Or maybe it exists in some parallel universe where I have a goatee? I got into a conversation today about the future. Not the future, as in the election or what will be the state of the stock market in the next quarter, but the sort of future people believed in as children. The one where our cars would fly and computers would talk to us, and be servants that tackle the mundane & serious problems of life. Instead, at the beginning of the 21st Century, we're struggling to find ways to keep the road cars running without damaging the planet, and when not suffering from blue screens of death, computers still aren't "smart" like HAL (well, a non-homicidal HAL) and more likely being used to watch "2 Girls & A Cup" or some other thing going around the series of tubes.
So I thought it might be interesting to see a few of the ideas that never were... or at least... not yet.
I probably won't live to see flying automobiles (now that I think about it, do I really want some drunk driver buzzing over the house at 70 mph?), but hell I would settle for some power laces & self-drying jackets. Cracked.com recently tackled this with a list of "8 Badass Sci-Fi Predictions That Came True In Lame-Ass Ways". Their conclusion?
The disappointing truth is that the futuristic devices we’ve demanded for so long are already here. Just different ... and kind of shitty. It’s like when you order something at Denny’s based on the picture on the menu, but when the food comes out it looks like a pile of phlegm smothered in gravy.
And they do have a point. So many things would be so easy if we didn't have this thing called physics to get in the way as the universe's version of "Debbie Downer". However, if you had shown me an iPhone when I was a little kid, I would have thought it was something from "Star Trek", and I just have to wince whenever someone talks about how "heavy" their 4 ounce cellphone is. But, as I heard someone say today, the automated checkout machine that thinks we're stealing from it at the supermarket just seems so small compared to fusion powered domed cities.
On the other hand, a lot of our parents & grandparents either obviously overestimated technological growth, were out of their minds, or a little of both. For example, the idea of replacing food with pills makes absolutely no sense.
Why in God's name would people ever replace one of the few natural joys of existence, eating, with downing a pill?
And I hate to tell you this, but Ford had an answer to the fossil fuel problem all the way back in 1957. It was called the Ford Nucleon, and instead of petroleum based fuel, it used something with a little more kick... Uranium.
Ford's engineers imagined a world in which full-service recharging stations would one day supplant petroleum fuel stations, where depleted reactors could be swapped out for fresh ones lickety-split. The car's reactor setup was essentially the same as a nuclear submarine's, but miniaturized for automobile use. It was designed to use uranium fission to heat a steam generator, rapidly converting stored water into high-pressure steam which could then be used to drive a set of turbines. One steam turbine would provide the torque to propel the car while another would drive an electrical generator. Steam would then be condensed back into water in a cooling loop, and sent back to the steam generator to be reused. Such a closed system would allow the reactor to produce power as long as fissile material remained.
Using this system, designers anticipated that a typical Nucleon would travel about 5,000 miles per charge. Because the powerplant was an interchangeable component, owners would have the freedom to select a reactor configuration based on their personal needs, ranging anywhere from a souped-up uranium guzzler to a low-torque, high-mileage version. And without the noisy internal combustion and exhaust of conventional cars, the Nucleon would be relatively quiet, emitting little more than a turbine whine.
One problem that I could see is that a four car pile-up might have made parts of the freeway glow in the dark, not to mention what it would do to the people involved.
However, nothing compares to the vision of one Walt Disney. Shortly before his death in 1966, they were still in the planning & development stages for Disney World in Florida. Walt Disney's original vision for Disney World included EPCOT. Not the theme park with the thing that looks like a golf ball down at Disney World now, but something called the "Experimental Prototype Community Of Tomorrow". It would have been a large Disney created & controlled "City of Tomorrow" that would have sat next to & connected to the Disney World theme park via monorail.
Some of the most interesting aspects about the city Mickey would have built would have been Disney's vision of a city center that would have replaced cars with Disney PeopleMovers, and enclosing streets & buildings under a 50 acre climate controlled dome. I would love to have seen how well Disney-tech would have dealt with the Hurricanes that roll through south Florida.
Internal transportation would be provided by a whole new Disney transportation concept: the WEDway PeopleMover. The PeopleMover is a transportation system that never stops, relying on motors embedded in the track rather than in the vehicles. PeopleMover cars would transport residents from the metropolitan center to the outer residential areas. The PeopleMover concept was first demonstrated at Disneyland's Tomorrowland in 1967. The PeopleMover was also installed at the Magic Kingdom; it is now called Tomorrowland Transit Authority.
Because of these two modes of transportation, residents of EPCOT would not need a car. If they did, it would be used "only for weekend pleasure trips." The streets for cars would be kept separate from the main pedestrian areas. The main roads for both cars and supply trucks would travel underneath the city core, eliminating the risk of pedestrian accidents. This was also based on the concept that Walt Disney devised for Disneyland. He did not want his guests to see behind-the-scenes activity, such as supply trucks delivering goods to the city. Like the Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World, all supplies are discreetly delivered via underground tunnels.
EPCOT's downtown and commercial areas would have been located in the central core of the city, away from the residential areas. The entire area would have been completely enclosed, unaffected by the outside elements. "The pedestrian will be king" in this area, free from the danger of cars and other vehicles.
Another thing about EPCOT would have been that Walt (or the Disney shareholders) would have owned everyone's home.
No one living in EPCOT would own their own land or home, thereby having no municipal voting rights (bond issues, etc.). Walt Disney wanted to exercise this control only to be able to change technology in the homes easily.
According to [a Disney film], everyone living in EPCOT would be employed, thereby preventing the formation of slums and ghettos. There would be no retirees, everyone would have had a job. Residents would have been employed at either the Magic Kingdom theme park, the city central core shopping areas, the hotel/convention center, the airport, the Welcome Center, or the industrial park. And, as the film states, "everyone living in EPCOT will have the responsibility to maintain this living blueprint of the future".
It's a little long, but below is the Disney film that explains the plan.....
Or maybe it exists in some parallel universe where I have a goatee? I got into a conversation today about the future. Not the future, as in the election or what will be the state of the stock market in the next quarter, but the sort of future people believed in as children. The one where our cars would fly and computers would talk to us, and be servants that tackle the mundane & serious problems of life. Instead, at the beginning of the 21st Century, we're struggling to find ways to keep the road cars running without damaging the planet, and when not suffering from blue screens of death, computers still aren't "smart" like HAL (well, a non-homicidal HAL) and more likely being used to watch "2 Girls & A Cup" or some other thing going around the series of tubes.
Ford's engineers imagined a world in which full-service recharging stations would one day supplant petroleum fuel stations, where depleted reactors could be swapped out for fresh ones lickety-split. The car's reactor setup was essentially the same as a nuclear submarine's, but miniaturized for automobile use. It was designed to use uranium fission to heat a steam generator, rapidly converting stored water into high-pressure steam which could then be used to drive a set of turbines. One steam turbine would provide the torque to propel the car while another would drive an electrical generator. Steam would then be condensed back into water in a cooling loop, and sent back to the steam generator to be reused. Such a closed system would allow the reactor to produce power as long as fissile material remained.
Internal transportation would be provided by a whole new Disney transportation concept: the WEDway PeopleMover. The PeopleMover is a transportation system that never stops, relying on motors embedded in the track rather than in the vehicles. PeopleMover cars would transport residents from the metropolitan center to the outer residential areas. The PeopleMover concept was first demonstrated at Disneyland's Tomorrowland in 1967. The PeopleMover was also installed at the Magic Kingdom; it is now called Tomorrowland Transit Authority.