Sunday, August 21, 2011

Ape Chauffeurs by 2020!

Here's a bonus Simian Saturday post, guess that makes this Simian Sunday!

1960s futurists predicted we'd have super-intelligent ape chauffeurs by 2020!
Intelligent Apes Become Chauffeurs

     For housewives of the 21st century who prefer animate rather than mechanical domestic servants, there may be a choice other than the robot. About two years ago, the RAND Corporation came out with a Report on a Long Range Forescasting Study (by T. Gordon and Olaf Helmer) which forecasts future developments in a number of important areas. The RAND panel mentioned that by the year 2020 it may be possible to breed intelligent species of animals, such as apes, that will be capable of performing manual labor. During the 21st century, those houses that don't have a robot in the broom closet could have a live-in ape to do the cleaning and gardening chores. Also, the use of well-trained apes as family chauffeurs might decrease the number of automobile accidents.
Here's the link for more info on the article.

Thanks to Needles for making me aware of this!

2 comments:

  1. Ape chauffeurs? Can monkey butlers be far behind? SCIENCE!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I've been in a city Taxi, I think it's happened early.

    ReplyDelete