What to Expect

This collage was part of a contribution to a book about the future that was published in a previous century. Its message was meant to be optimistic about things to come, but in hindsight could be interpreted as a state of paranoia, preparing ourselves for the worst.

Even now though, I still sign up on the side of optimism.

Haller-Buchanan — Expect the Unexpected — 1999

En l'an 2000

And while we're on the subject of the future of flying, here are a few visions of the year 2000, from the early 1900s. Perhaps in some alternate universe all of this has come to be. I envy them.

Back (and Forth) to the Future

Last post, we saw a visual prediction of a future 2050 rocket plane—hyper-flying hundreds of people across the globe.

Back in 1850, visionaries also had a grand prediction of the future—hypo-flying large numbers of people across the land. In my steam-punk way of thinking, I prefer this vision:

A Bit Idealistic

Speaking of space in the '80s, here is a commemorative painting of the ill-fated Challenger shuttle by the eminent space artist Robert McCall. What a sad and horrifying tragedy that was, what, some 25 years ago? One of those events where you know where you were when you first heard about it. I even remember the weather, the time of day, how everything looked around me. This painting is a bit idealistic, which of course is what McCall's body of work was.

Robert McCall — The Spirit of Challenger — 1995

Case in point, here below—a glimpse of the future in 2050. I'm all for space exploration, but this scenario bugs me with the thought of so many people in such a hurry to get from one side of the world to the other, just to get stuck in a traffic jam leaving the aeroport, just to get to their important meetings and their rat race lives.

Okay, I'm being cynical, but truly I think that our future lives should go the direction of simpler and slower, to be satisfied with less. I dunno, check back with me in 39 years and we'll compare notes with how it's going.

Robert McCall — Rocketplane 2050 — 1996