In this classic picture from a 1954 issue of Popular Mechanics magazine, scientists from the RAND corporation displayed their model vision of the home computer in the year 2004. According to the caption, due to advances like the teletype interface and the Fortran language, “the computer will be easy to use”. Hindsight is 20/20, and in this case, I’d have to say the scientists hit the nail right on the head. Where would we be right now without Fortran? Lost. Utterly and totally lost.

The scientists who came up with this brilliant concept did offer a few caveats:
1) The needed technology may not be economically feasible for the average home. 2) The computer will require not yet invented technology to actually work. And 3) They have no fucking idea what that giant wheel is going to be used for, but it looks sweet.

This entry was posted on Friday, April 28th, 2006 at 12.09 and is filed under Technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.