arthur radebaugh

How People From 1955 Imagined Technology of the Future

From atomic-powered cars and trains to an 'electronic eye' grocery checkout, these technologies were the promises of yestermorrow.

Culture Matt Novak Jun 11

This Robot Gardener from the 1960s Looks Like a Techno-Utopian Version of the Apocalypse

When people of the 1950s and 60s imagined the robot lawnmowers of the future, they were generally pretty small and cute. But not this guy. The May 6, 1962 edition of the Sunday comic strip “Closer Than We Think” pictured the most enormous and frankly terrifying robot gardener of all time. Illustrated by Arthur Radebaugh,…

Tech News Matt Novak May 16

These Were the Flying Hospitals of the Future in 1960

Do you need urgent medical care but are far away from a hospital? We’ll bring the hospital to you! At least, that was the futuristic idea behind this edition of the newspaper comic, Closer Than We Think. And while it still feels a long way off, there are signs that we’re slowly but surely moving…

Tech News Matt Novak Dec 20

This Bizarre Taxi of the Future Was Supposed to Fit So Many People

Futuristic headlines here in the year 2018 might make you ask “why?” But back in the 1950s, illustrators in Detroit were asking “why not?” And perhaps nothing demonstrates that thinking better than this comic strip from 1958 by Arthur Radebaugh. The design of this taxi for the future is patently absurd. It has room enough…

Transportation Matt Novak Sep 25

The Futuristic Invisible Wall That Was Supposed to Protect Entire Towns From Missiles in 1959

When you hear about the concept of missile defense in space, your first thought might be Ronald Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative, more commonly called Star Wars. But ideas for an invisible missile shield in the sky are much older than the 1980s. As just one example, we have this Sunday comic strip from 1959, which…

Tech News Matt Novak Aug 3

This Solar Lawnmower Was the Dangerous Future of American Summers in 1959

Robotic lawnmowers are fairly mainstream these days, even if they don’t have much market share yet. But they’ve been a long time coming. We’ve been promised solar-powered semi-autonomous lawnmowers for decades. This Sunday comic strip from 1959 predicted the rise of these machines, but also pointed at the problem with its illustration: Many people are…

Tech News Matt Novak Jul 5

My Favorite Comic Strip (and Futurist) of All Time Is Getting a Documentary

It’s no secret that my favorite comic strip of all time is Closer Than We Think by Arthur Radebaugh. The strip is largely forgotten today, but it featured the very best of flying cars and jetpacks from the Golden Age of futurism. The pulpy time capsule ran in over 200 newspapers from 1958 until 1963,…

Tech News Matt Novak Jul 13

Everyone Was Supposed to Own a Yacht By Now, According to Futurists of the 1950s

According to futurists of the 1950s, people of the 21st century were all supposed to be zipping around in solar-powered cars, watching wall-sized TVs, and enjoying vacations on the moon. We were even supposed to all have our own yachts. Well, half a yacht at least. The July 20, 1958 edition of Arthur Radebaugh’s Sunday…

Tech News Matt Novak May 23

TLDR: All the Paleofuture Stories From 2015 You Swore You’d Read Later

The internet is a big place. There’s so much to read and watch and listen to that it can be overwhelming. We all have those stories that we start, get distracted for one reason or another, and promise ourselves we’ll finish later. Well, if any of those stories were on Paleofuture, here’s your second chance!…

Tech News Matt Novak Dec 16

The Futuristic Comic That Turned the Sunday Funnies into a Cold War Weapon

On January 12, 1958, an important weapon of the Cold War was introduced. It wasn’t a missile or a spy satellite, but rather a colorful Sunday comic strip that showed Americans what the future was going to look like. It was called Closer Than We Think. From 1958 until 1963, Closer Than We Think dazzled…

Tech News Matt Novak Nov 4

These Space Farmers of 1959 Were Way Ahead of Their Time

Earlier this week astronauts aboard the International Space Station ate fresh food grown in space for the first time. It’s an exciting accomplishment and will be crucial for the survival of the first crewed missions to Mars. But it’s been a long time coming, as we can see from this 1959 comic strip depicting the…

Tech News Matt Novak Aug 12

How We Imagined The Future Of Transportation Would Look In The 1940s

These ads made for the Detroit-based Bohn Aluminum and Brass Corporation were largely dreamed up by legendary illustrator Arthur Radebaugh during the 1940s. Radebaugh’s utopian visions and Bohn’s desire to appear as a forward-looking company combine for a slick retrofuturistic view of transportation. It’s not a surprise that aluminum and brass are crucial to build…

io9 Vincze Miklós Feb 9

42 Visions For Tomorrow From The Golden Age of Futurism

It’s 2015. But sometimes it feels like our futuristic dreams are stuck in the 1950s and 60s. And there’s actually a good reason for that. The period between 1958 and 1963 might be described as a Golden Age of American Futurism, if not the Golden Age of American Futurism. Bookended by the founding of NASA…

Tech News Matt Novak Feb 4

These Circular Runways Were Designed To Catapult Planes Skyward

The January 10, 1960 edition of Arthur Radebaugh’s Sunday comic “Closer Than We Think” includes a curious invention that was supposed to literally catapult us into the Jet Age: The circular runway. From the Chicago Tribune: The heart of tomorrow’s airfield may be a circular catapult-like mechanism for sending planes into the air. It would…

Tech News Matt Novak Jan 16

When Will 1958’s World-Wide TV of the Future Finally Get Here?

The living room of the future was supposed to be interactive. It was supposed to have all the world’s media at your fingertips. And above all, it was supposed to have a big ass TV. Today, Americans can buy enormous TVs for relatively cheap. But we’re still waiting on this wall-to-wall TV of the future…

Tech News Matt Novak Dec 30

This 1960s Computerized Desk Was Supposed to Make Classrooms Extinct

The technology of the future was going to provide all kinds of new possibilities for the classroom of tomorrow — including eliminating the classroom entirely. Interestingly enough, it would seem we’re still chasing that dream. https://gizmodo.com/15-technologies-that-were-supposed-to-change-education-1481232959 The December 18, 1960 edition of Arthur Radebaugh’s comic strip “Closer Than We Think” featured this home-schooling console of…

Tech News Matt Novak Jun 24

The Futuristic Superhighways of 1964 Had Glow-in-the-Dark Roads

Glow-in-the-dark roads are finally a reality; at least in the Netherlands. But we’ve been waiting on this particular vision of the future for quite a while now — for over 50 years, in fact. https://gizmodo.com/glow-in-the-dark-roads-finally-exist-outside-of-hot-whe-1562937639 RCA ran this stunning illustration in a 1964 print ad touting its transistors. Companies have always loved positioning themselves alongside…

Tech News Matt Novak May 11

This Cop Car of the Future From 1958 Was Pretty Intimidating

There are few things more anxiety-inducing than seeing a cop car’s flashing lights in your rearview mirror. But that terror probably would’ve been about a thousand times worse had this police car of the future from 1958 ever become a reality. Detroit-based illustrator Arthur Radebaugh designed countless cars for clients in the 1950s, but he…

Tech News Matt Novak Apr 28

Escape the Devastation of Future Earth on a Luxurious Space Mayflower

Worried that Earth may soon suffer from overpopulation and irreversible environmental damage? Worry not, my fellow passengers of Spaceship Earth! In the future, we’ll just hop on our space-faring Mayflowers to go find habitable planets. At least that was the promise of this Sunday comic strip from 1959. The August 16, 1959 edition of Arthur…

Tech News Matt Novak Mar 26

In 1961 The Future of Firefighting Was Heat-Seeking Missiles

Need to put out a forest fire? Why not bomb it with chemical-filled missiles? At least that was the plan in 1961. The September 17, 1961 edition of Arthur Radebaugh‘s Sunday comic strip “Closer Than We Think” imagined that in the future, firefighters would rain down missiles from the sky. Needless to say, it’s hard…

Tech News Matt Novak Jan 16

arthur radebaugh

How People From 1955 Imagined Technology of the Future

This Robot Gardener from the 1960s Looks Like a Techno-Utopian Version of the Apocalypse

These Were the Flying Hospitals of the Future in 1960

This Bizarre Taxi of the Future Was Supposed to Fit So Many People

The Futuristic Invisible Wall That Was Supposed to Protect Entire Towns From Missiles in 1959

This Solar Lawnmower Was the Dangerous Future of American Summers in 1959

My Favorite Comic Strip (and Futurist) of All Time Is Getting a Documentary

Everyone Was Supposed to Own a Yacht By Now, According to Futurists of the 1950s

TLDR: All the Paleofuture Stories From 2015 You Swore You’d Read Later

The Futuristic Comic That Turned the Sunday Funnies into a Cold War Weapon

These Space Farmers of 1959 Were Way Ahead of Their Time

How We Imagined The Future Of Transportation Would Look In The 1940s

42 Visions For Tomorrow From The Golden Age of Futurism

These Circular Runways Were Designed To Catapult Planes Skyward

When Will 1958’s World-Wide TV of the Future Finally Get Here?

This 1960s Computerized Desk Was Supposed to Make Classrooms Extinct

The Futuristic Superhighways of 1964 Had Glow-in-the-Dark Roads

This Cop Car of the Future From 1958 Was Pretty Intimidating

Escape the Devastation of Future Earth on a Luxurious Space Mayflower

In 1961 The Future of Firefighting Was Heat-Seeking Missiles

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