Gyroscopic Investing

It was 50 years ago this coming Sunday that the Jetson family first jetpacked their way into American homes. The show lasted just one season (24 episodes) after its debut on Sunday September 23, 1962, but today “The Jetsons”? stands as the single most important piece of 20th century futurism. More episodes were later produced in the mid-1980s, but it’s that 24-episode first season that helped define the future for so many Americans today.

It’s easy for some people to dismiss “The Jetsons”? as just a TV show, and a lowly cartoon at that. But this little show—for better and for worse—has had a profound impact on the way that Americans think and talk about the future. And it’s for this reason that, starting this Friday, I’ll begin to explore the world of “The Jetsons”? one episode at a time. Each week I’ll look at a new episode from the original 1962-63 series, beginning with the premiere episode, “Rosey the Robot.”?

http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/paleofu ... ll-matters

Cool.  Of course the Jetsons were a "spin off" of the Flintstones.

There was a lot of optimism about the future back then, Cold War be damned.  Magazines (e.g. Popular Science/Mechanics) were filled with robots, flying cars, everyone helicoptering to work, atomic dishwashers, etc.  Disneyland had the "House of the Future" which was very cool.  And long gone.

As a society we have become somewhat jaded about the future.  I suspect this is a normal pendulum kind of thing, but perhaps we expected too much from science and technology or we overreacted to the inevitable misfires and mistakes.

The California flyover of the shuttle Endeavor was a very sad moment, I think.  Just another thing that the USA cannot do (or does not want to do) any more.