We've Almost Always Gotten the Future Wrong – And that's A Good Thing - Don Seaman-TVB

Recently Yahoo ran an article titled quot Watch Walter Cronkite Tour a 21stCentury Home in 1967 quot which included three embedded videos of quotthe most trusted man in Americaquot demonstrating what life would likely be in our homes of the future It39s interesting viewing to be sure In broad strokes you might recognize themes that we39ve met in Cronkite39s future But in this 196039s vision of the future their imagination was limitedThe real future is much more interestingThe quotLiving Room of the Futurequot amp8211 decorated very much in that 1960s version of the future that looks so veryamp8230196039s featured a center console that quotcontrols a full array of equipment to inform instruct and entertain the family of the futurequot This spaceage entertainment console wasn39t quite the desktop monitors found in most 2001 homes amp8211 it looked much more like the NASA knobbased console of the moon landings from another future amp8211 1969The quick glimpse of the yellowonbrown text on the console39s quotVideovisionquot grid was interesting as well Not only was it addressed directly to quotMr and Mrs Cronkitequot it presaged the ongoing popularity of football amp8211 on Channel 98 so it also anticipated today39s multiplechannel universe However the content was equally reflective of the programming available in the 1960s amp8211 the game was between the Woodmere Wasps and the Stoneybrook Samurai most likely a junior college event Channel 16 counterprogrammed with quotGreek Tragedy by Aeschylusquot You could tell that all of this was important as it was displayed in a Times Serif typeface a forerunner of a font in ALL CAPSMr Cronkite explained that we could watch a football game or a movie shown in quotfull colorquot on our quotbig 3D TV screenquot The sound would come from two very quotmodquot looking white globes suspended from the ceiling alongside the grainy screen Or from the very same console quotwith the press of a button we could momentarily escape from our 21st Century lives and fill the room with stereophonic music from another agequot amp8211 as he cues Bach39s Violin Concerto 1 in A MinorThe other segments he looked at were the kitchen and something called a quothome officequot In the future39s kitchen food was ordered by typewriter or computer punch cards and automatically microwaved and served on freshly molded plastic plates Afterwards dishes were melted down and food scraps destroyed ready to start the process all over againIn this futuristic quothome officequot is where quota man might spend most of his time in the home of the 21st Centuryamp8230 to carry on normal business activities without ever going to an office away from homequot His special office equipment included a monitor where he39d get a quotsummary of news relayed by satellite from all over the worldquot It was the same yellowonbrown shouting text in an obvious effort to avoid the hassle of constant Flash updatesOf course with the kitchen fully automated there39s no explanation of what the woman of the future will be doing with herself while the man spends most of his time in his home office Perhaps Walter was just really envisioning the future of the Man CaveFastforward four decades a full 12 years beyond the future that was being postulatedBecause there39s one thing about this future that Mr Cronkite never anticipated amp8211 the redefinition of the living room itself quotTV Everywherequot is our reality Our ubiquitous living room TV was joined long ago by a bedroom TV a kitchen TV a basement TV etc And these are all still considered a quotprimaryquot screenMoreover in this future the fixed console has been replaced by a phone amp8211 which was then joined by a tablet Neither would be recognizable by the 1967 futurists There were no knobs no buttons not even any wires Our HD amp8211 and sometimes 3D amp8211 screen is found in the living room still sure But it39s also on our second screensBut their content estimation was about a 5050 proposition Football has morphed into one of the biggest types of televised content although Greek tragedy is still woefully underrepresented on most TVs of this futureCuriously although our meals can indeed be microwaved it39s our TV content that39s available on demand out of thin air amp8211 not our food Our programming grid has been superseded by the DVR and online channel guidesAnd our stereophonic music is delivered to a device that can be smaller than a pack of gum rather than two large ceiling mounted orbs amp8211 although they did get something right there The earbuds most people use instead are indeed usually whiteAnd in this future the home office is just as likely to be occupied by the lady of the house The one who telecommutes fulltime picks up her kids in her televisionequipped minivan and serves them microwaved or even homecooked meals in her Wifienabled kitchen while watching her kitchen TVSo as we step into our own time machine to report back to Mr Cronkite amp8211 probably wearing a suit very much like his instead of a silver jumpsuit amp8211 we39ll honestly be able to tell him that television remains the heart in our real home of the future not the consoleI39ll bet the old TV newsman will be pleased with that news Because that39s the way it isDon Seaman joined the TVB in January 2012 as Manager of Marketing Communications where he is responsible for promoting and raising awareness of the TVB and of Local Broadcast Televisionamp8217s value propositions within the traditional and digital media industries Don can be reached at dontvborgRead all Don39s MediaBizBloggers commentaries at Local MattersCheck us out on Facebook at MediaBizBloggerscomFollow our Twitter updates MediaBizBloggerThe opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaBizBloggerscom management or associated bloggers MediaBizBloggers is an open thought leadership platform and readers may share their 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We've Almost Always Gotten the Future Wrong – And that's A Good Thing - Don Seaman-TVB

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