Tuesday
Apr102007
1994: The World of Tomorrow (1973)
Tuesday, April 10, 2007 at 4:37PM 
The 1973 book 1994: the World of Tomorrow, published by U.S. News & World Report, starts with a preface that is optimistic yet thoughtful and measured.
"Like George Orwell's work, 1994: The World of Tomorrow, offers a warning that the future cannot be taken for granted. The future is forseeable. Unless, as Orwell cautioned, we anticipate future problems, begin the search for alternative solutions, and stake a claim on our long-term future, we may lose what it has to offer."
However, like any book of futuristic projections we quickly get to the fanciful visions. And let's be honest, would you read this blog without the spectacle of absurd, often wrong, predictions? Stick around, because 1994 was a much cooler year than any of us ever knew.
Reader Comments (6)
Hopefully, the movies in the book are much better because I don't remember anything in 1994 that was all that spectacular. I bet that when you are reading through all these great books, that it tells you more about the time when it was written then what really would come to pass. I would be interested in seeing your pick of the most accurate prediction book out there. 1984 did get a lot of things right, but there may have been others who got some things right?
Now if Orwell had taken a little longer to finish writing http://www.netcharles.com/orwell/articles/col-rfe.htm" REL="nofollow">1984 the year would have been 1949 and not 1948 and the title would have been "1994".
Think about that! :-)
Davis: I was going to say "Whoomp! (There it is!)," but I looked it up and that was 1993.
Well, in '94 we had the deaths of Richard Nixon and Kurt Kobain, and the finale of TNG.
We also had the X-Files, Briscoe County Jr, Alternative Nation with the lovely host Kennedy Montgomery (female)....Beavis and Butthead were huge on MTV, and...umm...in films we had great classics such as True Lies, Pulp Fiction, Interview with the Vampire, Forrest Gump and Clerks.
Fruitopia was a popular drink, and the raidos blared with the music of Greenday and The Smashing Pumkins.
Many momentous things happened in 1994....a famous heroin junkie blew his brains out (or maybe his wife did?), TNG ended (and in the theaters a several months later, still in 1994, the 1701-D was destroyed with the exception of the saucer section), B5 got off the ground, the X-Files hit their stride, Radiohead were Creeps, Cracker was Low, the Cranberries Lingered, the Smashing Pumpkins Disarmed, Capt Picard dug erotic cakes on SNL, the dude from MTV's The State wanted to dip his balls in it, Ace Ventura was THE Pet Detective, Jim Cameron & Ah-nold told True Lies, Pulp Fiction was dug the most, Clerks made snide comments about you, people drank Fruitopia (with a prayer to protect them from the wiccan/paganism that was on the labels ;), the Contract with America saved us from Klinton, etc, etc.
1994 was dope.
1994 WAS dope!
But Radiohead were creeps allready in 1992!
Fruitopia! I remember that! Crap now i'm all nostalgic and depressed! :(
Has it really been that long since Tricky Dick died?? Shit!