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| Two Astronauts View Saturn From Titan's Surface |
"Here's to the bright New Year, and a fond farewell to the old; here's to the things that are yet to come, and to the memories that we hold." ~ Author unknown
"Let us move on, and step out boldly, though it be into the night,
and we can scarcely see the way." ~ Charles B. Newcomb
The New Year of 2015 promises to be as exhilarating as the previous year of 2014 for those of us at Far Future Horizons as we continue to work towards the exploration and settlement of the exciting new frontiers of sea, space and to chart the human journey across time and space.
Far Future Horizons is all about exploration, discovery, and stepping forward to face future
challenges boldly and decisively. The existential threats facing our global
civilization are many but; we firmly believe that there are no limits to the growth and the future prosperity of the human species. Human inventiveness and
ingenuity can help us surmount any problem or obstacle in our path. This is the
message that this blog site hopes to convey to its readers in this New Year of 2015 and
beyond.
So on behalf of all of us here at Far Future Horizons I invite you, dear readers, to step out boldly, though it be into the night, and we can scarcely see the way to the wonderful year ahead of 2015! Happy New Year One and All!
The theme of today’s five video features presents both a retrospective and prospective concerning “The Wonderful World of Tomorrow”.
The Future as Seen from the New York World's Fair
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| 1939 New York World’s Fair |
Our first video feature today concern’s the 1939 New York World’s Fair
and the original General Motors Futurama. In 1935, at the height of the Great
Depression, a group of New York City
retired policemen decided to create an international exposition to lift the
city and the country out of depression. Not long after, these men formed the
New York World's Fair Corporation, whose office was placed on one of the higher
floors in the Empire
State Building.
The NYWFC elected former chief of police Grover Whalen
as the president of their committee. The committee included Winthrop Aldrich, Mortimer Buckner, Floyd
Carlisle, Ashley T. Cole, John J. Dunnigan, Harvey Dow Gibson, Mayor Fiorello
La Guardia, Percy S. Straus, and many other business leaders.
The Original 1939 General Motors Futurama Exhibit
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| View of the 1964 New York World's Fair |
Our second video feature is about the 1964 New York World's Fair
and General Motors’ Second Futurama ride which was updated for the 1964 fair.
The 1964/1965 New York
World's Fair was the third major world's fair to be held in New York City. Hailing itself as a
"universal and international" exposition, the fair's theme was
"Peace Through Understanding," dedicated to "Man's Achievement
on a Shrinking Globe in an Expanding Universe"; although American
corporations dominated the exposition as exhibitors. The theme was symbolized
by a 12-story high, stainless-steel model of the earth called Unisphere. The
fair ran for two six-month seasons, April 22–October 18, 1964 and April
21–October 17, 1965. Admission price for adults (13 and older) was $2.00 in
1964 but $2.50 in 1965, and $1.00 for children (2–12) both years.
The site, Flushing
Meadows Corona
Park in the borough of Queens, had
also held the 1939/1940 New York
World’s Fair.
It was one of the largest world's fairs to be held in
the United States,
occupying nearly a square mile (2.6 km²) of land. The only larger fair was the
1939 fair, which occupied space that was filled in for the 1964/1965
exposition. Preceding these fairs was the 1853-54 New York’s
World’s Fair, called the Exhibition of the Industry of All Nations, located on
the site of Bryant Park in the borough of Manhattan,
New York City.
The fair is best remembered as a showcase of mid-20th
century American culture and technology. The nascent Space Age, with its vista
of promise, was well-represented. More than 51 million people attended the
fair, less than the hoped-for 70 million. It remains a touchstone for New
York–area Baby Boomers, who visited the optimistic fair as children before the
turbulent years of the Vietnam War, cultural changes, and increasing struggles
for civil rights.
This updated version offered its riders a glimpse into
what life in the year 2024 would be like. the second video feature for today is
promotional film by General Motors follows a young boy as he explores a lunar
base of operation, an Antarctic weather forecasting centre, undersea
exploration and the typical positive 1960s thinking about the future of
American design and living. The ride itself was one of the most popular
attractions at the fair with over 25 million passengers during the 6 months it
was open and the building which housed it was one of the largest buildings ever
built for the 1964 New York
World's Fair.
How ironic that this optimistic vision of tomorrow
would be marred just a decade later by the energy crisis and mounting concerns over
environmental degradation.
64-65 NY World's Fair General Motors Futurama II Exhibit
Naked Science - City Under the Sea
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| A Future Undersea City |
Our third video feature is Naked Science - “City Under
the Sea” which features my good friend, Dennis
Chamberland.
L5 First City in Space
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Our fourth video feature for today is the IMAX motion
picture L5 First City in Space which is firmly rooted in the work of space
visionary Gerard K. O'Neill and outlined in his ground breaking book “The High
Frontier: Human Colonies in Space”. With great eloquence O’Neill showed my
generation of the 1970s, reeling from the political aftermath of Watergate, the
Arab oil embargo, the dire predictions of the Club of Rome, and the soaring
gasoline prices, that there were no limits to growth or the future prosperity
of the human species. O’Neil’s vision provided my generation a clear and hopeful
message - There are no limits to growth but only limits to human
imagination and nerve.
IMAX L5 First City in Space
The Future by Design
Future Cities Designed by Jacque Fresco
Our final video feature for today is entitled “The
Future by Design”.
This documentary concerns the life and far-reaching
vision of Jacque Fresco, considered by many to be a modern day Da Vinci. Peer
to Einstein and Buckminster Fuller, Jacque is a self-taught futurist who
describes himself most often as a generalist or multi-disciplinarian – a
student of many inter-related fields. He is a prolific inventor, having spent
his entire life (he is now 90 years old) conceiving of and devising inventions
on various scales which entail the use of innovative technology. As a futurist,
Jacque is not only a conceptualist and a theoretician, but he is also an
engineer and a designer.
The Future by Design
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