Wayback Machine 1968: What Will Life Be Like in 2008?
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto 
on 03.25.08
The horrible thing that I have to admit is, I actually read that issue as a kid forty years ago, reading Modern Mechanix when not into my Arthur C. Clarke books. And what a fantastic vision it was:
Transportation: "With the U.S. population having soared to 350 million, 2008 transportation is among the most important factors keeping the economy running smoothly. Giant transportation hubs called modemixers are located anywhere from 15 to 50 mi. outside all major urban centers. Tube trains, pushed through bores by compressed air, make the trip between modemixer and central city in 10 to 15 minutes."
Housing: "Dwellings for the most part are assembled from prefabricated modules, which can be attached speedily in the configuration that best suits the homeowner. Once the foundation is laid, attaching the modules to make up a two- or three-bedroom house is a job that doesn’t take more than a day. Such modular homes easily can be expanded to accommodate a growing family. A typical wedding present for the 21st century newlyweds is a fully equipped bedroom, kitchen or living room module."
Computers: "The single most important item in 2008 households is the computer. These electronic brains govern everything from meal preparation and waking up the household to assembling shopping lists and keeping track of the bank balance. Sensors in kitchen appliances, climatizing units, communicators, power supply and other household utilities warn the computer when the item is likely to fail. A repairman will show up even before any obvious breakdown occurs."
Finance: "Money has all but disappeared. Employers deposit salary checks directly into their employees’ accounts. Credit cards are used for paying all bills. Each time you buy something, the card’s number is fed into the store’s computer station. A master computer then deducts the charge from your bank balance."
Employment: "People have more time for leisure activities in the year 2008. The average work day is about four hours. But the extra time isn’t totally free. The pace of technological advance is such that a certain amount of a jobholder’s spare time is used in keeping up with the new developments—on the average, about two hours of home study a day."
Entertainment: "TV screens cover an entire wall in most homes and show most subjects other than straight text matter in color and three dimensions. In addition to programmed TV and the multiplicity of commercial fare, you can see top Broadway shows, hit movies and current nightclub acts for a nominal charge. Best-selling books are on TV tape and can be borrowed or rented from tape libraries."
Agriculture: "Farmers are business executives running operations as automated as factories. TV scanners monitor tractors and other equipment computer programmed to plow, harrow and harvest. Wires imbedded in the ground send control signals to the machines. Computers also keep track of yields-, fertilization, soil composition and other factors influencing crops. At the beginning of each year, a print-out tells the farmer what to plant where, how much to fertilize and how much yield he can expect."
And my very favourite, Medicine: "No need to worry about failing memory or intelligence either. The intelligence pill is another 21st century commodity. Slow learners or people struck with forgetful-ness are given pills which increase the production of enzymes controlling production of the chemicals known to control learning and memory. Everyone is able to use his full mental potential."
Considering what was going on in the world in 1968, it is no wonder we all dreamt of such a fantastic, efficient and wonderful future.::Modern Mechanix
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It's easy to laugh at these predictions and those who made them, but I, for one, think they were surprisingly prescient given how difficult it is to foretell the future accurately. Finance, entertainment and agriculture were all pretty close to our modern-day reality, with only subtle differences in detail terms.
Of course the areas where they fall short are the areas where pure logic isn't the primary arbiter. For example, the transport system proposed would be great from the point of view of society, as it would be very energy efficient. But people like their personal freedom too much, so it has never been sufficiently financially attractive to put enough development into public transportation to deliver the utopian solution described.
Similarly with housing, we value the appearance of our homes too much to want modular boxes, even if they might be more efficient.
People are the one thing that screws up logic and common sense - was it ever so! But good on yer, Modern Mechanix Against all the odds, you've done pretty well!
I wonder how my boss would react if I said I wanted a four hour workday.
Hey, they described my house exactly!!! :-)
At least they got Computers and Entertainment mostly nailed down. Though most computers aren't automated and have their own intelligence, and books aren't usually read on TV (though video/DVD adaptations did), but everything else in those two categories were right.
Greetings from my undersea module!
Just another half an hour on gizmodo to go....
@Icelander
I just asked mine for a four-hour workday and he punched me in the nose. Well, it's either the fact that I asked for a four-hour workday or that he also found out I was having an affair with his wife today. One or the other.
wow, that's pretty amazing, other than housing and transportation, they were pretty darn close. Of cource medicine was a bit far off, as we more rely on the stupididty pill these days.
Wow! With allowance for obvious sensasationalized fantasy, a lot of that is really accurate! How cool.
Finance is right on, and I think work pretty close, just instead of going home to study for 2 hours people do 4 hours of work and then browse the Internet...