The concept of futuristic dissolves in the kinds of futures which overturn, subvert, and otherwise transcend the here of the here and now of the now.
The phase transition which Douglas Engelbart suggests, and that which Heinz Otto-Peitgen's article in Der Spiegel and Lizb's articles about computers as dynamical systems never really ramified in user-interfaces (to operating systems in particular).
Compare, in particular:
Adam Ant's character in the episode /Such Interesting Neighbors/ of /Amazing Stories/,
and most of the folks in this interview
in terms of /disintermediation of interfaces/.
we do not live in a world where knowing how energy and information sloshing around in computers is a stepping stone to understanding other systems, and where access to such is democratized.