In the history of civilization there were a select few who had an uncanny ability to predict the future. Back in the 16th century there was a man named Nostradamus who was an astrologer, physician and poet. In 1555, he wrote 942 poetic quatrains published in a book called “Les Propheties.” Written in French, his native tongue, the title in English translates to “The Propheties.”

Nostradamus was a seer who had a unique gift of being able to predict the future. His supporters and many members of the press credit him with accurately predicting future world events. His distractors say that most of his predictions were so vague and nondescript as to apply to obvious circumstances. For example, he predicted that there would be a series of great wars and assassinations of leaders. Those events are part of history since the dawn of man.  Sometimes his predictions seemed contradictory but guaranteed a future outcome. His prophecy about the weather is a good example. In one quatrain he predicted that lands around the globe would dry up while also saying there will be great floods.  

In 1962 a newer prophet came along that had a better success record than Nostradamus. It is time to, as his television theme song goes, “Meet George Jetson.” The cartoon series “The Jetsons” hit the airways in 1962, but this space-age fantasy took place 100 years in the future in 2062. Unlike Nostradamus, although we are decades away from 2062, George Jetson, his wife Jane and their kids Judy and Elroy predicted and foreshadowed gadgets that we use today.

The Jetsons communicated by a wireless video phone. They could talk to each other while looking at the other person. Back in 1962, the concept of a wireless cell phone was decades away from the minds of our most intelligent inventors. Now, making calls on Facetime or WhatsApp are part of our existence.

In fact, thanks to the recent pandemic many of us now communicate with multiple people via Zoom. Although “Zoom” sounds like something the Jetsons would use, they did have video group chat.

Housekeeping chores for the Jetsons were performed by their robotic maid, Rosie. She had a programmed vacuum that would with a touch of a button glide around the apartment and clean the floors and carpet in a set routine. Sound familiar? Today many households use robotic machines like a Roomba to do the same task.

The Jetsons watched television on flat screens, which did not exist for decades after 1962. Back then some shows were still televised in black and white. Years later SONY introduced the Trinitron television that was the antithesis of a flat screen. It looked like the size of a small car and weighed about the same.

Their son Elroy was not the ideal student. He normally sat in the back and watched old reruns of “The Flintstones” on his wristwatch. Back in 1962, an apple was just a piece of fruit. But now you can watch television on your Apple watch.

Judy Jetson used a computer device on a handheld tablet. Zap into the 21st century and we have the iPad or Kindle. Her brother, Elroy, in some episodes was seen navigating a drone as it zipped around their space-age community. Today drones are used for a variety of purposes.

Meals in the Jetsons’ apartment were made in a unique way. Jane, George’s wife, used a food making machine that produced a 3D meal in seconds. This foreshadowed what we call 3D printing and the microwave. Today’s NASA astronauts in space have the capability of printing an edible 3D pizza.

Of course, not everything in The Jetsons has come to pass; at least not yet. We do not have flying cars although Elon Musk did send a Tesla into space on a rocket.  We do not zip around wearing jet packs, but they do exist. Nor do we have hygiene machines that brush your teeth and comb your hair at the same time.

Sometime in the future, as we develop our high-tech existence, we might look back at our current time the same way Elroy Jetson looked back at Fred and Wilma Flintstone on his wristwatch, the modern stone-age family. Yabba-dabba-doo!

Hudson Cooper is a resident of Sullivan County, a writer, comedian and actor.