The Future Through the 1964 World’s Fair #ScFiSunday
Wikipedia calls retrofuturism “a movement in the creative arts showing the influence of depictions of the future produced in an earlier era.” It’s tempting to look at the futures imagined by earlier generations and think of them as quaint or simplistic or overly optimistic. Which is why, perhaps, the fusion of apocalyptic and 50’s retrofuture of Fallout has such an intense frission. A great resource for these discarded futures are World’s Fairs. World’s Fairs have been places where corporations, nations, and educational institutions made manifest their best designs for the future. And the New York World’s Fair was one of the greatest. Here’s more from The Atlantic:
The theme of the 1964 World’s Fair in New York City was “Peace Through Understanding”. 650 acres of pavilions, public spaces and displays from exhibitors around the world. Countries, cities, corporations, and private groups set up shop to display their ideas and accomplishments to more than 50 million visitors. Corporate America was heavily-represented, with one of the most-remembered exhibits being General Motors’ Futurama, displaying colorful and imaginative views of future society.
Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat – we’ll post the link there.
