Science fiction always gets the future wrong. Or at least, it always gets the dates wrong. 2001: A Space Odyssey—sorry, haven’t seen a spinning bicycle wheel space station yet. Space 1999—we’re ten years past due on that sprawling moon base. And don’t even get us started on George Orwell’s 1984—we’re so far away from being a constantly monitored culture of brainwashed warmongers it’s positively laughable… Um, anyway, the original Star Trek series was set in like the twenty-third century or something, so its predictions still have a shot at coming true. Above and below are assorted matte paintings showing what that future will look like. Beam us up.
1973—Allende Ousted in Chile
With the help of the CIA, General Augusto Pinochet topples democratically elected President Salvador Allende in Chile. Pinochet’s regime serves as a testing ground for Chicago School of Economics radical pro-business policies that later are applied to other countries, including the United States.