The illustration below appears on the cover of an old Pathfinder Town Journal, dated December 1953 - I picked it up in an antique shop on our travels some years back.
59 years ago, when the magazine was published, topics were much the same as we find in magazines and on the internet today, but many steps back: the atom bomb, elections, new car models, black and white TVs, cookie recipes, winter weather and more. No astrology column. There's a paragraph in a piece titled Looking Ahead asking : "What will the US be like in 1963?" John E. Haines, VP of Minneapolis-Honeywell Regulator Co. predicted that in 10 years from 1953:
Not bad! I wonder, did anyone see the hippie culture coming? It took over more or less where the "Beat Generation" left off, a year or so later than 1963 though. Did anyone predict it? I suspect not.
Now....what might the USA be like 10 years from now? That'll be 2022/3, putting us into the shallow end of sci-fi or dystopian territory, take your pick! I say shallow end because, really, ten year spans don't always see major differences occur on a national level - on a personal level, yes, certainly! Just for fun - let's haul out the ol' crystal ball. There's more than enough doomladen commentary and fiction around already, better to go for a somewhat brighter version of 2022/3.
Well.....I can dream!
59 years ago, when the magazine was published, topics were much the same as we find in magazines and on the internet today, but many steps back: the atom bomb, elections, new car models, black and white TVs, cookie recipes, winter weather and more. No astrology column. There's a paragraph in a piece titled Looking Ahead asking : "What will the US be like in 1963?" John E. Haines, VP of Minneapolis-Honeywell Regulator Co. predicted that in 10 years from 1953:
Planes will fly round the world non-stop in less than 18 hours.
Rockets will reach the moon.
Residential air conditioning will be as commonplace as automatic heating is today.
Houses will be built of plastics.
Not bad! I wonder, did anyone see the hippie culture coming? It took over more or less where the "Beat Generation" left off, a year or so later than 1963 though. Did anyone predict it? I suspect not.
Now....what might the USA be like 10 years from now? That'll be 2022/3, putting us into the shallow end of sci-fi or dystopian territory, take your pick! I say shallow end because, really, ten year spans don't always see major differences occur on a national level - on a personal level, yes, certainly! Just for fun - let's haul out the ol' crystal ball. There's more than enough doomladen commentary and fiction around already, better to go for a somewhat brighter version of 2022/3.
The USA has, for 5 years, had benefit of a very efficiently run national system of health care, with state of the art hospitals and clinics available to all, financed by a reasonable level of contribution by all citizens and residents, at a rate according to their earnings level.
A simply administered cure for some types of cancer has been discovered.
A completely biodegradable material invented to take the place of plastics in most applications.
The US Constitution, after years of struggle, updated and amended in two areas: corporate personhood rescinded, and the Second Amendment re-written and clarified.
All US military occupation abroad terminated in 2021, surplus weaponry still being destroyed and materials re-cycled. Currently in process of finalising nuclear arms agreements worldwide. A small but efficient military force remains in place in the US. The majority of military personnel are employed in a range of capacities updating, re-building and extending a variety of public transit networks, nation-wide, and running them efficiently on behalf of the government.
Well.....I can dream!
I'll dream those things along with you and make a wish on the first star in the sky the evening of my birthday.. yes I still wish on the first star:)
ReplyDeleteI can't believe that you didn't mention ME! I'm working on becoming the most thought-of, mentioned and discussed person in the world within ten years...all in a good way, of course. It's time to displace Kim Kardashion. Surely, you're holding-back this information?
ReplyDeleteSonny ~~ Good on ya! Wishes on stars - if enough of us did the wishing - often enough and hard enough, who knows what effect all of that yearning energy might bring about in response?
ReplyDeletemike ~~ Tsk tsk!...You have to keep it secret, you wouldn't want to get the public clamouring too soon for autographs and such- would you?
ReplyDeleteMagnificent version of SOtR, T!
ReplyDeleteAnd wishful thinking on 2022 - but where are we without dreams?
XO
WWW
Wisewebwoman ~~ Yes, I thought so too re: the Over the Rainbow video. :-)
ReplyDeleteWe need to dream ~
“Yes: I am a dreamer. For a dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight, and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world.”
― Oscar Wilde, The Critic as Artist
You know, the future is considered the mere projection and continuation of the tendencies and trends of the present day...
ReplyDeleteWe fundamentally miss the capacity of Looking Ahead, today’s world mankind particularly lacks of vision, of the capacity of Looking Ahead putting ourselves on different plans and radically modified situations.
He can look ahead who can look **beyond**!! This has become so difficult in last decades.
Perhaps many too many may have the sensation that today’s world is so various and so capable of change. While it is nothing more than the imrpession of the continuous technological development.
And even this last is not due to a glimpse of an idea appeared like a lightening in a foggy dew but, on the contrary, it is nothing more that the continuation of the application of known, very very known old ideas and hypotheses, known from centuries.
So few ideas do appear!
And we are continuing into old political ideas fundamentally from THe XIXthe Century!
So this makind is ending in a marsh of lack of vision, in a quite total absense of looking beyond the petty small interests that strangle the very living stream and surge of life itself.
At this point, I cannot but repeat: He can Look Ahead Who can Look Beyond
And if you cannot do it, you’ll be doomed to repat the old errors...
Chomp ~~~ Those are some very, very wise words, Chomp - thank you!
ReplyDeleteI'm not in the habit of quoting the Bible, but what you said reminded me of this:
(Ecclesiastes 1:9
New International Version)
What has been will be again,what has been done will be done again;
there is nothing new under the sun.
We may have the same materials to work with, but there are different ways to assemble them and put them to use.
Exactly as you said, vision beyond what we already know is needed, rather than simply improving and further improving what we already have (all the technology flooding the market, a new model every few weeks, it seems).