Artifacts from the Future (from the past)

February 2, 2022 6:23 AM

Starting twenty years ago this month, Wired magazine tapped a bevy of designers and artists in the tech field to craft detailed satirical visions of futuristic objects for a monthly showcase at the close of each issue. Following a brief hiatus in 2008, the exercise returned in crowdsourced form, asking readers to submit their ideas for a given theme and incorporating the best ones into the following month's edition. After disappearing five years later, a 2020 redesign evolved the concept once more, asking readers to share six-word headlines, Hemingway-style (or not), on an evocative near-future story. While the new-new FOUND doesn't appear to be going anywhere, why not take some time to enjoy the history of this whimsical feature than by taking a look back at the "compleat" archived run of the series courtesy of Stuart Candy, who personally scanned the gamut of it to make a thorough retrospective for his excellent blog The Sceptical Futuryst: 2002 - 2003 - 2004 - 2005 - 2006 - 2007 - 2008 - 2009 - 2010 - Candy tells his FOUND story. More: "FOUND: The Future of..." and FOUND Photoshop Contests (2008-2013) - Six-Word Stories archive (2020-present) - a direct-link index to more and better futures inside.

2002
Parking Ticket (2146) - DNA Drink (2023) - House Seeds (2XXX?) - Take-out Menu (2031) - Skin Graft Bandages (2061) - Doping Test (2012) - Therapy Flowers (2014) - Robot Manual (2049) - Personalized Cereal (2022) - Rebirth Announcements (2081) - Holo-Day Tree (2016)

2003
Cloning Kit (2022) - Sleeping Pills (2009) - Skycleaners (2021) - Dental Strips (2017) - No-Kill Meat (2014) - Greeting Cards (20??) - Action Figure (2018) - Biotic Forecast (2023) - Sunscreen (2027) - Face-scanning Shades (2015) - Robot Dog (2029) - Compatibility Test (2009) - WiFi Bill (2006)

2004
Mood Machine (20XX?) - Chococeuticals (2014) - Kevlar Fashion (2005) - Inhaler (2019) - Postcards (20XX?) - $20 Bill (2020) - Spin Class (2009) - Boxed Sets (20XX?) - Reward Poster (2006) - Bathroom Vending Machine (2012) - Voting Receipt (2012) - Barf Bag (2047)

2005
House Call (20XX?) - Taste Tester (2009) - Insurance Form (2069) - Horoscope (2056) - Bumper Sticker (2012) - Antivirus (2022) - Nightstand (2017) - Crossword (2019) [solution] - Space Elevator (2032) - Sharper Image (2012) - Diaper (2024) - Christmas Morning (2016)

2006
Mood Ring (2009) - Love Tester (2015) - MTA Route Map (2067) - Tax Day (2021) - Operation (2027) - Bookstore (2021) [side view] - Contact Lens (2020) - Diet Cola (2019) - Report Card (2018) - Bluetooth (2019) - Organ Farming (2015) - Christmas Shopping (2017)

2007
Crayons (2013) - Speeding Ticket (2054) - Medicine Cabinet (2013) - Bug Spray (~2050) - Reunion (2052) - Fido Fusion (2016) - Comic Book (2021) - Fruit Stand (~2020) - Birthday (2079) - Halloween (2015) - Waste Management (~2025) - Responsibeer (2012)

2008
Windshield (2013) - Tattoo (201X?) - Home Shopping (~2016) - Risk (2027) - Smithsonian (2096) - Wine Spectrometer (~2020) - "The Final Found" (2018)

After the hiatus, the new crowdsourced version rounds out the year:

Bumper Stickers (2018)

Fridge Magnets (2020)

details: calendar, invitation, ribbon, screen, ticket, cartoon, bottlecap, postcard, Sasquatch magnet, water magnet, Mars photo - I ❤d NY button - Reno Euro

Wall Street (2013)

details: Suze Orman, 401k scratch-and-win, Jim Cramer, news ticker headlines, stock exchange

2009 and 2010 bring more small-details images:

Happy Meal (2018) - Truck Stop (2021) - LoJack for Toddlers (2019) - Chewing Gum (2017) - Birth Control (2029) - Online Dating (2020) - Grow-a-NanoRaptor (2026) - Message Board (20XX?), plus Game Show (2030)

Wildlife Warning Sign (~2100) - Cat Toy (2028) - Medicine (2021) - Ball (2032) - Storybook (2019) - Camping Supply Ad (2019) - Medical Bills (2028) - In-Flight Menu (20??) - Playground (2024) - Dive Bar (2024) - Taco Truck (2026)- Retirement Home (2092)

2012
Process Server (2022) - Toiletries (2025) - Wristwatch (2027) - Car Seat (2025) - Science Fair (2019) - Shopping Center (2072) - Seminar (2026) - Stamps (2034) - Toll Booth (2019)

2013
Brain Surgery Ads and Spring Cleaning

And finally, the complete six-word story archive, including illustrations and honorable mentions. [backup]

Fabulous bonus: A History of the Future in 100 Objects by Adrian Hon, a decidedly more serious take on the idea (originally a MeFi Project!)

[Thanks to Stuart Candy for the meticulous archival work, and to #DoublesJubilee for occasioning this new-and-improved post (originally from 2008!)]

posted by Rhaomi (11 comments total)

I need these so badly. Forget the jet packs. Where is this?

And don't start in about Google Glass. That was bullshit and good riddance.
posted by Naberius at 6:44 AM on February 2, 2022

whatever did happen to Jim Cramer?

still going, it seems
posted by philip-random at 7:59 AM on February 2, 2022

Wow, this is comprehensive. Great post!
posted by Monochrome at 8:19 AM on February 2, 2022 [1 favorite]

I still have issue #1 purchased long time back. I gave up a few years later as it turned into a podium for libertarian wet dreams. I’ve never seen these. I scanned through 2002. Are these meant to be a) funny, b) insightful glimpses at technology, or c) huh?
posted by njohnson23 at 6:18 PM on February 2, 2022

Gotta say the 2010 one that predicted vat grown organs by 2021 was a bit optimistic
posted by ymgve at 9:42 PM on February 2, 2022 [1 favorite]

Oh my god, it's amazing to come upon this post, because I launched this feature at WIRED back in the day as an Associate Art Director and presided over it for a year. From the first one through "Skycleaners" I was the one who hired the illustrators and photographers and helped translate the writers' manuscripts into these objects and scenes. In cases like the house seeds and the skin graft bandages, I designed the packaging, printed it from our office printer, cut it out and glued it into shape (in the stairwell of our SOMA offices so as not to inflict spray-glue fumes on my coworkers) for the photographer to shoot. I even hired my formerly-of-Marvel-Comics brother to illustrate HUGO.

After I left WIRED in 2003 I stopped reading it, for the same reason you stop following your exes on Instagram. But this post makes me proud that the end-of-book silliness I helped launch went on for years and is remembered fondly enough to warrant a MeFi post.

Full disclosure: I also launched WIRED's INFOPORN feature, which was deliberately calibrated to inspire aneurysms in Edward Tufte devotees. I can't find any good (by which I mean bad) examples online to demonstrate, since at the time the printed magazine and the online presence were entirely distinct operations. But if you ever saw a line graph that was projected into the third dimension for no reason, in which one line was drawn as a phone cable to represent DSL adoption and the other was drawn as a coaxial cable to represent cable internet adoption, and the amount of chartjunk made you want to vomit in rage, that was me. I'm sorry.
posted by ejs at 12:10 AM on February 3, 2022 [7 favorites]

The first bit of fiction I'd had published in ages (and probably the last ever) was a six-word sci-fi story in Wired a year ago. It's such a cool feature, as is Found.

Wired takes a lot of shit, and rightfully so, but I started subscribing to it a couple-three years ago anyway, because I've found that despite the "10 gadgets you need" kinda bullshit, it's not quite the overcaffeinated cheerleader for our glorious, neverending road trip down the information superhighway that it used to be. There's still an element of that, but it can be a welcome antidote to most of my gloomy tech-related reading.

I'm also pleased that they haven't changed their logo, which I've always found iconic.
posted by heteronym at 9:35 AM on February 3, 2022 [1 favorite]

ejs, that's so great -- thanks for sharing! I always liked how so many of these were practical instead of CGI.

Fun fact: former senior editor sand current contributer Chris Wired is also a member... though I think he joined primarily to let me know I misidentified somebody in the original post. D'oh.
posted by Rhaomi at 10:58 AM on February 3, 2022 [2 favorites]

Chris Baker I should say. >_<
posted by Rhaomi at 3:33 PM on February 3, 2022 [1 favorite]

2020 wasn't great in the real world, but at least Andrew Guliani didn't get his signature on the $20 bill.
posted by thechameleon at 8:00 PM on February 3, 2022

[Archive.org copy of this post; the image links should all work!]
posted by Rhaomi at 4:53 PM on February 27, 2022