Télévision œil de demain

We can't say that we weren't warned. Télévision œil de demain is a 1947 French short about the future of television. The final scenes predicted that people would be able to walk around with miniature screens that will pick up signals anywhere. They would be distracted and not look where they are going. They would watch while driving and wreck. They will stop buying newspapers, which will go out of business. They will elect politicians based on their entertainment value. We would ignore the people we are with to watch our pocket televisions. Now, 73 years later, this is exactly how we are with our smartphones.

The true subtitles are only available in French, but you can auto-generate English for a very rough translation. To watch the full 24-minute version, go here. (via Kottke)