The article below is from Boing Boing — About predictions of what 1975 was to be like recorded in 1962. The picture below is of a “teaching machine” — I love the explanation, but the pedagogy is even better. Drill and Kill, baby. Sad thing: With all of the advances in technology, many are still using computers in this same fashion – just with flashier graphics.
Scans from 1962 book that tries to predict life in 1975:
Derrick Bostrom kindly scanned pages from a book called 1975: And the Changes To Come by Arnold B. Barach.
The book was published in 1962 and has photos and captions about the ways in which technology will change our lives in the coming decade. Here’s some of the wonderful things we can expect when 1975 rolls around: Utrasonic dishwashers, combination electronic oven and food freezers, portable ovens (for tabletop cooking and broiling), toaster bacon, triple purpose TV unit (“for the housewife, enabling her to watch her children at play or identify visitors at the door or watch her favorite color television program”), wireless cardiac monitors, irradiated canned beans, and automatic language translation.
Caption for photo above:
Film Based Teaching Machine. Student pushes one of four buttons to give answers and his score appears on paper slip at upper right. Teaching machines, expected to boom in the next decade, usually operate on the principal of repetition until the pupil understands. They aim to speed up the learning process and relieve teacher of much paper work in the classroom.
I can’t wait for 1975 to get here. I am saving up for a Hi-Fi Sphere.
