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Futurist Friday: Past Visions of Future Highways

Category: Center for the Future of Museums Blog

It is fun, and instructive, to revisit the future as envisioned by past visionaries–in this case, Disney. This [8:47] min short from 1958 envisions color-coded highways that defrost themselves, parking elevators and self-driving cars outfitted for teleconferences. (Me, I’m struck by the sparse traffic–and wish that part of their vision had come true.) 

Your Futurist Friday assignment, watch the vid and make a list of:
  • The forecasts of the videographers
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                Which have come true (in some form) already?
                Which have been overturned or superceded by projections? 

  • Embedded assumptions about technology and culture. (Guess what? In the future, women are still stay-at-home moms who most urgent transportation need is for shopping.
And before you laugh too hard at some of the details in this filmette, give a thought to how well your forecasts will hold up, 55 years later.

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