As if it needed any more kudos for trendsetting, The Simpsons has once again been found to predict the future.
Video phones, robotic librarians, even horsemeat scandals have all been casually hinted at far ahead of their real-life appearances – and now, guess what has joined the canon of Simpsons predictions.
In an episode from the eighth season, “My Sister, My Sitter,” first aired on 2 March 1997, the show neatly presents Homer and Marge on a date outside the ‘Crypto Barn’, outside of which a slogan casually states, “A place for codes.”
While perhaps designed to be part of the neighborhood’s less illustrious infrastructure, selling spy equipment in addition to these generic ‘codes,’ its echoing of today’s cryptocurrency outlets is uncanny.
In 2014, you can enter a physical brick-and-mortar establishment in many countries and procure physical codes such as Bitcoin scratch cards, just as you would have gone to cash a cheque seventeen long years ago.
Interestingly, the Crypto Barn also features in an extension of the video game The Simpsons: Tapped Out, where users should rebuild Springfield following a small accident caused by Homer at the Nuclear Power Plant. Fittingly, the property is the most expensive available in the release, with a price tag of US$81,000.
While it is now perhaps not such a quantum leap to imagine a crypto-themed episode in the near future, it remains to be seen what the show’s next haunting prediction will be. Its 26th season is currently in production and set to air in October, and it would seem prudent to watch this space.
With thanks to the Reddit community for the image.