The Rise and Fall of American Growth: The U.S. Standard of Living since the Civil War (The Princeton Economic History of the Western World Book 70)

by Robert J. Gordon

“Hot and cold air will be turned on from spigots to regulate the temperature of the air just as we now turn on hot and cold water from spigots to regulate the temperature of the bath.” • “Ready-cooked meals will be purchased from establishments much like our bakeries of today.” • “Liquid-air refrigerators will keep large quantities of food fresh for long intervals.” • “Photographs will be telegraphed from any distance. If there is a battle in China a century hence, photographs of the events will be published in newspapers an hour later.” • “Automobiles will be cheaper than horses are today. Farmers will own automobile hay-wagons, automobile truck-wagons … automobiles will have been substituted for every horse-vehicle now known.” • “Persons and things of all types will be brought within focus of cameras connected with screens at opposite ends of circuits, thousands of miles at a span.… [T]he lips of a remote actor or singer will be heard to offer words or music when seen to move.”