OT - The Home Computer in 2004 - A 50-year-old Prediction

Darwin · Post by **Darwin** » Wed Dec 01, 2004 12:53 pm

A friend sent me this photo from a 1954 Scientiific American. I thought that it was worth a look.

For the visually challenged, the text says:

Scientists from the RAND Corporation have created this model to illustrate how a "home computer" could look like in the year 2004. However the needed technology will not be economically feasible for the average home. Also the scientists readily admit that the computer will require not yet invented technology to actually work, but 50 years from now scientific progress is expected to solve these problems. With teletype interface and the Fortran language, the computer will be easy to use.

Back in the early '60s, Willy Ley wrote an article for Analog magazine, comparing the actual pace of technological progress with the expectations of the man on the street, scientists, and science fiction writers. He found that, in general, the actual pace far outstripped even the predictions of science fiction writers.

Post by **Nanohedron** » Wed Dec 01, 2004 1:05 pm

Dang. I like that cool steering wheel. Whatever happened to that???

MarkB · Post by **MarkB** » Wed Dec 01, 2004 1:09 pm

Looks more like submarine. What were they watching on that TV hanging on the wall, pre-cable and satellite days and there are no rabbit ears!

And what's with the large helm? a precursor (not Flyingcursor) to the joy stick of future computer games.

MarkB

chas · Post by **chas** » Wed Dec 01, 2004 1:21 pm

Nanohedron wrote:Dang. I like that cool steering wheel. Whatever happened to that???

I think that went to a hydraulic system that would allow unmounting of the hard disks. You know, the 10 kB disks that were projected to weigh only a half ton.

emmline · Post by **emmline** » Wed Dec 01, 2004 1:26 pm

Nanohedron wrote:Dang. I like that cool steering wheel. Whatever happened to that???

Me too. You could, perhaps, install one on the front of your desk.

stiofan · Post by **stiofan** » Wed Dec 01, 2004 1:45 pm

and the Zenith monitor is just too cool...

oleorezinator · Post by **oleorezinator** » Wed Dec 01, 2004 2:51 pm

do you mean that your computers don't look like that. where i bought mine there was a bridge for sale too.

claudine · Post by **claudine** » Wed Dec 01, 2004 4:33 pm

Darwin, thanks for this. It gives me hope that they will overcome their actual little problems with lightspeed too and that human colonies in other galaxies might become reality one day.
LIVE LONG AND PROSPER!

Will O'B · Post by **Will O'B** » Wed Dec 01, 2004 4:53 pm

This was a post that I ran on another thread. Although the incident happened 13 years after your picture was taken, computers were still pretty big machines in 1967:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My hat goes off to Tim Joyce who was in Mrs Moore's high school math class with me in 1967. True story:

Following Mrs Moore's explanation of why we needed to understand how to solve problems algebraically, Tim pointed out that he didn't need to learn the stuff because he was going to have a computer do the work for him. After everyone finished laughing at poor Tim and chiding him because no room in his house would be big enough to hold his future computer, he simply replied, "It's going to sit on my desk." When the laughter from that died away, Mrs Moore responded, "But if you want it to work, you're going to need to know how to program it." Tim remarked, "Other people will have already done that for me." Freaky stuff -- Tim was either a prophet or a time traveller . . . I'm still not sure which.

Will O'Ban

gonzo914 · Post by **gonzo914** » Wed Dec 01, 2004 5:22 pm

MarkB wrote:Looks more like submarine.

It is a submarine. Or rather, a mock up of the maneuvering room of one from a Smithsonian Institution exhibit -- http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/hoaxes/computer.asp

RonKiley · Post by **RonKiley** » Wed Dec 01, 2004 5:28 pm

The unit pictured there is actually much smaller than the first computer that I actually got to touch. It was really interesting to walk through the memory. However it was rather warm from all of those vacuum tubes. I forget whether it was one tube per bit or two tubes per bit. They had 26 volt filaments that were operated on 12 volts to prolong the life. That was computing then. It was much less complicated. Of course we didn't have Bill Gates.

Ron

Darwin · Post by **Darwin** » Wed Dec 01, 2004 6:33 pm

gonzo914 wrote:
MarkB wrote:Looks more like submarine.
It is a submarine. Or rather, a mock up of the maneuvering room of one from a Smithsonian Institution exhibit -- http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/hoaxes/computer.asp

Very funny! Just last week I was telling the friend who sent it to me how to check Snopes after she sent me some bogus story.

Can't believe anything anymore.

Thanks for pointing that out, gonzo.

emmline · Post by **emmline** » Wed Dec 01, 2004 6:39 pm

Leave it to Snopes to straighten us gullibles out.

Tony · Post by **Tony** » Wed Dec 01, 2004 6:44 pm

....Scientists from the RAND Corporation have created this model to illustrate how a "home computer" could look like in the year 2004....

I'm so 'there'... now where did I put my 3D glasses??

Will O'B · Post by **Will O'B** » Wed Dec 01, 2004 7:49 pm

emmline wrote:Leave it to Snopes to straighten us gullibles out.

I sure took the bait: hook, line & sinker. Although I thought the steering wheel -- or helm -- was a little fishy.

Will O'Ban

Chiff and Fipple Forums

OT - The Home Computer in 2004 - A 50-year-old Prediction

OT - The Home Computer in 2004 - A 50-year-old Prediction

Re: OT - The Home Computer in 2004 - A 50-year-old Predictio