L'article d'origine est ici :
http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/03/23/l ... -fair.html Voici mon analyse :
One thought that occurs to me is that men will continue to withdraw from nature in order to create an environment that will suit them better.
Je ne serais pas aussi catégorique, notamment à cause de l'influence du mouvement écolo, même si cela reste l'affaire d'une minorité.
By 2014, electroluminescent panels will be in common use.
Ils sont certainement plus répandus qu'en 1964, néanmoins, on en est encore loin, dans la plupart des villes.
Ceilings and walls will glow softly, and in a variety of colors that will change at the touch of a push button.
Ce genre de chose doit pouvoir exister de nos jours, néanmoins je doute qu'on soit allé plus loin que de simples prototypes ; pas la maison de tous les jours, en tout cas.
Windows need be no more than an archaic touch, and even when present will be polarized to block out the harsh sunlight. The degree of opacity of the glass may even be made to alter automatically in accordance with the intensity of the light falling upon it.
Malgré les apparences du contraire, ce genre de chose existe bel et bien en 2014 (preuve ici :
http://www.buzzfeed.com/daves4/future-f ... re#1aosvow), mais, comme dans le cas précédent, on ne peut pas dire que cela se soit beaucoup répandu pour l'instant.
There is an underground house at the fair which is a sign of the future. if its windows are not polarized, they can nevertheless alter the "scenery" by changes in lighting. Suburban houses underground, with easily controlled temperature, free from the vicissitudes of weather, with air cleaned and light controlled, should be fairly common. At the New York World's Fair of 2014, General Motors' "Futurama" may well display vistas of underground cities complete with light- forced vegetable gardens. The surface, G.M. will argue, will be given over to large-scale agriculture, grazing and parklands, with less space wasted on actual human occupancy.
Là par contre, ça ne risque pas d'arriver avant un bon moment. Cela coûterait trop en énergie pour être viable à quelque point que ce soit.
Gadgetry will continue to relieve mankind of tedious jobs. Kitchen units will be devised that will prepare "automeals," heating water and converting it to coffee; toasting bread; frying, poaching or scrambling eggs, grilling bacon, and so on. Breakfasts will be "ordered" the night before to be ready by a specified hour the next morning. Complete lunches and dinners, with the food semiprepared, will be stored in the freezer until ready for processing. I suspect, though, that even in 2014 it will still be advisable to have a small corner in the kitchen unit where the more individual meals can be prepared by hand, especially when company is coming.
Là par contre, il a vu juste au point que pour une grande partie de la population, les 2/3 de ce paragraphe n'est même plus de la SF. Mais il a sous-estimé la propension humaine à vouloir faire ses repas soi-même, même pour soi, parce que c'est quand même plus authentique.
Robots will neither be common nor very good in 2014, but they will be in existence. The I.B.M. exhibit at the present fair has no robots but it is dedicated to computers, which are shown in all their amazing complexity, notably in the task of translating Russian into English. If machines are that smart today, what may not be in the works 50 years hence? It will be such computers, much miniaturized, that will serve as the "brains" of robots. In fact, the I.B.M. building at the 2014 World's Fair may have, as one of its prime exhibits, a robot housemaid*large, clumsy, slow- moving but capable of general picking-up, arranging, cleaning and manipulation of various appliances. It will undoubtedly amuse the fairgoers to scatter debris over the floor in order to see the robot lumberingly remove it and classify it into "throw away" and "set aside." (Robots for gardening work will also have made their appearance.)
Là aussi, il a vu juste. En France, on a un robot comme intervenant dans une émission télé (chez Ardisson- non, ça n'est pas lui le robot

). Et les prototypes de
Robot Maids, ça existe, je vais ramener la vidéo japonaise en question (ici :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zD45oO0ZO4)
General Electric at the 2014 World's Fair will be showing 3-D movies of its "Robot of the Future," neat and streamlined, its cleaning appliances built in and performing all tasks briskly. (There will be a three-hour wait in line to see the film, for some things never change.)
Ça parait plausible, et pourrait l'être encore plus d'ici 2026 (en accordant une marge de 25 % à Asimov).
The appliances of 2014 will have no electric cords, of course, for they will be powered by long- lived batteries running on radioisotopes. The isotopes will not be expensive for they will be by- products of the fission-power plants which, by 2014, will be supplying well over half the power needs of humanity. But once the isotype batteries are used up they will be disposed of only through authorized agents of the manufacturer.
Dans ce passage, on omet en général soigneusement de parler de "radioisotopes". Mais étant donné le scepticisme généralisé de la population actuelle face au nucléaire, ce genre de chose ne risque pas d'arriver d'ici peu.
And experimental fusion-power plant or two will already exist in 2014. (Even today, a small but genuine fusion explosion is demonstrated at frequent intervals in the G.E. exhibit at the 1964 fair.)
Non. En fait, il est peu probable que les centrales à fusion se soient généralisées, ou même
existent, d'ici à
2064 ! On n'est même pas au stade du prototype. En gros, ça ne tient que si on a définition suffisamment large de ce que l'on entend par "expérimental".
Large solar-power stations will also be in operation in a number of desert and semi-desert areas -- Arizona, the Negev, Kazakhstan. In the more crowded, but cloudy and smoggy areas, solar power will be less practical. An exhibit at the 2014 fair will show models of power stations in space, collecting sunlight by means of huge parabolic focusing devices and radiating the energy thus collected down to earth.
On a le potentiel de le faire, mais ça n'est pas aussi répandu que ça pour le moment. Les projets de stations énergétiques spatiales ont l'air plausible, mais il faudra encore attendre quelques décennies, je pense, avant d'avoir un modèle concret.
The world of 50 years hence will have shrunk further. At the 1964 fair, the G.M. exhibit depicts, among other things, "road-building factories" in the tropics and, closer to home, crowded highways along which long buses move on special central lanes. There is every likelihood that highways at least in the more advanced sections of the world*will have passed their peak in 2014; there will be increasing emphasis on transportation that makes the least possible contact with the surface. There will be aircraft, of course, but even ground travel will increasingly take to the air*a foot or two off the ground. Visitors to the 1964 fair can travel there in an "aquafoil," which lifts itself on four stilts and skims over the water with a minimum of friction. This is surely a stop-gap. By 2014 the four stilts will have been replaced by four jets of compressed air so that the vehicle will make no contact with either liquid or solid surfaces.
Mouais. S'élever juste un mètre au-dessus du sol, pour un véhicule c'est pas super utile en fait. Et les autoroutes ont encore un bel avenir devant elles.
Jets of compressed air will also lift land vehicles off the highways, which, among other things, will minimize paving problems. Smooth earth or level lawns will do as well as pavements. Bridges will also be of less importance, since cars will be capable of crossing water on their jets, though local ordinances will discourage the practice.
On en est loin !
Much effort will be put into the designing of vehicles with "Robot-brains"*vehicles that can be set for particular destinations and that will then proceed there without interference by the slow reflexes of a human driver. I suspect one of the major attractions of the 2014 fair will be rides on small roboticized cars which will maneuver in crowds at the two-foot level, neatly and automatically avoiding each other.
Plausible, comme déjà remarqué avant. Surtout d'ici 2026 (avec une marge de 25 % accordée à Asimov).
For short-range travel, moving sidewalks (with benches on either side, standing room in the center) will be making their appearance in downtown sections. They will be raised above the traffic. Traffic will continue (on several levels in some places) only because all parking will be off-street and because at least 80 per cent of truck deliveries will be to certain fixed centers at the city's rim. Compressed air tubes will carry goods and materials over local stretches, and the switching devices that will place specific shipments in specific destinations will be one of the city's marvels.
On n'y est pas encore, dans la plupart des villes. Asimov ne prédisait pas seulement les trottoirs roulants, il en avait une vision beaucoup plus ambitieuse que ce qui se fait actuellement. Et cela m'étonne qu'avec tout ce qu'il a dit précédemment, il n'ait pas pensé à la livraison par drone (pas que ça soit déjà beaucoup répandu en 2014, il est vrai).
Communications will become sight-sound and you will see as well as hear the person you telephone. The screen can be used not only to see the people you call but also for studying documents and photographs and reading passages from books. Synchronous satellites, hovering in space will make it possible for you to direct-dial any spot on earth, including the weather stations in Antarctica (shown in chill splendor as part of the '64 General Motors exhibit).
Là aussi, ce n'est plus de la SF de nos jours.
For that matter, you will be able to reach someone at the moon colonies, concerning which General Motors puts on a display of impressive vehicles (in model form) with large soft tires*intended to negotiate the uneven terrain that may exist on our natural satellite.
Il n'y a pas de colonies lunaires. On aurait pu en faire, mais la seule raison pour laquelle on est allé sur la Lune était pour faire de la propagande, et après la chute de l'URSS ce n'était plus nécessaire.
Any number of simultaneous conversations between earth and moon can be handled by modulated laser beams, which are easy to manipulate in space. On earth, however, laser beams will have to be led through plastic pipes, to avoid material and atmospheric interference. Engineers will still be playing with that problem in 2014.
Idem. Notons qu'on privilégie la fibre optique, aujourd'hui.
Conversations with the moon will be a trifle uncomfortable, but the way, in that 2.5 seconds must elapse between statement and answer (it takes light that long to make the round trip). Similar conversations with Mars will experience a 3.5-minute delay even when Mars is at its closest. However, by 2014, only unmanned ships will have landed on Mars, though a manned expedition will be in the works and in the 2014 Futurama will show a model of an elaborate Martian colony.
Idem. Effectivement, on n'est pas encore allé sur Mars avec des humains.
As for television, wall screens will have replaced the ordinary set; but transparent cubes will be making their appearance in which three-dimensional viewing will be possible. In fact, one popular exhibit at the 2014 World's Fair will be such a 3-D TV, built life-size, in which ballet performances will be seen. The cube will slowly revolve for viewing from all angles.
Les télés actuelles sont proches d'un "écran-mur", et il y a des télés 3-D, mais elles ne correspondent pas à la vision d'Asimov pour le moment.
Je m'arrête là pour le moment.
Notez que malgré les apparences, prédire l'évolution technologique de la société est encore l'une des choses les plus
faciles concernant le futur ; j'aurais été très étonné qu'Asimov prédise la fin de la guerre froide, le terrorisme islamiste et le mariage gai, par exemple.
Ce qui me frappe, c'est qu'Asimov est resté quand même assez raisonnable dans ses prédictions, par rapport à d'autres à son époque.
Allez, faites vos prédictions technologiques pour 2064 !