Show Take A loom Look At Tomorrow I By Niels WHEEL VS ELECTRON Dont Don't be alarmed but theres there's a cold eold war going on at home The adversaries are the car in your garage and the televIsIOn set in your our living room noth are competing for your I time Each offers a mode of transportation but while one can bring you to a new ex experience the other will bring the new experience to you YOU CA CAN get in the car and go to a movie aUE attend d a hall game do some shopping see seethe seethe the countryside visit an art gallery view the sunset Or you youcan youcan can do the same things by switching on your TV set and staying right in the house This is the great conflict of our technological the age wheel versus the electron The way in which you the millions of others choose to reach out for the world around you will willIn willin In large part determine our future way of life SINCE THE dawn of man man- mankind kind we had to go somewhere for it it Like our dis dis- dis distant tant ancestors we still exert a great deal of our time and ef ef- ef effort fort moving our bodies from one place to another in order to thirst to find recreation to see new sights to do business to be educated etc And we have crafted increasingly com com- complex plex vehicles to transport us the canoe the cart the train automobile airplane and now the rocket But ever since we learned that we could also reverse the process process-by growing our own vegetables rasing our own cat tie tle digging our own well weil installing ling our own telephone more and more we have been able to bring the world to us instead IN THIS century the conflict may be resolved Today we can travel at almost three times the speed of sound But the ex cx- cx we seek can travel much faster electronically And so the television set has hasa a widening ng edge on the automo bile and will likely win the struggle for our time In America television has had a phenomenal acceptance rate It took 80 years for the telephone to be installed in as many as 34 million homes EI El- El Electric wiring took 62 years to reach that many homes while the automobile took 49 years and the electric washing macho mach Inc ine 47 years Television made the same stride in only 10 years There are arc over 70 million TV sets in US homes today The I automobile which had a 40 year ear head start on television numbers over 85 million in this country Faster Transport The progressive development transportation has been startling ing One signal of this is the increasing speed limits being posted on our highways We now expect that in a few years we will drive our autom autom- automobiles at miles an hour ride trains that go miles an hour and put people in an airplane that flies at i i to 1 1 p i 1 tt 1 tj I 1 Mat i r n nr r 9 t Sw R a r ri pis pi's i 4 li 11 i iI I ue i J Jn n Jr r j THE TV SET is replacing the automobile as a vehicle for reaching new experiences As a result face to con con- confrontation confrontation such as in downtown office buildings is be- be becoming becoming coming unnecessary due to the availability of electronic confrontation via television I is ic speeds which means that we will soon be able to take off from New York and arrive in San Francisco an hour earlier than we left By the early we are arc told we will be able to travel by rocket transport at miles an hour reaching any other point on earth in 45 min min- minutes utes AND YET we have congestion tion problems Motor trucks in New York City average 6 miles an hour through traffic as against 11 miles an hour for horse drawn wn trucks in 1910 It is an accepted fact that freeways are generally outmoded ed cd as they are built The crowd crowd- crowded ed cd condition of our highways and city streets is a constant dilemma not only because of the tragic death toll that results from too many cars going too fast In too many different dir dir dir- directions at once but also be be- be because cause we wc seem unwilling to of of- of offer fer acceptable and safe alter alter- natives Our culture has for some time now been ba based cd upon the econ econ econ- economic and social belief that to persist we wc have to be at a certain place at a certain time timeto timeto to work shop be entertained have meals etc ete For too many of us the time and place coin coin- coincide cide and so o our cities and our highways have problems of part to too many cars bringing too many people together at once t s Change Schedules The future may see sec some sel if we arc willing to try them Instead of the 95 work work- working ing day we could substitute the round working shifts eliminating two thirds of our rush hour traffic and keeping our businesses and cities in con con- constant stant operation Instead of us us- us using Ing them by day and leaving them almost empty at night Adopting a use shared schedule for many of our office build build- buildings ings would allow similar types of businesses to use the same space and equipment in shifts and keep these buildings I from standing idle two thirds of the time The staggered work week would end most of the problems that come when we crowd our highways beaches and parks 2 days a week and leave then them practically empty the rest of the time THE INVENTION of the auto auto- automobile mobile and telephone began the decentralization of our business and commercial activities al al- al allowing lowing us to carryon carry on our activities over greater distances With the advent of television and the merging of the TV and phone we can now practically eliminate the need for face to face confrontation in most busi- busi business business ness and commercial activity Much of what we come together er in a central building or plant to do can now be done remotely ely even from our homes Meet Meet- Meetings Ings can be held this way pic pic- pictures tures and blueprints transmitted ed cd electronically and even machines can be automatically controlled and inspected from decentralized locations This is the essence of the struggle between wheel and electron We no longer need to travel from one place to another er to carryon carry on our daily lives to be educated and entertained Television in a sense replaces the automobile TV Advances Remarkable technological ad ad- ad advances vances are being made in tele tele- television vision We may in a few years have wall flat TV as large as hone home movie screens hanging In our living rooms It is also like like- likely ly Iy that we will soon buy or 01 rent TV programs in stores A system that puts television pic pic- pic lures tures and sound on a 12 inch 33 rpm phonograph record has been developed The record can be played with a phonograph needle And we may someday replace the cathode ray tube with an amazing new technique called beams to recreate a mid air We will actually be beable beable able to walk around the holo holo- holo holographic graphic Image seeing it from different angles as if the figures it shows were really there Although more than 93 per percent percent cent of U US S households now ha have ve television sets America ica possesses only of all the TV receivers in the world Western Europe has 48 mil lion sets eastern Europe 21 million the Far East 19 million Those numbers will ly in future years The Implications are enor- enor moos for with synchronous sat TV transmitters we may soon beam direct coos electronic pictures to all parts of the world Even the thc smallest event will then take on global sigI significance and even the most backward tribe will be exposed to the cus cus- cus customs toms and progress of more ad vanc anted d societies thereby trans forming the world into an eke eke- Ironic village In this country mac e now watch television more than we ulo do any any- anything thing else except sleep It Is no wonder that experts predict till the communications industry try sail III overtake the transportation in- in industry in ill In dollar volume in about 10 years ears Thc cold war Val at house already seems to have hae its future victor will discuss the thc changing role Part four foul of this series of the computer In our alii society and what its Implications arc I for tile thc future |