Making technological predictions about life in the future is commonplace nowadays, but Arthur Radebaugh’s "Closer Than We Think" newspaper comic was one of the first art forms to tackle this subject matter. The comic, which debuted in 1958 and ran for four years, opened people's eyes to a future that seemed grounded in reality with a twist of science fiction.
According to Inverse: "One of the things that separated his work from his contemporaries was Radebaugh’s dedication to stay abreast of the cutting edge technology of his day. Traveling across North America in a Ford van he converted into a traveling studio, Radebaugh didn’t just want to hear about cutting-edge tech, he wanted to see it, hear it, and feel it. He wanted to talk face-to-face with the inventors and engineers, and then envision what the technology, however theoretical, would look like in practice, but what it could potentially evolve into."
Not all of Radebaugh’s ideas have come true, (at least not yet, anyway) but he did predict some technologies that are now just a part of everyday life, including solar houses, factory farms and desalination plants.
