During the autumn of 1932 a group of curious onlookers assembled in Brighton, England to see inventor Harry May's latest invention, Alpha the robot. The mechanical man was controlled by verbal commands and sat in a chair silently while May carefully placed a gun in Alpha's hand. May then walked across the room to set up a target for the robot to shoot.

Seemingly more man than machine, and without a word from its inventor, the robot rose to its feet. May commanded the two-ton robot to sit, but instead it took a step forward. As the machine slowly raised the pistol, women in the audience screamed and men shouted warnings to the inventor. May commanded the robot to stop. "Drop that gun and sit down!" he screamed to no effect. Naturally, the inventor rose his hand to defend himself. Alpha the robot squeezed the trigger and in one quick, violent moment the discharged bullet pierced flesh and shattered the bones in May's hand.

The robot stood motionless, its arm outstretched with the smoking gun. May's voice could be heard, again desperately attempting to command the robot, "Back to your chair, Alpha! And drop that gun!"

This time, to everyone's amazement, the robot obeyed its master's command. The gun fell to the floor and the robot returned to its chair.

As a doctor tended to May, the inventor calmly explained, "I always had a feeling that Alpha would turn on me some day, but this is the first time he ever disobeyed my commands. I can't understand why he fired before I gave the proper signal."

Newspapers across the United States took this story and ran with it. An editorial from a Louisiana newspaper even proclaimed that the era of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein was upon us. The bold new world of automation was to be feared. Mechanical men of our own creation were sure to destroy us all.

With the benefit of hindsight we can say that this series of events never happened, or were at the very least, wildly exaggerated. A much tamer version of the story was reported in far fewer newspapers, (just one by my count), but still contained the sensationalistic headline, "Maker Is Shot by Robot He Invented." In this version of the story May was inserting a cartridge into the gun, which was attached to the robot, and an accidental, premature discharge simply burned the inventor's hand.

1932 Oct 23 Ogden Standard-Examiner - Ogden City UT

Such fantastic feats ascribed to robots are so obviously absurd to today's skeptical minds. Robotic machines are just now beginning to complete the most basic tasks of walking up stairs, slowly running, and "recognizing" faces. Such autonomous movement, as described in the story of Alpha turning on its inventor, is only recently beginning to be seen in robots being developed by Honda, Toyota and in elite universities around the world.

But why did these articles run in so many newspapers across the country? Why were people apt to believe that a "robot," or "mechanical man" would develop a mind of its own and turn on its inventor?

The 1930s was an era of dread. The Great Depression had ravaged the nation economically, physically and emotionally. The fear of automation manifested itself in sensational pieces throughout various popular media about the invasion of the machine. Comic books, radio dramas and newspaper articles fueled the fire, and allowed the nation to point to something, anything. Robots, technology, automation, they were the cause of our distress.

Technology was something to fear because it would (or had) put you out of a job. Automation meant efficiency. Automation meant fewer jobs for men who worked in factories. Automation meant that we would never see an end to the despair. Sound familiar?

The article embedded above is from the October 23, 1932 Ogden Standard-Examiner (Ogden, UT).

Previously on Paleo-Future:

• Robots for Romantic Old Maids (1928)
• Robots Will Kill Music! (1930)
• Alpha the Robot (1932)
• Gigantic Robots to Fight Our Battles (1934)
• A Whole World of Metal Men? (1937)
• Donald Duck's "Modern Inventions" (1937)
• Will Humanity Annihilate Itself? (1939)

The radio of the future is... a television? This 1942 ad for Admiral radios featured modernist designer Samuel A. Marx and his vision of a "radio of the future." Like most American visions of the future from the 1940s, this one is drenched in talk of war and what technological advancements are just around the corner; after the war.

Source: Duke University Libraries

Previously on Paleo-Future:

• Tomorrow's Kitchen (1943)
• After the War (1944)
• Plastic Skyscrapers and Frozen Dinners (1945)
• 'Brain Wave' Music Possible (1949)
• Television: Medium of the Future (1949)

Today's retro-futuristic eye candy comes from the 1956 book The Complete Book of Space Travel. This donut-shaped space station, popularized by Wernher von Braun, popped up on TV, in films and even on lunch boxes. Do the kids these days still carry lunch boxes? I really have no idea. I vaguely recall carrying an ALF lunch box to school, but I may be stealing that memory from a Full House episode or something.

Previously on Paleo-Future:

• The Complete Book of Space Travel (1956)
• Space Suite (1956)
• Rocket Ship (1956)
• Challenge of Outer Space (1950s)
• Wernher von Braun's Space Shuttle (1950s)
• Man and the Moon (1955)
• Space Age Lunch Boxes (50s and 60s)

What fantastical promise from the future did Mr. Radebaugh have for you this week? Cars that run on sunshine? Tomatoes as big as Verne Gagne's head? Underseas highways to the land of godless commies? No, something even more ridiculous! A home library of electronic media! What a weird futuristic world that would be! Gosh golly, what will they think of next!

Some unusual inventions for home entertainment and education will be yours in the future, such as the "television recorder" that RCA's David Sarnoff described recently.

With this device, when a worthwhile program comes over the air while you are away from home, or even while you're watching it, you'll be able to preserve both the picture and sound on tape for replaying at any time. Westinghouse's Gwilym Price expects such tapes to reproduce shows in three dimensions and color on screens as shallow as a picture.

Another pushbutton development will be projection of microfilm books on the ceiling or wall in large type. To increase their impact on students, an electronic voice may accompany the visual passages.

Eternal thanks to my Closer Than We Think pusher Tom Z., without whom I would be living in a cold, dark world of black and white comic strips.

Previously on Paleo-Future:

• Movies Will Replace Textbooks (1922)
• Thinks We'll Do Our Reading on Screen (1923)
• Closer Than We Think! (1958-1963)
• Glenn T. Seaborg's 1989 (1964)
• Learning in 1999 A.D. (1967)
• RCA's Two Thousand (1969)
• Media Room of the Future (1979)

This postcard from 1925 imagines future New York City, "The City of Skyscrapers." Utopian New York of the 1920s sure had a lot of levels, with a system of elevated trains, some beautiful flying contraptions, and towering skyscrapers reaching toward the heavens. I'm fascinated by New York futurism, as it generally had a more rugged or old world vibe (even in its utopian form) than the futurism of the shiny western United States.

Of course New York is a favorite setting for the apocalyptic as well. Just yesterday my friend Brian Horrigan, co-author of the book Yesterday's Tomorrows, told me about a decidedly apocalyptic book focusing on New York that I can't wait to get my hands on, The City's End: Two Centuries of Fantasies, Fear, and Premonitions of New York's Destruction. 

The postcard is from my personal collection, but the date I'm using is based upon Corbis Images.

UPDATE: Though the identical colorized image from Corbis may very well be from 1925, I've found earlier sources of this image from travel guide publisher Moses King, dating back to 1911.

FUTURE NEW YORK will be pre-eminently the city of skyscrapers. The first steel frame structure that was regarded as a skyscraper was the Tower Building at 50 Broadway, a ten story structure 129 feet high. There are now over a thousand building of that height in Manhattan. The best known skyscrapers are the Singer Building, 612 feet high, the Metropolitan Building, 700 feet high; and the Woolworth Tower which towers above them all and rises to a height of 790 feet. The proposed Pan American Building is to be 801 feet high.

Previously on Paleo-Future: 

• Gernsback Imagines Life 50 Years Hence (1925)
• Machines! Machines! (1927)
• The Metropolis of Tomorrow (1929)
• New York in 1960 (1935)

The March 29, 1939 San Antonio Light (San Antonio, TX) ran this teaser for an article that was to appear in the April 2nd issue of The American Weekly.

At first glance, I had assumed that the ad was referencing this article that we looked at from 1935, but upon closer inspection it would seem they simply used the same drawing of a robot soldier from Erik Nitsche. Maybe if I track down the actual 1939 article from Professor C.M. Joad I'll straighten this whole robotic mess out. Until then, enjoy the pictures (...of an uber-dystopian, sentient robot hellscape!)

Previously on Paleo-Future:

• When Wars Are Fought With Robot Soldiers (1935)
• Gigantic Robots To Fight Our Battles (1934)
• A Whole World of Metal Men? (1937)
• Future War Tank (1939)
• Will War Drive Civilization Underground? (1942)

Today we have an image from the April 23, 1967 Independent Press-Telegram (Long Beach, CA) that accompanied an article imagining a "sea airport" or Sea Sky Terminal (SST) of the future. Some of the benefits listed in the article appear below.

Proponents of the dream terminal say that, among other things, it would:

1. Eliminate the danger of huge aircraft landing in congested areas.

2. Eliminate the noise associated with major airports.

3. Eliminate freeway and street congestion caused by ever-increasing numbers of air travelers trying to get in and out of major terminals.

4. Eliminate property problems, such as occurred in Los Angeles recently when that city had to purchase 400 omes in order to make room for a new runway for International Airport.

The sea airport of the future, engineers say, could be served by underwater subways and high-speed airfoil vessels. Helicopters, vertical takeoff and landing aircraft and flying buses would link the seagoing airstrip with satellite airports in other cities, by-passing the freeways.

Previously on Paleo-Future:

• Airport of the Future (1967)
• Fuller's Traveling Cartridge (circa 1960s)

Russell Kirk [wikipedia.org]

If the people of the year 2000 ever bother to read our predictions for their time, probably they will acquire a lesson in the vanity of human wishes.

 1970 April 3 Ada Evening News - Ada OK Paleofuture

Previously on Paleo-Future: 

• Headlines of the Near Future (1972)

"Televox," the mechanical man, one of the outstanding miracles of modern science, will perform for the students of the Muscatine high school at the high school auditorium Friday at 8:40 a. m., Henry Van Hettinga, principal, announced today. This will be the high school's first taste of the High School Assembly association talent this year.

This is a treat that is always in demand in the schools which are members of the assembly association. This mechanical human, often called the "servant of the future," was built in the East Pittsburg laboratories of the Westinghouse Electric company. It will be demonstrated Friday morning by W.A. Wheeler, an expert electrician.

One of his special tricks is that of using the telephone in much the same manner as a human being. He will perform many other interesting tasks. An admission of 10 cents will be charged.

Previously on Paleo-Future:

• Mechanical Wonder Maiden (1930)
• Rastus Robot, the Mechanical Negro (1931)
• Gadgets for the Home (1930s)

I've since learned that these prints are from 1899, rather than 1910 as reported by the BnF. I've also learned that they were illustrated by Jean-Marc Côté, a French commercial artist who was commissioned by either a toy or cigarette manufacturer, to produce them. Interestingly enough the company that commissioned the cards went out of business before they could be distributed, leaving behind just one complete set of 50 cards. And where did I learn all of this wonderful information? From reading a book! Which I hear is FUNdamental!

Isaac Asimov's Futuredays is a card-by-card analysis of these retro-futuristic artifacts and does a wonderful job of putting them into historical context for modern readers. I highly recommend it, even though the book contradicts itself by sometimes stating that the cards were commissioned by a cigarette manufacturer and sometimes claiming it was a toy company. Enjoy!

Previously on Paleo-Future:

• French Prints Show the Year 2000 (1910)
• More French Prints Show the Year 2000 (1910)
• Postcards Show the Year 2000 (circa 1900)