Computer technology has exceeded the predictions - everything else has fallen well short. Most of the described advances are technologically possible, but economically infeasible.
There are a few things that really did come true:
...you sit back and begin to read the morning paper—which is flashed on a flat TV screen over the car’s dashboard.
OK, your car doesn't drive itself while you read the news, but think how many people get most, or nearly all of their information from a programmable screen, as opposed to a newspaper, magazine, or TV.
Electrostatic precipitators clean the air and climatizers maintain the temperature and humidity at optimum levels.
Well, if you believe in those silly ionizers that Sharper Image sells, you can certainly have one. And many people work in climate-controlled offices and stores.
Robots are available to do housework and other simple chores.
Does a Roomba or a Scooba count? I'll admit, the rest of the self-cleaning house didn't get here yet!
At preset times, each meal slides into the microwave oven and is cooked or thawed.
OK, you gotta take it out of the freezer or the pantry, and stick it in the microwave yourself, but there is a great variety of likable food available. I sure like cooking from scratch, but if you really don't want to do it, you can pretty much live out of a microwave oven.
Employers deposit salary checks directly into their employees’ accounts.
That certainly has come to pass. I get by without writing any checks at all. Banking definitely came into this 21st Century forecast.
TV-telephone shopping is common.
Internet shopping is common. It's getting to the point where you need to get online to find things that stores just don't want to carry. While the majority do their food shopping in the real world, if you want to do that purely online, there are a goodly number of places where its completely possible, if you so desire.
At the beginning of each year, a print-out tells the farmer what to plant where, how much to fertilize and how much yield he can expect.
Satellite data is used in farming, and it's certainly important in weather forecasting, which is of enormous benefit to farmers. The rest of the agriculture predictions probably would have come true if we did not have illegal labor.
Medical examinations are a matter of sitting in a diagnostic chair for a minute or two, then receiving a full health report.
Not quite there, but CAT scans and MRIs are almost what this prediction called for. It's pretty easy to take a temperature, heart rate, blood pressure, and blood glucose reading electronically, too.
Everyone is able to use his full mental potential.
The fact that Americans still vote for Democrats shows that we're far away from this, yet we have drugs that allow mentally challenged people to gain some relief from problems that seemed insoluble back in 1968.
Yep, I'd love the flying car, but the rising costs of energy kept many of the transportation predictions from coming true. A good question would be, "What things did come to pass by 2008 that would have really amazed the folks from 1968?" My vote is for Internet dating.