Past predictions of the future

  1. What predictions about the future were people making 100 years ago? 50 years ago?  (Find 3-4 articles or discussions to look over.)
  2. Determine if the list is a “wish list” – as in, these are the things one might hope for in the future, or more a warning.
  3. Which predictions seem to have come true? Which turned out to be bizarre, off-track, or still out of reach?
  4. Can you identify any trends or patterns in these predictions? What concerns or achievements do they seem focused on?  For example, do people in general seem to be anticipating a better world?
  5. It is your turn to predict a future world. What do you see?  

Majority of these predictions are a little far stretched, especially the ones made 100 years ago. The predictions were mostly hopes for the future, not exactly warnings. The most bizarre predictions are the ones about transportation, mostly all the of technological foresights of the future did come true. People seemed to have been predicting a far more advanced world to make human life much easier and to easily achieve pleasure without worry. The only warnings that arose were around 50 years ago when it was said that with all the technological advancements it may be harder for people to excel if they are not apart of the progress, which is pretty true nowadays, especially since a mode for survivial now is having a phone to contact people with. The pattern in the older predictions is majority of what people will be doing, which is very difficult to predict. As times grew closer to where we are now predictions seemed a little more achievable because there wasn't such a large gap, and it was mostly technological advancements. If I were to predict the future, i would see more technological advancements in military machinery than for public transportation. I would also predict new states being added to the United States. I would also predict more space advancements and findings. 



Predictions made 100 years ago: 
- Men face women being president in the era of "electric wings" 
- colored photography
- Rising height of American by 1-2 inches 
- Mobile phones
- Communication by video chatting
- Pre-prepared meals
- Slowing population growth
- Hothouse vegetables
- Television
- Tanks
- Bigger fruits
- Express trains
- Eliminating C,X, and Q in the alphabet
- Every person will walk the average of 10 miles a day
- No more cars in large cities 
- Exterminating all flies and mosquitoes
- Firefighters will fly around on batwings
- Travel in blimp boats
- Domesticating whales and giant mutant seahorses for travel
- Flying cars



Predictions made 50 years ago: 
- When speaking on the telephone you will be able to see the other person
- Direct dial any spot on earth, including weather 
- Existence of robots
- 3D viewing 
- Conversations with the moon
- Automeals (using water to create diff liquids such as coffee)
- Fusion power plants
- Designing vehicles with "Robot-brains"
- "Not all the world will enjoy the gadgetry of the worlds future ... a larger portion than today will be deprived and left behind."















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