Comment by gorgoiler
3 days ago
The computer terminal with an annoying box jammed up against your right hand, but also enough space for an ashtray:
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQwxhqR...
I kicked myself on the second read for missing why the title mentions trucking: it’s in the article, buried a little, but Ridley Scott called this the “truck driver” version of sci-fi.
“Bachelor pad” sci-fi is another great description, and this subreddit uses the equally fantastic term “cassette futurism”:
https://www.reddit.com/r/cassettefuturism/
I think it’s why I love the Technology Connections YouTube channel too. A lot of the devices are like 1980s science fiction! (The article in this discussion mentions the set designers using rotary mechanical switches to automate blinking light patterns so, in a way, they were living in their own futurism.)
There's an actual Space Truckers movie! (Dennis Hopper, square pigs... it has it all)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Truckers
I loved this movie. I wonder how well it still holds up. I bet pretty well, if you go into it with the appropriate expectations.
I love the casette futurism aesthetics, I just wish I had a practial application for physical buttons and the like, and / or that the higher interest products in those collections were still available outside of museums.
I'm sure there's some modern day reproductions (Filo's products [0] come to mind), but they won't have the same feel due to different switching mechanisms and materials being used.
[0] https://www.fiio.com/echomini