This was a fantastic post! I really liked the line "A failure of the imagination is the main risk we face in stating that something is impossible." This is so true. I remember hearing this in the same sense regarding natural resources running out, in the sense of "We're not looking hard enough for a good replacement."

To answer your question A, Pretty much anything based from semi-conductors and mass transistor density (like cellphones, mri's, etc..) Even holograms would be out of this world for a person back then.

B. Closest I can think of was more medical like phrenology, trying to determine things from bumps on the head.