a look at that old video, evaluating which predictions have come to pass in the past 45 years and which have not.

 

Cronkite’s prediction about the ubiquitous home office certainly came true, though the devices we’re using are a lot smaller than the ones he used in his demo. His phone of the future doesn’t look much like today’s smartphone, and we don’t bother to print out the news we get on our screens.

 
video at link

His future home office, however, did include video conferencing, online delivery of news, weather and stock reports, and closed-circuit broadcasts from the rest of the house. Matt Novak of The Smithsonian’s Paleofuture blog notes that the "electronic correspondence machine" is visible, but Cronkite doesn’t mention it.

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Cronkite accurately predicts of the home office: "Now this is where a man might spend most of his time in the home of the 21st century." Novak notes that Cronkite’s program didn’t predict one major social change: that the occupant of the home office was equally likely to be a woman.

 

And this prediction was certainly accurate: "In the 21st century, it may be that no home will be complete without a computerized communications console."

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The predictions of the living room of the future were fairly accurate: a big screen where you could watch sports or movies and surround sound for music.

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The predictions about the kitchen still look pretty futuristic: a machine where you can program in the ingredients and have a complete meal come out at the end of the line, and disposable dishes that you create at the beginning of each meal and then melt.

 

And we are still awaiting those robots that will clean the house. The Roomba and its clones are fine as far as they go, but they still don’t scrub the toilet. Do you think we’ll have those robot maids by 2062, the year in which "The Jetsons" took place?

 

What innovations do you think the next 45 years will bring to the home?
�The time is now near at hand which must probably determine, whether Americans are to be, Freemen, or Slaves.� G Washington July 2, 1776

Offline Rapunzel

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Re: What the 21st-century home looked like in 1967
« Reply #1 on: February 14, 2013, 04:16:00 am »
The video to the article is a hoot.
�The time is now near at hand which must probably determine, whether Americans are to be, Freemen, or Slaves.� G Washington July 2, 1776

Offline Atomic Cow

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Re: What the 21st-century home looked like in 1967
« Reply #2 on: February 14, 2013, 04:32:14 am »
Amazing how it is not that far off, at least in the general concept.
"...And these atomic bombs which science burst upon the world that night were strange, even to the men who used them."  H. G. Wells, The World Set Free, 1914

"The one pervading evil of democracy is the tyranny of the majority, or rather of that party, not always the majority, that succeeds, by force or fraud, in carrying elections." -Lord Acton

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Re: What the 21st-century home looked like in 1967
« Reply #3 on: February 14, 2013, 04:48:27 am »
Amazing how it is not that far off, at least in the general concept.

In certain respects, what's amazing is how a lot of the stuff has surpassed what old sci-fi novels had.

Offline Atomic Cow

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Re: What the 21st-century home looked like in 1967
« Reply #4 on: February 14, 2013, 04:55:46 am »
I just want my phaser rifle.
"...And these atomic bombs which science burst upon the world that night were strange, even to the men who used them."  H. G. Wells, The World Set Free, 1914

"The one pervading evil of democracy is the tyranny of the majority, or rather of that party, not always the majority, that succeeds, by force or fraud, in carrying elections." -Lord Acton

Offline Allegra

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Re: What the 21st-century home looked like in 1967
« Reply #5 on: February 14, 2013, 11:19:49 am »
I was sure we'd have flying cars by now...
Don not wait to. There was not the shadow of the wall and another shade of eye gaze, we don not go Nvragr not find the light went shadow Nnvr.

Offline jmyrlefuller

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Re: What the 21st-century home looked like in 1967
« Reply #6 on: February 14, 2013, 11:31:20 am »
I was sure we'd have flying cars by now...
Can you imagine the regulatory nightmare that would be? You think the DMV is bad...
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Offline Ford289HiPo

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Re: What the 21st-century home looked like in 1967
« Reply #7 on: February 15, 2013, 07:45:17 pm »
I remember a similar display on the way into Space Mountain at Disney World, circa 1972.
I wonder when the lies will stop and truth begin, even as grim as the truth may be. And then I remember that for 70 years, the reign of terror in Russia called itself "the people's government." We have so far to fall, yet we are falling fast and Hell yawns to receive us.

Offline NavyCanDo

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Re: What the 21st-century home looked like in 1967
« Reply #8 on: February 15, 2013, 08:03:36 pm »
If I could only be transported back in time to 1977 my Senior Year in HS with my Ipod, holding hundreds and hundreds of songs in the palm of my hand. I would be the most popular guy on campus, until men in black hull me off to Area 51 where I would never be seen again. Or I would be burned as a witch. 
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Offline Rapunzel

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Re: What the 21st-century home looked like in 1967
« Reply #9 on: February 15, 2013, 08:58:16 pm »
I remember a similar display on the way into Space Mountain at Disney World, circa 1972.

I remember that...
�The time is now near at hand which must probably determine, whether Americans are to be, Freemen, or Slaves.� G Washington July 2, 1776

Offline happyg

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Re: What the 21st-century home looked like in 1967
« Reply #10 on: February 16, 2013, 05:48:32 am »
I remember a similar display on the way into Space Mountain at Disney World, circa 1972.

GE had a futuristic display at Disney World. But, all the stuff has come and gone. It really fascinated me at the time.

Offline Rapunzel

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Re: What the 21st-century home looked like in 1967
« Reply #11 on: February 16, 2013, 06:30:33 am »
GE had a futuristic display at Disney World. But, all the stuff has come and gone. It really fascinated me at the time.

Remember the little tram you sat in while you toured "the future"
�The time is now near at hand which must probably determine, whether Americans are to be, Freemen, or Slaves.� G Washington July 2, 1776

Offline truth_seeker

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Re: What the 21st-century home looked like in 1967
« Reply #12 on: February 16, 2013, 06:41:43 am »
I remember a similar display on the way into Space Mountain at Disney World, circa 1972.
Original Disneyland Anaheim had such an exhibit in 1957.

http://expolounge.blogspot.com/2009/05/disneylands-house-of-future.html
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Offline happyg

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Re: What the 21st-century home looked like in 1967
« Reply #13 on: February 16, 2013, 03:58:33 pm »
Remember the little tram you sat in while you toured "the future"

Those trams were  a life saver after chasing three young boys around the place! Back then, my favorite display was the Hall of Presidents. I've been there a few times since with grandkids, but it wasn't the same as the first time in 1970s.

Offline Ford289HiPo

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Re: What the 21st-century home looked like in 1967
« Reply #14 on: February 16, 2013, 06:28:49 pm »
Original Disneyland Anaheim had such an exhibit in 1957.



 *hmmmm* That's a bit before my time! *bouche*
I wonder when the lies will stop and truth begin, even as grim as the truth may be. And then I remember that for 70 years, the reign of terror in Russia called itself "the people's government." We have so far to fall, yet we are falling fast and Hell yawns to receive us.