nyerm

It’s always fascinating to compare the modern day with predictions of futurists from days of yore. A Space Age Christmas is an article from the Dr. Who Annual 1974, and it has a great mix of hits and misses about Christmas in 2003.

Microwave cooking is indeed very popular, though not nearly as automated a process as the article’s author hoped. Computerized cookery is a fantasy from the 50s that just won’t die.

Plastic Christmas trees are in common use, but so are real trees; we haven’t managed to deforest the planet on the timeframe the author feared. That, and we have tree farms. Conifers aren’t exactly a non-renewable resource, particularly if you’re only interested in letting them grow a couple meters high.

Speaking of dead trees, Christmas cards are still widely distributed. We haven’t switched to sending greetings on “recording tape”, though some gimmicky Christmas cards now contain their own recording and playback electronics to augment the printed message.

The article describes two opposite trends for gift-giving, based on the increasing prevalence of machine-made goods. In 2003, we should either have returned to hand-made goods, or we should have all forgotten handicrafts and become interested only in mass-produced items. We’ve managed to do both; presents continue to be a mix of handicrafts and manufactured goods. I’ve already started opening some presents (my birthday was a couple days ago), and I’ve received a mix of low- and high-tech gifts, from a beautiful hand-made quilt (thanks, Mom!) to video games (XIII and Prince of Persia).

Unfortunately, nobody gave me a ticket for a day trip in orbit round the Earth. The space program of today is nowhere near the imaginings of the article’s author.

Perhaps more interesting than the article itself are its illustrations. Almost everyone appears to be wearing some kind of uniform. Are they all supposed to be on the moon? Perhaps they’re all enjoying a day trip to Earth orbit. Or perhaps the 70s were just a terrible time for fashion, real or imagined.