Drugs in 2000 A.D. (1970)

Stanley F. Yolles, M.D., Director of the National Institute of Mental Health wrote a piece which was published in the March 4, 1970 New Castle News (New Castle, PA) titled, "Drugs in 2000 A.D." An excerpt appears below.

At the turn of the century then, which is only 30 years from now, a nurse visiting a 75-year-old person may be engaged as part of her job in making sure that he is taking regularly several kinds of vitamin doses, a painkiller, a hypnotic dream regulator, an anti-depressant, a sedative or psychostimulant, and so on.

See also:
Future Shock - Electrical Stimulation (1972)
Health Care in 1994 (1973)
Computer Doctor (1982)

Motorola's 2000 A.D. (1990)

We learned a lot from our look at the 1990 Motorola concept video 2000 A.D. Specifically, we learned that every concept video needs a businessman who must be bothered while on the beach. We learned about the politics of radio spectrum allocation. And we learned about moustaches, don't forget about the moustaches.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

See also:
2000 A.D. (Part 1, 1990)
2000 A.D. (Part 2, 1990)
2000 A.D. (Part 3, 1990)
Pacific Bell Concept Video (1991)
Connections: AT&T's Vision of the Future (1993)
Flowers by Alice (1992)
Apple's Knowledge Navigator (1987)
Apple's Grey Flannel Navigator (1988)
Vision (Clip 1, 1993)
Vision (Clip 2, 1993)
Vision (Clip 3, 1993)
Starfire (1994)
GTE's Classroom of the Future (1987)

2000 A.D. (Part 3, 1990)

Today, the thrilling conclusion to our Motorola saga of (paleo)future communications.

See also:
2000 A.D. (Part 1, 1990)
2000 A.D. (Part 2, 1990)

2000 A.D. (Part 2, 1990)

Part 2 of the 1990 Motorola concept video 2000 A.D. shows us the emergency medical response team of the future, as well as the moustache of the future. Stay tuned for the third and final installment.

See also:
2000 A.D. (Part 1, 1990)
Pacific Bell Concept Video (1991)
Connections: AT&T's Vision of the Future (1993)
Flowers by Alice (1992)
Apple's Knowledge Navigator (1987)
Apple's Grey Flannel Navigator (1988)
Vision (Clip 1, 1993)
Vision (Clip 2, 1993)
Vision (Clip 3, 1993)
Starfire (1994)
GTE's Classroom of the Future (1987)

Pacific Bell Concept Video (1991)

The 1991 Pacific Bell concept video that we looked at in pieces a couple weeks back imagines a world of communication much like that of Connections from AT&T. Parts one through three of this unnamed Pacific Bell video appear below.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

See also:
Pacific Bell Concept Video (Part 1, 1991)
Pacific Bell Concept Video (Part 2, 1991)
Pacific Bell Concept Video (Part 3, 1991)
Connections: AT&T's Vision of the Future (1993)
Flowers by Alice (1992)
Apple's Knowledge Navigator (1987)
Apple's Grey Flannel Navigator (1988)
Vision (Clip 1, 1993)
Vision (Clip 2, 1993)
Vision (Clip 3, 1993)
Starfire (1994)
GTE's Classroom of the Future (1987)

Pacific Bell Concept Video (Part 3, 1991)

The third and final chapter of our untitled 1991 Pacific Bell concept video introduces us to the public videophones of the future, similar to those we saw in AT&T's Connections video from 1993.

See also:
Pacific Bell Concept Video (Part 1, 1991)
Pacific Bell Concept Video (Part 2, 1991)
Connections: AT&T's Vision of the Future (Part 4, 1993)
Connections: AT&T's Vision of the Future (1993)

Pacific Bell Concept Video (Part 2, 1991)

Part 2 of this unnamed Pacific Bell concept video has a visual voicemail feature (or in this case, audible voicemail) that iPhone users may find familiar.

See also:
Pacific Bell Concept Video (Part 1, 1991)

Pacific Bell Concept Video (Part 1, 1991)

This unnamed Pacific Bell concept video from 1991 is set in the year 2003. With a young woman giving birth as our main plot device, we're able to see how people of the 21st century will work, shop and communicate. Below is part 1 of 3.

See also:
Connections: AT&T's Vision of the Future (1993)
Flowers by Alice (1992)
Apple's Knowledge Navigator (1987)
Apple's Grey Flannel Navigator (1988)
Vision (Clip 1, 1993)
Vision (Clip 2, 1993)
Vision (Clip 3, 1993)
Starfire (1994)
GTE's Classroom of the Future (1987)

Progress to Counter Catastrophe Theory? (1975)

The November 24, 1975 Middlesboro Daily News (Middlesboro, Kentucky) ran an editorial countering the "catastrophe theory" predictions made by the Club of Rome. Per usual, neither party got everything right. Excerpts appear below, along with the piece in its entirety.

In health care, for example, a cure for cancer will be found by 1995 and will be generally available in the early 21st Century.

Closer to the present, it's felt that within two years doctors should be able to detect most genetic defects before birth and be able to prevent them by the 1990s.

In transportation, an all plastic car, except for engine and drive train, will be common by 1990. So will the electric car. The service-free, accident-proof automobile is expected to be in widespread use by the year 2000.

Ditto for automated urban transit, after becoming technologically possible in 1985 and economically feasible 10 years later.

Also by 1995, aerospace experts predict an economic alternative to petroleum fuel and full use of it by 2010.

See also:
The Futurists of 1966 Looking Toward A.D. 2000
Health Care in 1994 (1973)
Headlines of the Near Future (1972)
Closer Than We Think! Monoline Express (1961)
The Population Bomb: Scenario 1 (1970)
The Population Bomb: Scenario 2 (1970)
The Population Bomb: Scenario 3 (1970)
Future Without Football (Daily Review, 1976)
Going Backward into 2000 (1966)

Computer Doctor (1982)

This two page spread appears in the 1982 book Health and Medicine (World of Tomorrow).

Patients visiting a doctor in the future first tell the doctor's computer what is wrong with them. The computer may provide a remedy, or tell the patient to go to the next sections to be tested or to give samples. The doctor sees patients who need personal attention.

I can't help but think of a scene in Idiocracy when looking at this image.

See also:
Health Care in 1994 (1973)
Connections: AT&T's Vision of the Future (Part 5, 1993)
Hubert H. Humphrey's Future (1967)

Health Care in 1994 (1973)

Chapter two of the 1973 book 1994: The World of Tomorrow outlines health care predictions for the future:

From time to time, headlines announce the startling new developments in the field of medicine such as: freezing people after death so that they can be revived one hundred years later; and creating "mechanical" men full of artificial replacements. Since few serious prognosticators believe that any of these "medical wonders" will actually occur in the near future, let's take a look at what we can realistically expect to see in 1994:

- The practice of medicine directed toward the prevention, rather than the treatment, of infectious diseases.
- Health insurance for every American.
- Vaccinations to immunize children against rheumatic fever.
- The control, perhaps the prevention, of hypertension by new drugs and chemicals.
- Intensive coronary care units in all hospitals for the treatment of acutely ill patients. (The American Heart Association estimates that such facilities could save some 50,000 heart patients who now die each year.)
- Detection and removal of blood clots before they produce damage from heart attack or stroke.
- Vaccines to prevent the venereal diseases of gonorrhea and syphilis.
- A vaccine to prevent tooth decay.
- Routine lung and liver transplants.
- More sophisticated drug treatment for epilepsy.
- "Medical cities," resembling sprawling shopping centers, consisting of high-rise hospital buildings surrounded by parking areas and garages.
- Most doctors employed full time at medical center complexes, and more physicians trained as specialists.
- Development of drugs for the successful treatment of some cancers.

The prediction of universal health insurance for Americans is obviously the most politically contentious issue on the list. I wonder what kind of support the idea had in 1973 compared with today.

See also:
1994: The World of Tomorrow (1973)

Connections: AT&T's Vision of the Future (Part 5, 1993)

Continuing our series of clips from the 1993 video Connections: AT&T's Vision of the Future, today we have part 5. Practicing medicine over picturephone, personal computer assistants and a glimpse of the classroom of the future are just a few of the paleo-futuristic wonders featured in this clip and clips to come.

See also:

Connections: AT&T's Vision of the Future (Part 1, 1993)
Connections: AT&T's Vision of the Future (Part 2, 1993)
Connections: AT&T's Vision of the Future (Part 3, 1993)
Connections: AT&T's Vision of the Future (Part 4, 1993)
The Road Ahead: Future Classroom (1995)

Hubert H. Humphrey's Future (1967)

For the February, 1967 issue of The Futurist magazine, Hubert H. Humphrey, wrote a piece articulating his vision of the future. The Vice President broke up his thoughts into two categories; Developments of the Next 20 Years, and Far-Out Developments by A.D. 2000.

Here are some of the developments we can look forward to within the next 20 years:

In agriculture, the large-scale use of de-salinated sea water.
In medicine, the transplantation of natural organs and the use of artificial ones.
In psychiatry, the widespread application of drugs that control or modify the personality.
In education, the use of more sophisticated teaching machines.
In wordwide communication, the everyday employment of translating machines.
In industry, the extensive use of automation, up to and including some kinds of decision-making at the management level.
In space, the establishment of a permanent base upon the moon.
Some of you might say that there is nothing very surprising here. And you would be right.
Experience shows that it takes 10 to 30 years for a new idea to make its way from its inception in a scientist's mind to its general application in everyday life. Therefore, the world of 20 years from now already exists, in embryo, in today's advanced research establishments.

A theme in 1960's America that seems to pop up repeatedly is faith in a permanent moon base. Tomorrow we'll look at Hubert H. Humphrey's predicitions for the year 2000.