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Tech NewsHistory of Hip: Yesterday’s Tomorrows (Feb 2, 2010)
UPDATE: You can watch the video podcast of our presentation at the Minnesota History Lectures page on iTunes. I’ll be speaking about retro-futurism this coming Tuesday (February 2nd) at the Turf Club in St. Paul, MN. This Minnesota Historical Society event, The History of Hip: Yesterday’s Tomorrows, starts at 7:30pm. I’ll be sharing the stage … Continued
By Matt Novak -
Tech News
The Inevitable Flying Car (USA Today)
You may have noticed a certain paleo-futurist quoted in yesterday’s USA Today: Matt Novak, however, remains unconvinced. The host of Paleofuture.com, a blog that looks at past predictions of the future, says flying cars look even further away these days. “We had this sort of optimism in the ’50s and ’60s, a feeling that things … Continued
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Tech News
Brussels Girl Geek Dinner
Peter Van Wijnaerde recently emailed me and asked for my opinion on various paleo-futuristic topics. He was doing a presentation for the Brussels Girl Geek Dinner and was looking for some insight. I felt bad that I didn’t have much time to contribute but he was able to put together a rather interesting presentation which … Continued
By Matt Novak -
Tech News
One Year of the Paleo-Future Blog
It was a year ago today that I started the Paleo-Future blog. With that first post I warned of my smarmy, cynical attitude toward the future. I still believe everything I wrote in that first post so out of laziness, my first blog post appears below. And I sincerely thank you for reading. I first … Continued
By Matt Novak -
Tech News
Meet George Jetson (Wall Street Journal, 2007)
Jason Fry has a very interesting piece in today’s Wall Street Journal about those who long for the Jetsons’ version of the future. The November 15, 2007 issue of Rolling Stone also has an article about paleo-futurism, although I haven’t read that one yet. An excerpt from the Wall Street Journal piece appears below but … Continued
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Tech News
Paleo-Future in the Wall Street Journal
If you read today’s Wall Street Journal you may have seen a piece by Lee Gomes, which mentions the Paleo-Future blog. Another way to follow evolving social attitudes about computers is through the “concept videos” made by computer companies. Analogous to Detroit’s concept cars, these videos are designed to show a company’s visionary idea about … Continued
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Tech News
Flickr Group: In the Year 2000
The Paleo-Future blog and Boing Boing Gadgets have started a Flickr group called In the Year 2000. As Joel over at BB Gadgets has noted, there is already great interest in the group (211 members so far) along with some great images. I hope to see this community grow because I’ve already found many images … Continued
By Matt Novak -
Tech News
The Comfort of the Paleo-Future
LiveJournalist Blayne has an interesting analysis of why we may long for yesterday’s future. His take on paleo-futurism seems to be rooted in the comfort of the nostalgic. After the romantic innocence of retro-futurism is stripped away, you can see what drives our contemporary longing for imagined past-futures: Nostalgia, and a sincere desire for a … Continued
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Tech News
Paleo-Future Wallpaper
A few blogs mentioned that they liked “Going to the Opera in the Year 2000” so much that they were using it as their desktop wallpaper. With that in mind, I’ve uploaded 3 different wallpaper designs in a variety of sizes. I haven’t yet blogged about the first image but it may be one of … Continued
By Matt Novak -
Tech News
Futurism’s Past Littered With Faulty Forecasts
John W. Schoen over at MSNBC recently wrote an interesting piece about paleo-futurism. An excerpt appears below but you can read the entire story here. To make a bold prediction about the future, you have to think outside the box. But as the history of these predictions shows, when you try to stare too deeply … Continued
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Tech News
Digital Rights Management (April, 2007)
Much like jet packs, flying cars and moon colonies, digital rights management was to be the movement of the future. Back in April of 2007, organizations like the MPAA and RIAA held hilariously paleo-futuristic views on how to prevent piracy. These organizations were convinced that they could have total control over how creative works were … Continued
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Tech News
Paleo-Future Forum
If you look to the sidebar you’ll see that I’ve included a link to a new forum on Google Groups dedicated to Paleo-Future. This forum will hopefully allow for more interactivity and allow readers of Paleo-Future a place to discuss paleo-futurism and present-day futurism, share resources and bring attention to important links. I’ve started the … Continued
By Matt Novak -
Tech News
Postmodern Paleo-Future
Lately, I’ve been trying to organize my thoughts around this idea of the postmodern paleo-future. That is to say, when did a certain level of self-awareness about futurism outweigh the sincere, optimistic brand of futurism? I might suggest that the first great postmodern paleo-futuristic film was Woody Allen’s Sleeper from 1973. Allen was not so … Continued
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Tech News
A Glimpse of the Year 2000 (New York Times, 1982)
“‘You will definitely see this returning to a more human scale society,’ said Hazel Henderson, a freelance futurist, from her post in Gainesville, Fla. ‘It will be more effecient [to] do things locally. It won’t make sense to buy Wonder Bread baked in Illinois'” That prediction couldn’t have been more wrong. Today our food travels … Continued
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Tech News
Syd Mead
As a robot designer for Short Circuit, concept artist for Tron, a production illustrator for the first Star Trek movie and a “visual futurist” for Blade Runner, Syd Mead has contributed to the paleo-future through some amazing movies. Flickrtarian Michael Heilemann recently posted a set of Syd Mead concept art. Be sure to check out … Continued
By Matt Novak
