What Goes Around Comes Around

Hi there ATS.... It's been a while.

As a lover of old photographs and pictures I've noticed how things we think are original thought seldom turn out that way. Have you ever thought of an invention only to later realise it already exists... I know I have. So I've compiled some of my favourite pictures which illustrate just that, examples of ideas we thought were original and modern, only to be proven wrong by these:

Modern phenomenon of the 'Selfie':



Or is it so modern:

1839, The First ever selfie -


1920's selfie -



1950's, Colin Powell -


1966, Buzz selfie -


1966, George Harrison -



That dress:



1894, side of bacon dress -



Text Emoticon:



1800's -




The monster truck:



1896 -



The baby walker:



1890's baby walker -



The PhotoBomb:



Late 1800's -



There are many more examples of this and these pictures are just from the 1800's collection. Although this post has an element of tongue in cheek, it goes to show, what goes around comes around.... And maybe civilisation does the same.

A perfect example of humanity.
It happens on a smaller scale all the time. I remember hearing something new at Primary School and telling my mum and finding out it wasn't new, they did it when she was little first - to be corrected by my Nan, and now I hear the same from my kids. We may be picking up new technologies at an alarming rate, but it's just more ways to do the same thing - Be human.
Thanks for posting this - quite enjoyed those old pics

Leonardo da Vinci painted his selfie before that artist in the OP

Nice thread! I just talked to Buzz about that exact pic about a month ago. He had to post it again after some kids from the shuttle program claimed they had the first selfie from space...lol Buzz is a really nice guy, been in space a little too long, but nice none the less.

a reply to: Vroomfondel

Thanks... and is that for real? You talk to Buzz?

If so say hi from me.

I will post some more examples later... ATS feel free to post other examples if you want.

a reply to: RiverRunsFree

Its for real, but I only got to talk to him once. I don't know him personally, but I did have the opportunity to talk to him briefly. We spoke about that photo - and also his urgent plea to the space program, "Get your ass to mars!"

I've noticed that people have been testing propeller driven hovercrafts lately. I remember in the 1950's the army developed one successfully. While it was pretty cool and all, they couldn't find much use for them so they dropped the idea. It wasn't much different from the ones people are "inventing" today!a reply to: RiverRunsFree

The 1920s one is awesome! I've seen those poorly conceived arm-length Polaroid selfies from the 90s but these are clearly more engrossing.

I can imagine there were other emoticons in the 1800s with muttonchops.

some things really don't change

This is also kind of true as far as concepts of technology. For example, before we had actual airplanes there were people conceiving of flying. They got a lot of the inspiration from.... birds! They also got it from balloon flights as early as the 18th century. And spacecraft? People were writing stories with spacecraft in them at least since the 19th century. What about the concept of a "robot"? Well the "automaton" was conceived at least as early as the 13th century (en.wikipedia.org - Al-Jazari...) and probably much earlier. The computer? Well technically the first computers started being created in the 1930's, but the idea of a general purpose computing device (using punch cards) existed in formal fashion in early 19th century:
en.wikipedia.org - Analytical_Engine...

And look, a calculator (!), but wait, it's 1851 (!):
en.wikipedia.org - Arithmometer...

Sawmills? Water-powered sawmills as early as 3rd century AD:
en.wikipedia.org - Hierapolis sawmill...

What about conceoving other planets like Earth around other stars? I know at least as early as the 16th century (en.wikipedia.org - Giordano Bruno...). This was long before we had a firm handle on what the universe is around us. I don't think we definitively knew of other galaxies until the 20th century. And I think the first telescopes were invented early in the 17th century.

Her'es something that always amazes me, created in the 1770's (!):
( en.wikipedia.org - Jaquet-Droz automata... )

a reply to: LDragonFire

Just couldn't pass up a chance to interject hate into an otherwise excellent post?
Thank you OP for an excellent thread. And we just thought we were unique.

a reply to: retiredTxn

Sorry I have anger issues.





Ever fighting a bankers war.

a reply to: RiverRunsFree

wow I guess there really isn't anything new under the sun

gave you a star