The January 3, 1968 Arizona Republic (Phoenix, AZ) ran this cartoon depicting the "Museum of Extinct Americana." Rural Americans and private dwellings were thought to be on their way out.

While more Americans of the year 2000 were living in urban areas, American farmers haven't yet gone the way of the quagga. (This is probably a stupid city-boy question, but how common are pitchforks on farms today?)

The recent housing bubble burst put the hurt on a lot of Americans who own their own home, but this cartoon was likely commenting on population growth and the belief that the United States was at capacity; with Americans of the year 2000 living in increasingly cramped conditions.

I wish the cartoonist had included more artifacts in his museum. Do you suppose he could have guessed that the printed newspaper would be struggling as much as it has the past few years?

MARCH OF TECHNOLOGY -- Many miracles are just around the corner as today's basic research becomes tomorrow's gadgets. But many familiar facets of present-day life will vanish as the year 2000 approaches, as this cartoon illustrates.

Previously on Paleo-Future:

• Farmer Jones and the Year 2000 (1956)
• Farm to Market (1958)
• Are We Heading Toward the Day Everything Stops? (1968)
• Family Life to be Greatly Altered by 21st Century (1968)

I don't want to miss plastic skyscrapers; frozen-food dinners in one package... wireless transmission of electricity; the chance to live energetically to the grand old age of 150 years. Screwball? Nothing of the kind. All of these things are here already in the minds of men; in scientific possibility; in materials. They just have to be put together. -- Eddie Rickenbacker, 1945

From the book Future: A Recent History by Lawrence R. Samuel.

Previously on Paleo-Future:

• Will War Drive Civilization Underground? (1942)
• Tomorrow's Kitchen (1943)
• After the War (1944)
• Space Travel to be Commonplace (1957)

To many people of the year 2010 the 1953 book, The Road to Abundance, is a heretical, nightmarish vision of the future. Chemicals and factory farming are seen as the logical next step in the evolution of food production for mankind. 

Jacob Rosin, co-writing with Max Eastman, describes the eventual "victory of chemistry over agriculture," and mankind's "bondage to the planet." The ultimate goal of Rosin's ambition was to be "more efficient than nature." In his advocacy of a completely synthetic diet Rosin called into question both the definition and the benefit of "natural foods."

 

It is therefore high time to remove the cloak of holiness from natural foods, and see them as what they are: a poorly assorted mixture of chemicals containing a large amount of indigestible materials, and a certain proportion of materials injurious to our health. This mixture has been, unfortunately, indispensable for our nutrition, since we have been unable up to now to obtain the chemicals required by our organism in a form entirely digestible and devoid of poison.

As I mentioned in an earlier blog post, each time I read a book like The Road to Abundance I can't help but imagine what the grocery stores of 2010 would look like had different marketing forces prevailed. One can picture yuppies and hipsters walking the aisles of a grocery store in some alternate universe, content in knowing that their unnatural, Certified Inorganic™ food was scientifically proven to maximize this and detoxify that. SuperPills: The All-Synthetic Food Emporium!

Previously on Paleo-Future: 

• "Factory" Farms of the Future (1961)
• That Synthetic Food of the Future (1928)
• Farmer Jones and the Year 2000 (1956)
• Closer Than We Think! Fat Plants and Meat Beets (1958)

We seem to have been waiting for the smart cupboard/fridge for quite a while now. Though the continued spread of RFID chips makes such an idea more plausible today, the future kitchen isn't yet quite what we imagined.

A January 3, 1977 piece in the Winnipeg Free Press (Winnipeg, Manitoba) predicted the smart cupboard, kitchen computers that automatically select menus and kitchen televisions for monitoring Junior in the next room. The piece appears in its entirety below.

TORONTO (CP) - The housewife of the future will be able to keep an eye on her sleeping baby by "dialing in" the nursery to get an instant picture of a kitchen television screen.

This is but one prediction Canadians can expect to come true as advances in kitchen conveniences are researched and developed, says Gordon I. Forsell, vice-president of marketing and sales for Inglis Ltd., appliance manufacturer.

"We visualize a day when a central panel or brain will allow the housewife to handle most tasks through a computerized source," said Mr. Forsell.

A kitchen computer will select menus and deliver frozen items directly from freezer to micro-wave oven. A gourmet meal may be thawed, cooked and ready-to-serve in minutres.

The computer's brain will store information such as a tally of supplies that are running short in the kitchen cupboard.

Mr. Forsell predicted that the same television screen the housewife watchers her baby on will deliver the day's news or a special college course at the push of a button.

Located centrally in the kitchen of tomorrow is the cooking area, he said. Smooth, unbroken cooking surfaces that wife clean with a cloth will be hidden beneath the kitchen counter ready to pull out and use when required.

He said a giant crisper located directly beside the sink area will keep greens fresh and well within reach. Its moisture will be automatically controlled.

Mr. Forsell said a special sink will be equipped with a food dispenser so that peels and rinds will disappear. "And paper, cans and other solid waste products will go into a trash compactor," he said.

"Also built into the kitchen of tomorrow is a year-round herb garden supported by ultra-violet light."

He said that no one will have to wash a dish, plate or pot.

"New dishwashers will add their own detergents, adjust heat automatically and handle every utensil efficiently," he said. "The dishwasher will be hidden below the counter and programmed to rise to counter top at the push of a button."

"Mr. Forsell said the kitchen of the future also will have a complete laundry centre. Programmed washers will automatically sort fabrics and colors including all the touch double-knits and delicate laces.

 

Previously on Paleo-Future:

• 1999 A.D. (1967)
• Will Robots Make People Obsolete? (1959)
• Tomorrow's Kitchen (1943)
• Computer May Rule Household in 1999 A.D. (1967)
• The Future of Glass (1958)
• Computersville is Almost Here (1970)
• How Experts Think We'll Live in 2000 A.D. (1950)
• In a Cashless Future, Robots Will Cook (1996)

The July 4, 1976 Grand Prairie Daily News (Grand Prairie, TX) published letters written by 4th graders, addressed to people of the year 2000. Just as the newspaper did, I've left the spelling and grammatical errors. Because if we've learned anything at the Paleo-Future blog, it's that kids are stupid.

We'll begin by looking at letters by young Laurie Smith, Yolanda Tejeda, and R.C. Brown. These kids really hit all the major futurism topics of the 20th century: robot maids, moving sidewalks, flying cars, meal pills, push button everything, education through television, socialism, and candy. Lots of candy.

Dear Janice,

In the year 2000 I think that cars can fly in the air as fast as they want to without using gas. You can get whatever you want, including candy. Houses will be way up in the sky. You can have robots to do the housework for the mothers. Instead of walking, the the sidewalks will move for you.

Your friend,

Laurie Smith

 

Dear John,

In the year 2000 I think thay kids will be taught at home on their T.V. The army will be using lazor guns. Cars will be like spaceships and the strreetlights will be on long tall poles. Another means of transportation will be push buttons. Select where you want to go, push a button, step through a door, and you'll be where you wanted to be.

Food will be in tablet form, put on water on the tablet and your food will be on your plate.

Sincerely yours,

R.C. Brown

 

Dear Laurie,

I think in the year 2000 the earth will be much more polluted than it is.

I also think that we will have no more school, and cars can go as fast as they want without getting a ticket.

The government will pay every person as much as they want without them having to work. I also think we will be out of energy for stores or anything that uses fuel in the year 2000.

Sincerely,

Yolanda Tejeda

Previously on Paleo-Future:

• Stupid Kids Imagine the Year 2075 (1975)
• Lisa's Picture of 2076 (1976)
• The Predictions of a 14-Year-Old (Milwaukee Excelsior, 1901)
• More Predictions of a 14-Year-Old (1901)

I never really took James J. Hill for a Malthusian, but this article in the January 28, 1909 Milford Mail (Milford, IA) certainly paints him as one. Hill's argument was basically that there would be too few farmers for a fast-growing American population.

To reflect on the progress made in the United States during the first half of the 20th century is pretty awe-inspiring. Intelligent people with opposing opinions could argue for hours whether this was despite or because of 2 world wars and the Great Depression. You can read the entire piece from the Milford Mail with Hill's predictions below.

They must learn to farm better. Intensive farming is inevitable. In very truth, two blades of grass must grow where but one grew before, and land that now produces only one bushel of wheat must produce two. And farmers must learn to handle their products more wisely after they are produced. There must be no waste either of substance or value.

Photo of James J. Hill from the Library of Congress.

1909 Jan 28 Milford Mail - Milford IA Pa Leo Future

Previously on Paleo-Future:

• Population Close to Standing Room Only (1899)
• Food of the Future (1896)
• Oil and Gas Will Eventually Be Exhausted (1909)

Remember when the term "factory farm" was synonymous with a positive way to produce food? Neither do I.

But this April 9, 1961 edition of Closer Than We Think (which appeared in the Chicago Tribune) treats the phrase as a part of humanity's natural progression in the advancement of science. I imagine what a different world we'd be living in if "FACTORY FARMED!" were plastered on food packaging rather than "ORGANIC!" or "ALL-NATURAL!" That world somehow seems just as plausible given a few historical and societal tweaks. Those giant tomatoes could have been pulled directly from John Elfreth Watkin's December, 1900 piece for the Ladies' Home Journal. And those monorail tank cars are certainly reminiscent of the high-speed freightways used to transport food in the 1958 Disneyland TV episode Magic Highway, U.S.A.

The full text of the strip appears below.

Agriculture in the world of tomorrow will be so mechanized that farms will actually resemble factories. Crops and livestock will be raised on regular schedules under uniform and carefully controlled conditions.

"Sensors," those automatic control devices for today's wonder machines, will be adapted to the requirements of precisions agriculture. They will take the place of human judgement in deciding and reacting to soil conditions, crop maturity, moisture levels, weather forecasting, feeding needs, etc. Bendix researcher W. E. Kock has reported that instruments to do this already exist or will soon be developed.

A special thanks to Tom Z. yet again for being an invaluable resource for the Closer Than We Think series.

Previously on Paleo-Future:

• Closer Than We Think! Fat Plants and Meat Beets (1958)
• Farm of the Future (1984)
• Farm to Market (1958)
• Farmer Jones and the Year 2000 (1956)
• Technotopia of 2000 (1962)
• Closer Than We Think! (1958-1963)
• Corner Grocermat (1959)
• Closer Than We Think! Hydrofungal Farming (1962)
• What May Happen in the Next Hundred Years (Ladies Home Journal, 1900)