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Tech NewsThe 1980s: Countdown to Armageddon
Every so often you stumble upon a book that makes you wish you were illiterate. In Hal Lindsey’s The 1980’s: Countdown to Armageddon he boldly proclaims, “The decade of the 1980s could very well be the last decade of history as we know it.” I bought this book (originally published in 1981) at a Goodwill … Continued
By Matt Novak -
Tech News
Proposed Amendments to the US Constitution
While flipping through my pocket-size U.S. constitution I came across a section about amendments that were proposed but never ratified. There have been over 10,000 such proposals since 1789 and, “fewer than one percent of them have received enough support to actually go through the constitutional ratification process.” Looking through this abbreviated list I can’t … Continued
By Matt Novak -
Tech NewsApple
The Future World of Transportation
I remember checking out this book at my elementary school library and being fascinated with the prospect of futuristic transportation. In the second grade I even did a science project on “Cars in the Year 2000.” (In 1992, the year 2000 still had some significance to a second grader.) My cars traveled on an electric … Continued
By Matt Novak -
Tech News
Looking Backward by Edward Bellamy
I started reading the 1888 classic utopian novel Looking Backward by Edward Bellamy. I’ll be blogging about it on a “whenever I damn well feel like it” basis and I invite you to follow along at home. You can either read it free here or here or you can do what I did and buy … Continued
By Matt Novak -
Tech News
Jetsons
I downloaded an episode of the first season of The Jetsons yesterday. It occurred to me that there is nothing more paleo-futuristic than the pneumatic tubes used to transport the characters. I can’t wait until the world of transportation catches up to 1960s bank teller technology. According to the Wikipedia post I linked to, (and … Continued
By Matt Novak -
Tech News
Astuter Computer Revue
I don’t remember much about Communicore at EPCOT in Walt Disney World. It closed in 1993 and was converted into the half-rate Innoventions Pavillion. However, I did find a little gem of a song that was featured in the Communicore exhibit for just a few short years. The song is called The Computer Song and … Continued
By Matt Novak -
Tech NewsMicrosoft
The Most Well-Documented Lives in History
Today we have two men that are either geniuses or completely crazy. While that fine line is usually difficult to discern in any worthwhile endeavor it is especially difficult in the context of futurism. We begin with Richard Buckminster Fuller (1895-1983), perhaps most famous for inventing the geodesic dome. What may be most compelling about … Continued
By Matt Novak -
Tech News
Chicago’s Grant Park: Fighting for the Future
I finally finished the PBS American Experience documentary, “Chicago – City of the Century” and found plenty to talk about in the paleo-future department. One particularly interesting element of the doc was the creation of Grant Park. Apparently plans were set in place to use the park for commercial purposes after the Great Fire of … Continued
By Matt Novak -
Tech News
The Future was Built on Steel
Apparently U.S. Steel never saw Dustin Hoffman in 1967’s The Graduate. According to this U.S. Steel commercial from the 1970s, the future will be built on steel rather than plastic. The future will also be built piece by piece in beige factories to make beige buildings. Disney’s Contemporary Resort in Walt Disney World, Orlando is … Continued
By Matt Novak -
Tech News
Hello and Welcome
I first came across the word “Paleo-Future” in a Flickr group of the same name. However, the topic first sparked my interest when I visited Walt Disney World’s EPCOT Center, (now Epcot), and realized that Disney’s version of the future was based upon what they thought the future would look like in the 1980s. As … Continued
By Matt Novak
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