16 Real Modern Technologies Predicted by Inspector Gadget
PHOTOGRAPH BY SALIM WESTVIND (WATCH).
The cartoon classic Inspector Gadget entered the cultural Zeitgeist in 1983, at a time when the most sophisticated home technology was a VCR. All that soon changed with the rise of Apple and the personal computer, but still, one can't look back on the French- and Canadian-produced, Japanese-animated show and not see signs of what was to come. The cartoon—about a bumbling bionic detective named Inspector Gadget, his pre-teen hacker niece Penny, their master-of-disguise pooch Brain, and their attempts to ward off the villainy of mysterious criminal mastermind Dr. Claw—is riddled with fictional science that, 30 years later, has actually become real technology. Then again, the goofy show, with its hummable Grieg-inspired theme song, was likely prime cartoon viewing for some of todays top minds; everyone from Mark Zuckerberg to Larry Page was a child during the show’s syndicated run.
So we sifted through the original show’s 86 episodes to see what this crystal ball of technology foretold. The results are a surprising collection of then fantastical products and concepts that we couldn’t imagine living without today. But perhaps the most forward-thinking model might be the show’s core relationship: a computer-obsessed child doing her best to explain technology to her forever clueless parental figure.
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