Let’s Go on a Futuristic Adventure to the Year 2000!

En L’An 2000 was a series of images created between 1899 and 1910 that imagined Parisian life in the 21st century. They were originally intended for the World’s Fair and to go into cigarette packs and cigar boxes. Some postcards were even created.

It is believed that none of the cards were ever distributed, however, and the only known surviving prints were discovered by sci-fi legend Isaac Asimov in 1986. He used them in a non-fiction book called Futuredays: A Nineteenth Century Vision of the Year 2000.

51 of the 87 known works can be found on Wikimedia Commons. Let’s dig through most of them here and go on a magical journey to the year 2000:

It’s a lot like now, but everything will involve flight…

…like the bus. The bus will fly, of course.

It only makes sense that you would take that flying bus to the museum. Hey, maybe the museum will look like a giant glass pyramid… Nah, that’d be crazy.

Maybe you grab a drink along the way, if you’re driving yourself…

…or maybe you’re coming to Paris from out of town.

In that case, you’ll need a cab.

Oh, and you’ll arrive at your hotel via the roof.

Paris isn’t all fun and games, though. Danger is always lurking….

Future War is Gonna be Nuts!

Oh no! Our sentinel has spotted an intruder! He calls for help!…

…but the aviation police are super busy right now…

…and the other cops are chasing down a smuggler. We’re gonna have to call in the bigger guns…

…like a friggin’ torpedo plane.

Now, we’ve got ourselves a proper battle – and not just in the air…

…but also at sea…

…and even on land.

Oh, man! That was brutal. So much destruction.

Better call in the flying fire brigade.

Now we can all go back to work. Stay tuned for that after the jump….

Time to go back to work.

Farmers are farming by wire.

Steampunk chicken nuggets will be super tasty.

Architecture is available at the push of a button.

That robot tailor is about to stab that guy in the dick.

The postman always wings twice.

The kids head off to school to be infused with books.

The new-fangled barber is getting his trim on.

Chefs are making this wonderful new food that makes you thin and gives you lots of energy called Pepaphetamine. It’s the best!

Maids use a magic wand (that is absolutely not a vibrator) to control brooms and mops. Man, they did not see the Roomba coming.

However, scientists will make the most of this new technology…

…and all of their hard work will enable the rest of us to find new types of more leisurely work.

Check out this dude working on his cat blog. These wires will combine to form a type of inter-web that will enable us to share so many LOLs.

…and porn. We’ll probably use the majority of this technology for porn… sweet, Victorian porn.

More leisure (including an unexpected jaunt underwater) after the jump!

It’s time to play!

Tennis on the ground is for poor people.

Hey! Let’s shoot the dudes in the red coats!

I wonder if they’re out hunting? I wonder if they’ll try to shoot the dog wranglers again? Oh well, I’d better get ready for my date with Roger.

Electric roller-skates are the best. And so is Roger – great guy.

After roller-skating, we’ll head to the theater, where they’ve finally figured out a way to replace those lousy musicians. I wonder what the kids are up to?

Hope they aren’t messing with those damn mega-eagles again….

Forget all those fish – I want to catch a seagull in the most intricate way possible.

Croquet sucks. Wanna have a race?

Naturally, the best way to race underwater is on a giant seahorse… Because it’s a horse. Get it?

…though I find fish to be much quicker.

Oh, shit! We better GTFO!

Time to take this Whale-Bus back to 2016/1910.

h/t: Twisted Sifter, The Public Domain Review

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