The idea of going back in time and taking credit for a modern invention early is one that’s been used in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home and other sci-fi movies and TV shows. But one logical flaw that never gets mentioned is that you would have to use existing technology. If you went back to the 1970s and tried to create an iPod, it wouldn’t look or work like an iPod, because they didn’t have the technology to make iPods back then. So what would an iPod in the 1970s look like? Artist Alex Varanese explored that theme with a brilliant series of pictures called Alt/1977. The series imagines ads for an mp3 player, a laptop, a cell phone, and a handheld video game system as if they were designed in 1977. Groovy.
[Via io9 via Alex Varanese]
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="34484 ">4 Comments
I'm not sure how realistic those are. The first laptops were the size of suitcases and we've all seen those giant brick phones.
The headphones are bigger than the iPod…
I like the classic look! The wood grain stickers make it for me.
Vintage-ish ads!