1 February 2022
The History of the Future
(and What This Has to do with CAD Designers)
Science fiction is in the business of dreaming up worlds and technologies that have yet to be, at least in those stories grounded in a semblance of real science. While not many science fiction writers would claim to predict the future, they occasionally (inadvertently?) strike pretty close to the mark.
Think about Isaac Asimov who imagined the first spacewalk, or Arthur C. Clarke who dreamed up satellites and the technology that was used for the first comet landing to perform tests.
How could they have been so optimistic about our rate of technological advancement?
Think of the flip-phone ancestor that Captain Kirk uses in Star Trek. When you are engaged in the business of imagining the forward progression of the human race, and the tools needed to get there, you’re engaged in a process that is not all that different from a designer who is reaching for the next generation of computer, phone, bridge or building.
It’s as interesting to look at the imagined futures that people crafted in the 1950s as it is to look at the emergence of modern architecture. They seem to be in conversation, because they are, on some level. How can the function-driven dystopias of Phillip K. Dick (think Blade Runner) be separated from the pure functionality of the Bauhaus movement? When things emerge in the world in a similar time frame, one might surmise that they are driven by similar motivations.
The Jetsons still seems aspirational, and some of their technology isn’t all that unattainable. We carry computers around in our pockets that rival the ones on the various spaceships you see on both the big screen and small. Onboard navigation and AI-controlled steering are real. Once the idea is out there, chances are good that some enterprising human will grab the ball and run with it.
When the calendar hit 1984, you can bet people were looking at George Orwell’s novel to see how accurate he was. What did Aldous Huxley get right in Brave New World? What did Arthur C. Clarke get wrong about 2001 and 2010? You end up wondering how they could have been so optimistic about our rate of technological advancement, or how we, as a race, somehow failed to achieve engineering goals that really were attainable. Where’s my rocket car? Where’s my robot servant?
Going to car shows and seeing the concept cars that automotive companies display, one begins to develop expectations for what is coming down the line. The software you are using to design that housing complex or office block may be the exact same software used by the designers of the Apple+ TV show, Foundation, based on the works of Isaac Asimov. Both are working towards a vision of the future. One is thought-provoking entertainment. The other, your work, is going to be built and will affect people’s lives in a more tangible way.
Where’s my rocket car? Where’s my robot servant?
Here at Axiom, we are always working to make it possible for you to arrive at that future sooner, by taking care of menial, repetitive tasks for you so that you can focus on the bigger picture.
Even the skeptics out there were impressed enough to let us know: “I’m a pretty skeptical guy, but I am liking Title Block Manager™ A LOT!! I use it all the time. In this day and age when everything goes fast, you need tools to be able to react in a way that’s expected, without fudging on standards.” – T.K., CAD Manager, Stanley Consultants.
This is how we help you achieve giant leaps for Mankind. Contact us today.
