Agora Media Group Innovation Blog

I think it’s quite interesting how much of this the filmmakers actually got right. Let’s bear in mind, this is a 40 year old video, made when the Internet was in the cradle – used only by the military.

They predicted online banking, flat screens, eCommerce, and even excel for keeping track of finances on the home computer. This is a great video for innovators to show detractors when they try to bury far-fetched technology.

Having lived in 1969…albeit only two at the time… let me tell you how it was in the early 70′s when I was a kid. People mailed letters – they walked to the post office and stamps cost 12 cents – there were actual phone booths on the streets where you could call anyone in the city for ten cents for as long as you wanted. There were records, actual vinyl – that were sold in various speeds and sized from 33/45 and even 78 rpm. My first gadget was in 1980 – it was an Atari Pong that ran on our black and white tube TV that had four channels. My dad’s hair was longer than my mom’s.

In case you are wondering if this is, yet another, Youtube fake – it’s not. It’s not fake at all. It’s a documentary by the Philco-Ford corporation from 1967, titled “1999 A.D.” The man is Wink Martindale, who went on to become a game show host.

I did chuckle at the idea that they thought our electronics would get bigger, but they actually got smaller – and the scene with the wife choosing and husband begrudgingly paying is more 50′s than 60′s… when the mantra was “The man will pay…The woman will look after the kids”

And who needs a mouse when you can have all those knobs, lights and buttons everywhere! Maybe in 20 years, the current keyboard and mouse setup could be looked on with similar amusement…. Even using an iPhone, I wish my laptop screen worked that way sometimes.

But at the end of the day, they were pretty accurate. The most interesting part for me was the crude input devices (e.g. ‘writing’ an email or turning a dial or pushing a button to shop online).

This is crazy…it would never work! The internet? Who would want to sit in front of a machine and type into a little box or watch videos on a screen?

Oh, wait….never mind!

The Jetson’s was also made in the 1960′s – I remember watching the reruns as a kid in the 70′s. It was also quite interesting with its flying cars & skype-like screen phones where you could see the person in real time while on the phone