Another post from Paleofuture - Postcards Show the Year 2000 (circa 1900)

postcards were produced by Hildebrands (a leading German chocolate company of the time).

Walking on water. A moving sidewalk. House movers, by train. Televised broadcasting. Individual flying machines. Controlling the weather. Travel on land and sea. Underwater tourism. Cities under glass, or something clear. Family air ships, when the flying machine isn't enough. Comfortable travel to exotic, extreme locations. See through walls with x-ray.

My Grandmother had a dream about moving sidewalks, but with cars travelling on them. Maybe in 2050?

A collection from The National Library of France (BnF). But, I can't find it on the site. Here are images found on two other sites.

Postcards from a Frenchman named Villemard from 1910. Posted to The Red Umbrella, Old timey visions of the year 2000.

... apparently slipped into food packaging in the same way that baseball cards used to be handed out with bubblegum and cigarettes.

Each of the postcards shares a vision of what life in France would look like in the year 2000. And it's crazy how familiar a lot of the scenes are—some because we kind of actually do use the devices he imagined and some because they're full of stuff we're still hoping for. Like, for instance, when the hell are we finally going to get to fly around everywhere all time?

When it comes to fashion, however, Villemard doesn't seem to have expected it change at all over the 90 years. (Except, you know, for all the people wearing wings.)

More are posted to Paleofuture.

The first time I thought about this, I had a much better description half written in my head. But, I didn't get here to post it until a few days later. So I've lost some of my train of thought. This is the best I could do today, with what I remember.

I've noticed, if I leave the TV (Smart TV) on after awhile it will ask if I'm still watching whatever it is. This isn't to save energy/ power. The power is still on. It is to make sure you are there to watch, or at least hear, the ads.

I've been wondering if anyone would notice if their Smart TV, or other screens, could do more than that. I think it could. Do you have one of those Alexa type things? I've tried to avoid them. If you can ask Alexa to turn down the lights, turn on the radio, and so on. It has to know several things and be connected to what you are doing and who you are. People have written/ talked about those digital home invaders, but have they thought about how far it could go? Now with AI too. I don't know how much AI can do but it is intended to mimic and predict people.

To some people this will sound silly, like a crackpot theory. When I think about it, mainly its just interesting.

Next time you have the Smart TV on, take note. Does it know when you stop watching TV? I have had the TV on and noticed that it sometimes stops working right at the time it breaks for ads - if I'm out of the room. It goes to that blank, black loading screen awhile and then says there is an error.

When I come back, if I do, it always runs several ads before restarting the show which it couldn't find before. Of course, it runs ads first. Advertising is the point of the whole thing for the businesses. But, does it lie (or whatever word you would use for digital/ virtual/ software that fibs).

I have no doubt the technology is there to keep track of what we watch and if we actually are watching at the time. Can it listen to what we do when we leave the room? Sure, it sounds like not much to think of, how many times you go for snacks, go to the bathroom, fall asleep. But, its all information about you. It can all be used to understand you, predict you, and scrape money out of you.

Kind of interesting. I'm not sure about the Smart TV tracking if I'm watching or not. It doesn't happen every time. It doesn't happen with every streaming service. I suspect some can't afford the extra software to make it work. Yet.

What I've been wondering about more since then, is what does the Smart TV do as far as subliminal messages. Banned in the 1970's (I think that was the right decade) I don't think anyone is watching for it now. Business controls government more now. As much as religion was once the big influencer. That does creep me out more. We look at so many screens now and there are no controls over what marketers can do. Not really. Not enough.

When your TV or other screen is in sleep mode and showing random images, screensavers, is that all that is there? It is a very useful marketing scheme, if it exists. The idea is not new. Can all this Smart technology not just watch you but also tell you what to think, what to believe, and of course, what to buy?

One more little technology/ marketing thing to consider.

People say we grow enough food to feed everyone. Assorted reasons why it doesn't reach the people it could feed. But, that's just now.

Over population is still a bigger issue than feeding the people here so far and the distribution of that food. The best farm land is underneath cities because those were the choice places to grow food before they became built up. Now we are crowding out all the natural habitats for animals, losing our ecosystems and importing food from other countries which have all the same problems.

We can still grow food but the good land for growing it is disappearing. Growing food, especially for meat, is expensive and getting more expensive. Plus, whether its plant or animal, it takes a life. Vegetarians and many others think only about animal life. Mainly if it has fur. That's nice, but that's not all life.

Other issues are the pollution it creates. The use of fossil fuels to move it around, often long distances so keeping it from spoiling, rotting, or getting bruised (less than pretty looking) is another issue. Then packaging. Even now with the talk about not using plastic - plastic is still by far the main material used in almost all packaging.

There is far too much food waste. I don't blame anyone. It is hard to avoid having food waste now. Food, plants and meat, are not grown as their native, original ancestors (could not think of a better word) would have been. In order to look nice, be pest and drought and whatever else resistant, they are treated (isn't that a funny word) with chemicals. Did you know turkeys, as they are now, could not survive without people. Wild turkeys, yes. Farm animal turkeys and chickens have such an overgrown breast they could not reproduce. They would just die out. Our vegetables and fruit all have similar issues. Pick one and read about it. Did you know the meat you buy (unless its right from the farmer) has been given red colouring and injected with water to make it weigh more? Marketing schemes are everywhere, including food.

I've read about some science ideas to create food in different ways. There are so many. Plants to seem like meat. Growing a chunk of meat from some cells instead of supporting the life of a whole animal for years. Eating insects or algae. I post about them when I find something new.

I wonder where future people will get their food from? Maybe they can just duplicate the essence of protein, vitamins, minerals and calories we need and put them all into one pill you just take once a week. One thing, people wouldn't still be overweight. At least not because they enjoy eating junky food. No reason to put any flavour of salt, sugar, spice into a food pill. Not meant to be chewed just swallowed.