Selling Tomorrows

Pics of the Internet From the 90's

Check out this Reddit thread with images from the 1990s of what we thought the internet looked like. My favorites are this and that. Both use floating in empty space as a metaphor as we struggled to understand this virtual "space."  

The one thing we DID understand -- email and its pervasive "@" symbol -- was used everywhere as a point of reference. 

Will the future look shiny or tarnished? Review of "Zap!"

For a species that can't know what the future holds, we seem to have reached a pretty good consensus on what tomorrow will look like.
 In trying to nail down that aesthetic, I picked up "Zap! How to Draw Fantastic Sci-Fi Comics" by Bryan Baugh.  It's meant to teach artists how to create robots, aliens, cyborgs, androids, and even something called a space gorilla.  But the best part is its chapter on the history of sci-fi comics. Among its most interesting points:



A great definition of sci-fi: "deals with fantastic circumstances that are scientifically plausible based on current scientific beliefs and theories."   (If you substitute the word "outdated" for "current, you actually get a succinct definition of steampunk and other retro-futurist art movements.)

The difference between "space opera" and "hard science fiction" is that the former leans more on "feeling," and the latter on "thinking." So in a hard sci-fi work, detailed gears/wires/moving parts are shown to help create a sense of realism; "this could really happen," the audience thinks.


The 1920s marked sci-fi comics' rise to prominence, a time when society was feeling optimistic.  The art reflected these feelings, and Baugh states "the depiction of futuristic technology was always shiny and flawless. Spaceships were sleek rockets with elegantly curved fins. Astronauts wore flashy jumpsuits, and robots often had the decorative look of walking jukeboxes."



The reason Star Wars appeared so realistic is that while all the ships and outfits were futuristic, they also looked worn, with scratches and dents.  The result "was a completely make-believe sci-fi world that had a gritty, real feeling."  The work has cast a long shadow on images of the future through today.

It's a good read.  For a preview, check it out on Google's book preview site. 

"Universal Writing Formula for Futurism" - Paleo-Future

Matt Novak, who writes the always entertaining and incredibly educational Paleo-Future blog, developed this gem back in November.  It's a formula he reverse-engineered on how people have pitched visions of the future in ads:

• Imagine [ten/twenty/fifty] years in the future.
  
• Your [car/toaster/robot] speaks to you.
  
• No, it's not your [friend/mom/crazy fever dream] 
  
• Your life just got better* with technology!

20,000 leagues in a utopia

Regular readers won't be surprised to learn that the first book I read on the Kindle was 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.  There's something so right about reading a century-old tale -- whose narrator is enthralled with the power of electricity -- on a device that's a pretty darn enthralling use of electricity.

That said, in exploring how the image of technology and the future has changed over time, few books are as influential as this one.  Some observations:

1. Captain Nemo's built himself a utopia.  Consider that he says the Nautilus is out of reach from tyrants and built so well that it can't be damaged by nature.  Nemo says he's never been as free as when he put himself inside the sub.  There's a library with nearly unlimited information. The ocean provides an unlimited amount of food. Everyone's healthy thanks to the constant temperature and fresh sea air.  Electricity, described as providing light "more uniform and continuous than the sun" and behaving "more obedient than gas" provides an unlimited amount of power.  Sounds like every other golden age longed for through time, but this one is all thanks to technology--and especially electricity.

2. The constant use of extreme detail in the book, going on for pages and pages about what the fish look like and rattling off measurements, give the fantasy parts of the book much more credence.  It’s a lesson on the benefits of getting granular when selling a vision of the future.

3. There's a great passage where, on behalf of science, Verne snobbily says, "It was Tasman who discovered this group in 1643, the year Torricelli invented the barometer and Louis XIV mounted the throne.  I leave the reader to decide which of these events has been more useful to the human race."  This wasn't the first time an innovator scoffed at a politician, but it’s certainly one of the sharpest.  Food for thought for those innovation v. public policy debates that break out every so often.

Lady Gaga goes back to the future on Idol

Lady Gaga came back from Hill Valley circa 2015 to perform on American Idol last night. And it seems she stole 7 of 9's eye implant along the way.  It's a look from a future that I hope we'll never see, though the song wasn't bad.  I heard she took this home after the show. 

Exciting! Safe! It's an Atomic Energy Lab for Kids!

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I love the 1950's vision of atomic energy.  So hopeful, so devoid of the 3-Mile Island/Chernobyl memories that the public walks around with today. 

Here's the snip from the incomparable BoingBoing: "This was the most elaborate Atomic Energy educational set ever produced, but it was only only available from 1951 to 1952. Its relatively high price for the time ($50.00) and its sophistication were the explanation Gilbert gave for the set's short lifespan. Today, it is so highly prized by collectors that a complete set can go for more than 100 times the original price." Permalink

And a link to the Oak Ridge Associated Universities' online museum of "Atomic toys."

One of its exhibits is this "Atomic Robot Man" who looks like the granddaddy of the beautiful Azimuth Mr. Roboto watch.