Technology

I grew up in an era when television was broadcast in black and white (and we had only four channels, and you had to reach to the TV dial to go from one channel to the other). All telephones were big, black, heavy and connected to the wall. Typewriters were operated manually, and each major office had numerous clerks and secretaries to do the office's typing. Automobiles were V-8s and heavy. They had gas mileage as bad as today's Hummers. Back then not everyone owned a car. Streetcars, trolleys and frequently scheduled buses carried commuters and shoppers to their destinations. 

There were no home alarm systems (people often left their doors unlocked). There were no snow blowers. Lawn mowers used physical labor, rather than gasoline, electricity or batteries, to cut the grass. In eastern Pennsylvania, homes were heated by coal furnaces, and each day someone had to take the ashes outside and dump them somewhere in the yard. If you were lucky, you had more than one electric outlet in a room. Housewives hung clothes outdoors to dry in the wind, because there were no automatic clothes dryers indoors. The only satellite orbiting the Earth was the Moon.

People of the 1950s dreamed of a bright, modern future. Nuclear power would make electric plants would be so numerous and efficient that it would barely necessary to bill customers. We would routinely travel in space. Automobiles would operate by themselves, leaving drivers to read or enjoy other matters. Local transportation would be by jetpack or helicopter. Some of these things came true. Some never did. Some things that exist today weren't even imagined back then.

So here are some observations about the future as dreamt by those of us now in their late 50s and beyond.

Today we can buy train and subway tickets by computer, but few monorails exist outside amusement parks.

The Lincoln Futurama, released in 1955. It looks a lot like the Batmobile from the 1960s.

Just kidding. Maybe someday in the future workplaces will be clothing-optional. 

Every city street corner had outdoor telephone boxes, some enclosed in tiny glass structures. Each had telephone books that were tied to the kiosk by a chain. This outdoor phone must be from Canada or Europe. In the United States they're rare, well worn and covered in graffiti. The phone books have been stolen, as have the chains.

This is an X-ray of a cardiac pacemaker, one of the great advances in the increased longevity of people with heart disease and heart disorders. I wore pacemakers for more than 30 years until my failing heart was replaced by the heart of a 19-year-old who had died tragically.

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