Future House
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As you enter the house of 1999, you detect the subtle scents injected into the perfectly regulated air provided by the climate control system–the sort that I switched off in my house right after we moved in because it costs the Earth to run and only works in the living room anyway. Inside, the painfully Star Trek Moderne living room is dominated by a gigantic television that is not only flat screen, but 3D or even holographic. If the console on the right is just to control the goggle box, then its clear that Philco-Ford understood the nightmare of 21st century remotes–just not their scale.
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And what's this tucked away in the cellar? Yes, it's the home computer that runs everything. Only half the size of a standard mainframe, it has the computing power somewhere between that of a Sinclair ZX-80 and a modern greeting card. The whole place is run by self-diagnosising electronics that can even summon the repairman automatically. There's computer games, computer learning, and computer shopping. Computers also allow parents to spy on, sorry, "monitor" the kids, reminds them of appointments, acts as a videophone, and (all together now!) balances the cheque book. |
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As evening falls, the family of the future retires to bed. In this case, it's a computerised (what else?) bed where the temperature is automatically regulated, so there is no need for blankets. In other words, it's bloody hot in there. And don't worry about the strange whispering that you hear as you doze off. That's the subliminal education system. Oceania has always been at war with East Asia... Oceania has always been at war with East Asia... Oceania has... Notice there's no place to set a glass of water? End tables are so 20th century. |
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Philco-Ford had
their own ideas about how the home of 1999 would look. The 20th
century wanes and families live in horizontal beehives that are powered
by fuel cells that provide all electricity, heat, and water. Ah,
domestic fuel cells; the 8-track tape of domestic power.
Whatever happened to their bright promise?
