Today in pulp I make my predictions for 2022, based on what was happening in 1922!
What goes around comes around...
Streaming services will continue to dominate 2022, so to combat FOMO a new TV channel will launch that shows summaries of all the streaming shows you don't have time to watch any more.
Wearable Tech will finally go mainstream in 2022, and shop doorways will contain wireless charging stations to encourage more window shopping.
2022 will be a year of international political tension...
...but it will also be a year of great advances in technology.
In fact 2022 will be the year when everything goes wireless...
...leading to mass confusion and cognitive overload as every object starts clamouring for our attention.
Working from home will mean 2022 has a more relaxed dress code...
...and as a result personal grooming standards will rise!
The cost of living crisis will make more people rethink their transport options in 2022.
But there will be a boom in pet accessories as people decide to pamper their pets rather than themselves.
Social media will begin to eat itself in 2022, with rumour and gossip driving out all other topics...
...and in response we will see a rise in traditional news journalism as people tire of endless clickbait.
Overall 2022 will be a year in which people try to recover their confidence and agency in a world gone potty!
Will any of this come to pass? Who knows! I don't, and neither does anyone else who makes 2022 predictions. So let's take this year as we find it, one step at a time!
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If the spacesuit is the symbol of progress, the gas mask is the sign of the apocalypse. In popular culture it signifies that science has turned against us. It's the face of dystopia.
Today in pulp I look at the culture of the mask!
The first chemical masks were work by Venitian plague doctors: a bird-like affair, the beak stuffed with lavender, matched with full length coat and hat. It was a terrifying sight - the grim reaper come to apply poultices to your tumours.
But it was poison gas, first used at the Second Battle of Ypres in 1915, that led to the modern gas mask. At first these were cotton masks treated with chemicals. However their protection was limited.
It's now over half a century since 1970, and I'm starting to wonder if we should bring back its concept of gracious modern living...
You see we've grown so used to Swedish-style modernism that we've sort of forgotten that maximalism, rather than minimalism, was once the sign of a cultured abode.
The 1970s in many ways reached back to the rich ideas of Victorian decor: heavy, autumnal and cluttered. Home was meant to be a baroque and sensual experience, rather than a 'machine for living in.'
Given how many people have left - or are thinking of leaving - Twitter, I thought I'd reshare an old thread: what on Earth is this platform good for? And should you stay on it?
TLDR: nobody knows.
Most people's tweets (if they're really people) are a stream of consciousness, and Twitter itself is a daily flow of 500 million of these across the surface of your phone. You are currently looking at the collective unconscious of the planet in real time.
And like any examination of the unconscious you will see things on Twitter that fascinate you and things that disgust you. This was always part of its sales pitch, though there used to be some enforceable guard rails.