The Latest Articles From Paleofuture
We take a look at bizarre medical gadgets from the 1920s, a Space Age kitchen from 1958, and much more.
The future is really hard to predict. But it’s incredibly fun looking back at the predictions of people who came before us, just to see what they imagined might happen.
Today, we’ve got some of the most recent articles published at Paleofuture. Most are free to read, but a few are premium articles just for subscribers to Paleofuture+.
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This Kitchen Control Center From 1958 Was Going to Bring Cooking Into the Space Age
When newspaper readers opened the Sunday funnies on December 7, 1958, many saw a glimpse of a futuristic kitchen. The housewife of the future, they were told, would sit in a circular kitchen with a chair that would bring her to everything without the need to stand up. It looks like something out of a spaceship design. But, believe it or not, the idea is much older and seemed to take some inspiration from the 1940s.
Read more here.
These High Tech Medical Gadgets of a Century Ago Were Going to 'Cure' Everything From Deafness to Epilepsy
The internet is filled with fraudulent health claims of people who claimed they cured cancer with tumeric or fought covid-19 by drinking bleach. But newspapers and magazines of the early 20th century had plenty of equally ridiculous claims. And one tech magazine sought to expose these medical frauds, all considered high tech swindles at the time.
Read more here.
NASA's 'Spinoff' Magazine Showed How Space Tech Was Building the Future
NASA is tremendously proud of the benefits that Americans see when space tech becomes commercialized for civilian use. But did you know NASA has an entire magazine devoted to showing off those spinoffs, published every year? The new edition is out today, and it’s a great excuse to take a look through Spinoff’s archives from the 1970s.
Read more here.
The First Electronic Baby Monitor Revolutionized Looking After Little Ones in 1938
Today, there are numerous tools for parents who want to monitor their babies from another room in the house. But back in the 1930s, you didn’t know your child had woken up in the middle of the night until you heard them cry out. That is, until the invention of the first electronic baby monitor, a device introduced in 1937 and featured in a radio hobbyist magazine in 1938.
Read more here.
1973 Prediction: Nixon Will Be Remembered in 2023 As Greatest President in History
If you mention the name Nixon to anyone here in 2023, you’ll most likely conjure thoughts of the Watergate break-in or that infamous phrase, “I am not a crook.” But does anyone actually think President Richard Nixon is the greatest president we ever had? That was the prediction of one person who wrote a letter to the editor in 1973, explaining that 50 years into the future, we’d all look back fondly at the president who would often be called Tricky Dick.
Read more here.
Video From 2002: RFID Chips Were Supposed to Turn Everyone Into a Salesperson
Do you ever admire your friend’s tie so much that you absolutely must buy it that second? That seemed to be the problem that needed solving in this 2002 concept video by Accenture for shopping in the future.
Read more here.
Predictions for the Four-Hour Work Day in 2023 Were Met With Celebration and Ridicule in 1923
By the year 2023, the regular workday will be just four hours. At least that was the prediction from one of the smartest guys around in 1923.
Back in the early 1920s, inventor Charles P. Steinmetz would get his name in the paper by making bold predictions for the future. Steinmetz predicted in 1921, for example, that people who were living 100 years into the future would be in homes with complete control over the temperature. It was a radical prediction for 1923, when central air conditioning didn’t really exist, but an accurate guess for what would happen in wealthy countries.
Read more here.
Heated Steering Wheels Are Way Older Than You'd Guess
When would you guess the heated steering wheel was invented? The 1980s? 1960s? Try at least 1920, and maybe as early as 1912.
I was flipping through an old tech magazine from 1920 over the weekend and stumbled upon a article that seemed appropriate for Minnesota’s harsh weather. I’m staying with family in Minnesota at the moment and it was brutally cold, with the high staying below zero on Friday.
Read more here.
High Schoolers of 1999 Predicted Many More Shootings by 2020 After Columbine
What will the world look like two decades from now? That was the question that the Richfield Reaper newspaper in Richfield, Utah asked its community back in 1999. And one of the answers from a high school student is chilling when you look back at how school shootings have become normalized.
Read more here.
The Remote-Controlled Tank of 1945 Was a Prediction for the Future of War
Today, the U.S. military is experimenting with robotic tanks to destroy an enemy without risking the lives of U.S. service members. And while these high-tech machines can conjure up memories of the 1991 movie Terminator 2 for many people who were alive to see that horrific vision for humanity’s future on the big screen, the remote-controlled tank actually has a much longer history in the popular imagination.
Read more here.