1958's view on future highways

[JanJaap]

YouTube - Magic Highway USA

Found this link on my start up page and thought it suited this site.
Mind you there is some naivety in it.

[al3d]

ahah..man, the good old 50's..bunch of dreamers..

[bbzwbbzw]

I think the late 50's and early 60's was the furthest into "The Future!" we ever got as a society. Their just seemed to be such a wide eyed optimism and excitement about what tomorrow would hold. I love watching those old World of Tomorrow short films and wonder when the moment was as a culture that we stopped racing towards the future and started worrying about making it through the day.

[Falin]

man if only they instituted the bigger, easier to read signs, ah well, where's this fun future they talk about

[chrono]

Originally Posted by bbzwbbzw

I think the late 50's and early 60's was the furthest into "The Future!" we ever got as a society. Their just seemed to be such a wide eyed optimism and excitement about what tomorrow would hold. I love watching those old World of Tomorrow short films and wonder when the moment was as a culture that we stopped racing towards the future and started worrying about making it through the day.

When the 'cold war' started kicking in, all of the assassination's happened, and when 'counter cultural-ism' because the new ideal. It was roughly about then.

[B.J.]

Originally Posted by Falin

man if only they instituted the bigger, easier to read signs, ah well, where's this fun future they talk about

I could be mistaken, but weren't the signs in the 50s & 60s much smaller than your average interstate signs today?

[universaltim]

Originally Posted by chrono

and when 'counter cultural-ism' because the new ideal. It was roughly about then.

Stupid hippies...

[Mach Crit]

And gave its last gasp during the oil crisis of the 70's.

[bbzwbbzw]

Originally Posted by chrono

When the 'cold war' started kicking in, all of the assassination's happened, and when 'counter cultural-ism' because the new ideal. It was roughly about then.

While I agree about the counter-culture part, (which I believe changed american culture in a broader sense) I think the cold war (which was never colder than in the late 50's/early 60's) was one of the things that drove the space race. In fact I think the future might have offically died the day the Berlin Wall came down- there was no reason to maintain a competitve edge in pushing the new frontier.

[JDR]

Funny how some things in the film have indeed come to pass (infra-red or radar imagery being projected onto the windshield) and others well, were ridiculous.