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Not good to be able to build the heart of a Chicken Little (props for ref:-) that simply up and dies on you

OK, so I remembered reading that but forgot where, so I searched for the original story and found that it was based on a real chicken heart.

"Tales of a Future Past":

http://davidszondy.com/future/futurepast.htm

This is probably what he was thinking of in comparison. Go, take a look at that site, it's really worthwhile - and no, I'm not related to the author. And compared to that sort of Sci-Fi, his stuff *is* gloomy. But still. :-)

Chile, 1971: http://davidszondy.com/future/Dystopias/project_cybersyn.htm

OK, that was way to much for the computing power of that era, and way too little money. But that was a pretty cool idea. Even if there where no real computers, it looked like a pretty sweet place to hang out. One of those cool ideas that was just too early.

Cheers for the neat link, I hadn't heard of that before.

Chile, 1971: http://davidszondy.com/future/Dystopias/project_cybersyn.htm

i'm good with Thunderbird 5

http://davidszondy.com/future/Thunderbirds/cap026.jpg

as long as the space debris cooperates....

I think letting pseudo-sci-fi action flicks to set technology and engineering guidelines is neither sane nor practical.

This is a jet pack. It was developed by Bell Helicopters in the late 60's.Since there seems to be little information on the power plant it's difficult to critique the system. This design was prior to the T-400 jet engine that is used on the Blackhawk helicopter. I believe the T-400 would be a better power plant.

There is one other person whose name is on a plaque in the Sea of Tranquility at the Apollo 11 landing site. The name there is Richard Milhouse Nixon.

Guess again.

1. His middle name was Milhous, not Milhouse. You've been watching The Simpsons too much.
2. His middle name is not on the plaque.
3. The names of the three Apollo 11 astronauts are on the plaque as well.

http://davidszondy.com/future/timecapsule/apolloplaque2.jpg

What, no love for the atomic car? Ford had a concept car powered by a nuclear reactor called the Nucleon, in the 1950:s.

No discussion about the foolishness of personal flying devices is complete without mentioning the Aerocycle "Since the operator stands on a tiny platform with a pair of naked helicopter blades whirling beneath him at food-processor speeds there is a great inducement not to fall off." (btw the whole site is worth a look)

> The present was so much cooler in the past...

As Tales of Future Past puts it:

"It wasn't that long ago that we had a future."

http://davidszondy.com/future/futurepast.htm

Here's an example (warning- link to time sink): http://davidszondy.com/future/Living/subtrains.htm

In the 1920s they were predicting broadcast power including transportation by wireless roller skates, sometime in the 1970s or so. Looks like we missed the target. Damn.

In the 1920s they were predicting broadcast power including transportation by wireless roller skates, sometime in the 1970s or so. Looks like we missed the target. Damn.

Isn't really a novel idea, it reminds me of this prototype, developed by General Electric for the US Army in the sixties (see also).

It's funny you should mention Robo-cop. Because that is what we think of when we see bipedal robots.

These 'bots are great but they're still kids toys compared to advanced Westinghouse designs from the 1930's. When this robot finishes a task he even takes a smoke break !!

Man, that blows my mind. The 1940's were a whole different period. He doesn't eat or drink, but man, they made sure that he can light up!

Now I see why this is the only survivor of 8. Appearently they gave the robots the ability to Smoke

...is to give it the ability to smoke: Smoking bot

Maybe he's the only survivor because they all smoked!

Bellows for smoking? It's Bender!

gracias.

here are the links to the images roland stole:

Mansfield Tourism Page

davidszondy.com

Elektro also had a dog named Sparky, and they were introduced at the 1929 World's Fair. Here's another link for your viewing pleasure.

Here's a picture:
http://www.davidszondy.com/future/robot/elektro1.h tm

Omar

I understand the notion that some people are able to grok the future with more discernment than the rest of us. But even very intelligent people can make tremendous errors in judgement. I'm not saying that Kurzweil is necessarily wrong in taking scads of pills every day, but it does give me pause.

I agree with you that most people are "blind" to the future, but I'm curious if you're saying that predicting future trends is easy. Even people who devote all of their professional lives to being "futurists" have pretty bad prediction rates.

History will reveal the accuracy (or innacuracy) of Kurzweil's predictions, but the only future trends that are "obvious" are those we're viewing in the rear view mirror.

For some humorous examples of future predictions from the last century, check out this site.

International Rescue had this figured out a long time ago with a much cooler mole.

There are two robot dogs in that painting. Can you see them? No? Me neither :)

Whatever this guy did, it doesn't show up in Mozilla.

Perfectly visible in Mozilla 1.6, or Firefox 0.8