Life — September 7, 1916 — page 7: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Explanation for Modern Readers This page satirizes early-1900s predictions about life in the year 2000 (the coming "millennium"). The top illustration shows absurd inventions like mechanical animals and self-propelled devices, labeled "JOIE DE VIVRE" (joy of living). The text humorously lists ridiculous "necessities" for the future millennium—perpetual trouser creases, silent ash-cans, squeakless shoes, noiseless sparrows, and strikeless railroads. It's mock-serious in tone, satirizing optimistic technological predictions by imagining trivial, often impossible "improvements." The bottom illustration, "The Motorists' Idea of the Millennium," depicts two wealthy figures lounging comfortably in a motorcar while driving—suggesting that future technology would enable ultimate leisure and laziness. The satire mocks both utopian futurism and the emerging automobile culture's promise of effortless living.