the jetsons

“We still speak about the future in Jetsons terms,” Jared Bahir Browsh, author of the 2021 book “Hanna-Barbera: A History,” told The New York Post. “A show that originally ran for one season had such an impact on the way we see our culture and our lives.”

A Twitter user by the name of Brendan Kergin went viral recently for pointing out that George Jetson was probably born on Sunday, July 31, 2022. The announcement of the birth of the most famous man of the future felt to many like a defining milestone in human history. Have we finally reached the future? Have we begun our march toward true progress as a species?

me and the boys on our way to witness the birth of george jetson pic.twitter.com/K4uoyBujEc

— stanley yelnats (@slimeoperative) July 29, 2022

In Kergin’s original tweet, “The Jetsons” page on Wikipedia claimed he was born on July 31, 2022. Since then, the page has been changed to 2022, with no specific date given.

According to Snopes, the show debuted in 1962 and was set 100 years in the future. In an episode that ran in the first year, George claims to be 40 years old, putting the year of his birth firmly in 2022.

On a deeper level, that means that, as a species, we have 40 years to get our quality of life up to Jetsons’ standards.

For those who are fretting that humanity has veered off course and is far from hitting the cartoon’s timeline, there is hope. Just think about how far technology has come in the past 40 years.

To all the people wondering where their flying cars are, remember what the world was like in 1982?

— Brendan Kergin (@BKergin) July 30, 2022

Somebody needs to bite the bullet and name their newborn George Jetson tomorrow

— BeeBricks (@BeeBricks) July 29, 2022

I need to know ASAP because if I have a baby on July 31st, I AM naming him George Jetson.

— Connor (@connorclark21) July 29, 2022

But a lot of people still want to know why we don't have flying cars yet.

FINALLY The Jetsons are catching up to reality!!!

WHERE’S MY FLYING CAR?!?!?!?!

— Brandon Hilton (@BRANDONHILTON) July 29, 2022

Oh, crap... that means that we're getting close to flying cars.

A ton of people can't control a car on the ground in a safe and controlled manner. We're doomed. Doomed, I say.

— Free Agent Kevin🇺🇦 (@sportsjunkie007) July 29, 2022

Where are the flying cars? pic.twitter.com/VtmHN49zj8

— Hieronymus McGillicuddy (@HieronymusMcG) July 29, 2022

If George Jetson was just born, then his grandfather, Montague Jetson, is in our midst.

We must find Montageu Jetson.

— Dr Closer (@RandomUserYeg) July 29, 2022

You must have a Facebook account to view images of him. We at least know that he graduated from Adrian C Wilcox high school. pic.twitter.com/7syRruoxb9

— Elliott Oxford (@E_livin) July 29, 2022

This should be an easy Facebook search pic.twitter.com/I6jIULZGS4

— Macula (@The_Macula) July 29, 2022

That also means that George's boss, Mr. Spacely, is probably a pre-teen right now.

This also means that Mr. Spacely is walking among us and making dance videos on TikTok.

— Nick Sestanovich (@Nsestanovich) July 29, 2022

One Twitter user found something interesting in the show's timeline regarding the birth of the Jetsons' daughter, Judy.

Jetson’s math… 👀 pic.twitter.com/jl4LTs0MZn

— MJ (@Papa_613) July 29, 2022

A few people thought the Jetsons' world makes total sense given today's developments.

Which means that in about 30 to 40 years the earth will be so uninhabitable, we have to live in buildings built way up in the sky. So, checks out.

— Detective Bagabitch (@RunMizzou11) July 29, 2022

Also gender and family dynamics will revert to a 1950s paradigm. So yeah, checks out.

— not today satan (@basketokittens) July 29, 2022

I'm guessing we're about to find out how Global Warming is solved. . .by putting every building on the planet on stilts

— K.Waza 🔞 (Commissions OPEN 6/7 slots Filled) (@KWaza94874843) July 29, 2022

I mean this checks out with our current timeline. pic.twitter.com/mJugIAs3hD

— Anya Johanna DeNiro (@adeniro) July 29, 2022

We’ve come close to re-creating a lot of technology that appeared in “The Jetsons.” We may not have sassy talking robot maids, but we do have Roombas that automatically keep the house tidy. We also have video calls, flat-screen TVs, and TV watches.

In the end, "The Jetsons" may serve as a warning to be careful about how we envision our future because we might just get it.

“[“The Jetsons”] speaks to this idea that as human beings we’ll always have something to complain about,” Danny Graydon, author of “The Jetsons: The Official Guide to the Cartoon Classic,” told The New York Post. “One of the problems with utopia, if you create a perfect world, that world might be quite boring.”