Yesterday's Tomorrows Online Program Resources

TIME CAPSULES

The International Time Capsule Society (ITCS) is an organization established in 1990 to promote the careful study of time capsules. It strives to document all types of time capsules throughout the world. The group is headquartered at Oglethorpe University in Atlanta, Georgia. The ITCS estimates there are approximately 10,000 capsules worldwide, most of them lost. The society is currently setting up a registry of time capsules. The ITCS database will serve to remind future generations of existing capsules so they are not forgotten or lost. Information on how to set up a time capsule and record it with the ITCS database.
http://www.oglethorpe.edu/about_us/crypt_of_civilization/
international_time_capsule_society.asp

Of special note is their listing of the Nine Most Wanted Time Capsules http://www.oglethorpe.edu/about_us/crypt_of_civilization/
most_wanted_time_capsules.asp

Reunion Time Capsule: Good instructions, questionnaires and information for creating a time capsule. For a modest fee, they will store in a climate controlled environment a time capsule submitted by your class and return it to the matured students on their 20/30 year class reunion or to the same grade level & school class in 25 years. All K-12 schools and private families are welcome to participate. http://www.ustimecapsule.com/

Reverse Time Capsule, by Douglas Coupland: What if we were to receive a time capsule not from the past, but from the future - would we pay more attention? One suspects so. In this spirit, Wired has created a reverse time capsule, not a capsule directed to the future, but rather to the citizens of 1975. What artifacts might surprise them most about the direction taken by the next 20 years? There was a time when music meant vinyl, when there were no VCRs, when recycling, decaf coffee, and bottled water were all jokes ... a time when every single consumer item on Earth didn't have bar codes, and when personal computers were a silly dream. No, we're not talking about the Jazz Age or the French Revolution. We're talking about a mere two decades ago, when all of the objects shown on this page were pretty well unthinkable. Time flies when you're having a culture. Herewith, a quick compendium of "now" looked at through the lens of the past. http://www.wired.com/wired/scenarios/capsule.html

Future Packaging and Preservation sells all sizes and types of time capsules, signature scrolls, acid free supplies, time capsule preservation kits, plaques, etc. and offers toll-free consultation as well. http://www.futurepkg.com

INVENTIONS

National Engineers Week - Future City Competition The National Engineers Week Future City Competition. Now in its eighth year, this competition asks middle school students from around the nation to create-first on computer and then in large, three-dimensional models-their visions of the city of tomorrow. http://www.futurecity.org/

COMMUNITIES OF THE FUTURE - MARS MILLENNIUM PROJECT

The countdown to a new century provides a unique opportunity to engage America's youth in charting a course for the future. The Mars Millennium Project, an official White House Millennium Council Youth Initiative, challenges students across the nation to design a community yet to be imagined - for the planet Mars.The interdisciplinary learning project will engage kindergarten through high-school students in classrooms and youth groups throughout the United States. Working in teams with educators, community leaders and professionals in many fields, hundreds of thousands of young people will weave the arts, sciences, and humanities into an exploration of their own communities.They will then take the best of the past and present, and apply what they have learned to the future. The result; a new community - one that is scientifically sound and offers a high quality of life - and one in which they would be proud to live. http://mars2030.org/

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE - ELIZA

Eliza, computer therapist ELIZA is a computer language analysis program designed by Joseph Weizenbaum in 1964-1966. The name ELIZA was chosen because, like the Eliza of Pygmalion fame, it could be taught to 'speak' increasingly well. ELIZA has almost no intelligence whatsoever, only tricks like string substitution and canned responses based on keywords. Yet when the original ELIZA first appeared in the 60's, some people actually mistook her for human. In this example, ELIZA has been programed to parody the role of a Rogerian psychotherapist engaged in an initial interview with a patient. Come and visit ELIZA: http://www.manifestation.com/neurotoys/eliza.php3

TOY RAY GUNS

Whimsical and zany, toy ray guns conjure fond childhood memories of Buck Rogers and Captain Video, of backyard spaceships that blasted off for high adventure in the endless reaches of space. From the exuberant Art Deco disintegrator pistols of the 1930s, to the streamlined and futuristic tin litho sparkers of the 50s and the darkly post-apocalyptic nitro blasters of today, toy ray guns express and represent our dreams, fears and fantasies, and it is to the study and celebration of these remarkable objects that this website is dedicated.
http://www.toyraygun.com

LET'S TALK ABOUT IT


End of the World or World Without End: Readings for the Millennium
By Hillel Schwartz

As we enter the millennium with a mixture of fear and hope, this reading and discussion series developed by the American Library Association includes texts ranging from science fiction to fantasy and poetry:

Looking Backward: 2000-1887, Edward Bellamy
The Dispossessed: An Ambiguous Utopia, Ursula K. Le Guin
Blessed Assurance: At Home with the Bomb in Amarillo, Texas, A. G. Mojtabai Fiskadoro, Denis Johnson

Libraries and other institutions interested in hosting this reading/discussion series should check out the American Library Association website http://www.ala.org/publicprograms/
letstalk/themes.html and contact their state humanities council for possible grant support.

PAST PREDICTIONS OF THE FUTURE

"We don't like their sound. Groups of guitars are on the way out."

-Decca executive, 1962, after turning down the Beatles

"This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication."

-Western Union memo, 1876

"I have traveled the length and breadth of this country and talked with the best people, and I can assure you that data processing is a fad that won't last out the year."

-The editor in charge of business books for Prentice Hall, 1957

Read about other predictions of the future that went awry at http://www.effect.net.au/lukastan/humour/Snippets/Past-Predictions.htm

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