I know I'm a geek. Visions of the future have always intrigued me. I was a sucker for
EPCOT and its futuristic vibe. On the flip side, the past has an almost equal fascination for me. Not surprisingly, therefore, I have especially been drawn to the future as envisioned by those from the past.
Jules Verne pops to mind (
Journey to the Center of the Earth ,
Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea ), as do
H.G. Wells (
The Time Machine,
The War of the Worlds,
The Invisible Man,
The First Men in the Moon), Mary Shelley (
Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus) and others. I loved the section at the end of
Popular Science magazine where there used to be a section where they highlighted an old edition looked at the predictions back then. And the short story
"The Gernsback Continuum" by
William Gibson provided a fascinating look into an alternate future that never happened.
Through my
recent dive into steampunk culture, I've begun to explore more of this past-sees-future concept and ran across a fantastic site called
Paleo-future. Their tag line is "A look into the future that never was". Grabbed my interest immediately. I could get lost all day there, getting a glimpse of where previous generations thought we'd be today. I highly recommend checking it out.
This entry had special resonance for me because I remember reading a book about technology around this time (1978) that featured C-3P0 and R2-D2. I used to fantasize about installing one of those room-sized computers in our families living room!
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