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Did ''Super Friends'' predict 2024 and the rise of A.I.?
"Nothing can go wrong with the G.E.E.C.!" - Professor Goodfellow
In the second episode of Super Friends, "Professor Goodfellow's G.E.E.C.", the Super Friends notice some strange things happening all over the country — cars driving themselves, planes flying themselves, even tractors harvesting crops with no person at the wheel! The power behind the driverless vehicles is Professor Goodfellow's G.E.E.C. — Goodfellow's Effort Eliminating Computer. Professor Goodfellow is a stubborn but well-intended scientist who believes his super computer machine will allow all of mankind to take a rest and not have to work so hard. When the government turns down Goodfellow's invention, he makes it free for the public to use. Even when Batman and Superman bring up concerns about the machine malfunctioning or being brocken into, Goodfellow confidently says "The G.E.E.C. will do it all...Nothing can go wrong! Ever!". The rest of the episode highlights all of the ways the G.E.E.C. goes wrong and how the Super Friends have to work around the machine's intelligence to turn it off.
His G.E.E.C. machine appears to function similarly to Artificial Intelligence, at least from a 1970s perspective. Many of the G.E.E.C.'s inventions and services are inventions that, as of 2024, we've had for years! Let's see all the future inventions the G.E.E.C. machine predicted and all the G.E.E.C. features we don't have yet.
Driverless Cars
One of the first signs that led the Super Friends to Professor Goodfellow was self-driving cars popping up all over town. In 2024, self-driving cars are slowly but surely on the rise, with Uber even offering self-driving cars in select cities.
Manufacturing
Back at the Hall of Justice, Wendy and Marvin look into other self-driving vehicles and see self-driving forklifts and other factory machines. They also see self-driving farm equipment and construction equipment. We don't have these inventions in 2024...yet.
Cooking
When the Super Friends visit Professor Goodfellow and his G.E.E.C. machine, he shows them how it can be used for cooking by having it make ice cream floats and a cheese sandwich - a cheese sandwich that will later be the downfall of the G.E.E.C.!
G.E.E.C. Grocery Delivery
Once the G.E.E.C. became free for public use, everyone began to stay home, they don't even have to go to the grocery store because G.E.E.C. provides grocery delivery! Today, nearly every grocery store offers delivery or curbside pickup.
Theater, Sports, and Entertainment
Professor Goodfellow takes the Super Friends through the various sections of the G.E.E.C. When Wendy brings up that athletes and actors will still have to do their jobs, Goodfellow says "No, no, the actors and athletes won't be real people, they'll be electronic images programmed to go through the motions of a play or a variety show or an athletic event,". Sounds a lot like A.I. created entertainment, right?
Remote Learning
The G.E.E.C. even provides educational programming so kids don't even need to go to school! They simply turn their G.E.E.C. television to the channel that matches their grade level and watch. In the episode, all of the schools close down because everyone goes to G.E.E.C. school instead.
Lawncare
A G.E.E.C. lawnmower seems like a great idea until it starts mowing over Marvin's mom's flowers! We do not have this invention yet, and this error may be why!
Robot security
While we live in a world with Ring cameras and Alexas with security settings, Goodfellow's vision for G.E.E.C. security mostly focused on robot security guards, like this one stopping Wonder Woman from breaking into the G.E.E.C. factory.
Transportation
Like the self-driving cars at the beginning of the episode, the G.E.E.C. fleet includes self driving trains, boats, and planes. When the G.E.E.C. goes haywire later in the episode, a shipping boat needs the bridge to lift up while a train is about to go over the bridge — the situation was luckily resolved by Superman but this is an example of a few of the dangers of switching ALL transportation to driverless transportation.
Taxi Caller
This G.E.E.C. feature is kind of similar to Uber, you press a button on a pole and it calls a G.E.E.C. taxi for you.
Smart Doghouse
Wonder Dog doesn't even have to get up to scare away the cat, he just presses a button and the G.E.E.C. doghouse does the barking for him. While we don't have an invention that barks for dogs, we can currently buy buttons that allow dogs to talk to us.
G.E.E.C. Phones
When the G.E.E.C. goes haywire, the Super Friends cannot get a hold of Professor Goodfellow because G.E.E.C. controls the phones too! Now in 2024, almost all phones are smart phones and have some artificial intelligence features.
Canoes!
Professor Goodfellow has thought of everything! Wendy gets Marvin and Wonderdog to put down their G.E.E.C. devices and go canoing to get some exercise, only for the canoe to be a self-rowing G.E.E.C. canoe. We don't have this in our current era because...well, what would be the point of that?
Gas Station
Perhaps the only thing in the G.E.E.C. universe that didn't have immediate repercussions, the G.E.E.C. gas station automatically pumped gas into the tank and air into the tires, no human effort needed.
