Electronic Design
  • Resources
  • Directory
  • Webinars
  • CAD Models
  • Video
  • Blogs
  • More Publications
  • Advertise
    • Search
  • Top Stories
  • Tech Topics
  • Analog
  • Power
  • Embedded
  • Test
  • AI / ML
  • Automotive
  • Data Sheets
  • Topics
    - TechXchange Topics --- Markets --AutomotiveAutomation-- Technologies --AnalogPowerTest & MeasurementEmbedded
    Resources
    Electronic Design ResourcesTop Stories of the WeekNew ProductsKit Close-UpElectronic Design LibrarySearch Data SheetsCompany DirectoryBlogsContribute
    Members
    ContentBenefitsSubscribeDigital editions
    Advertise
    https://www.facebook.com/ElectronicDesign
    https://www.linkedin.com/groups/4210549/
    https://twitter.com/ElectronicDesgn
    https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXKEiQ9dob20rIqTA7ONfJg
    RNelson_mug
    1. Technologies
    2. Communications

    113-year-old letter predicted video chat, ‘convenient’ flight

    Nov. 4, 2014
    Evaluation Engineering
    Astronics Test Systems

    Isaac Asimov’s predictions from the New York World’s Fair of 1964 have received considerable attention in this year, 50 years on. Now even older predictions have come to light in a letter written 113 years ago and recently found in the golden lion statue atop the Old State House in Boston.

    The letter, titled “The Outlook for the Twentieth Century,” was written by George A. Litchfield, the business manager of the Boston Traveler, reports Kiera Blessing in the Boston Globe. Blessing writes that Litchfield predicted that we would be able to fly at our convenience or pleasure and without cumbersome machinery. Let’s give him partial credit on that one—I’d substitute “annoyance and discomfort” for “convenience or pleasure,” and today’s airliners strike me as pretty cumbersome. At least we no longer rely on the “bags of gas” of Litchfield’s era for most of our air travel.

    He also expected the establishment of communications with distant worlds by mid-20th century, but we are still waiting for the interplanetary call to get through (although we can communicate with our own spacecraft traveling to distant worlds).

    He successfully predicted Skype-like video chat: “We shall speak around the world,” he wrote. “We shall see the face of him with whom we talk.” He also predicted a major role for electricity and that motive power could be obtained from wind and water (as, of course, it could in his day).

    He also predicted the demise of steam power, which, oddly, Blessing describes as among “…the more accurate of Litchfield’s predictions….” As Richard McIntosh notes in a letter to the editor today, the overwhelming percentage of electricity generation is powered by steam. And companies including Spirax Sarco do a good business selling steam products. I guess the reciprocating steam engines of Litchfield’s era don’t find much use anymore.

    Litchfield concluded his letter as follows: “Let us hope, also, that the ‘lion and the lamb shall lie down together, and a little child shall lead them,’ and that the ‘nations shall learn war no more.’” Of course, that was a hope, and not a prediction.

    You can view Litchfield’s letter here, and you can read Asimov’s 1964 essay in the New York Times here.

    Avw

    Continue Reading

    The Creator (2023): How Did They Make the Best-Looking Film on the Cheapest Budget?

    “Incredible Animal Journeys”: How Did NatGeo Track and Film Those Migrations?

    Sponsored Recommendations

    Designing automotive-grade camera-based mirror systems

    Dec. 2, 2023

    Design security cameras and other low-power smart cameras with AI vision processors

    Dec. 2, 2023

    Automotive 1 TOPS vision SoC with RGB-IR ISP for 1-2 cameras, driver monitoring, dashcams

    Dec. 2, 2023

    AM62A starter kit for edge AI, vision, analytics and general purpose processors

    Dec. 2, 2023

    Comments

    To join the conversation, and become an exclusive member of Electronic Design, create an account today!

    I already have an account

    New

    DynaNIC Software Eases SmartNIC Development

    Who is Using RISC-V?

    Tiny Sensors Simplify Full Body Motion Capture

    Most Read

    Observability Framework Exposes DDS

    Virtual Circuits Beat Out Quantum Computer

    Master Cell Balancing to Enhance EV Performance


    Sponsored

    Depth Sensors Visualize Volumes

    Then, Now and Next: Immersive Technology

    Webinars on Industrial Applications

    Electronic Design
    https://www.facebook.com/ElectronicDesign
    https://www.linkedin.com/groups/4210549/
    https://twitter.com/ElectronicDesgn
    https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXKEiQ9dob20rIqTA7ONfJg
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise
    • Do Not Sell or Share
    • Privacy & Cookie Policy
    • Terms of Service
    © 2023 Endeavor Business Media, LLC. All rights reserved.
    Endeavor Business Media Logo