Top 10 Crazy Technology Predictions That CAME TRUE

#10: Self-Driving Cars

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Isaac Asimov (1964) Author and scientist Isaac Asimov is perhaps most famous for his stories about robotics. However, he also saw the future of vehicles. In an article on the 1964 World’s Fair, Asimov made predictions on what the event would look like in 50 years. While not all of his predictions came true, he does hit surprisingly close to the mark on some, including self-driving cars. Asimov writes about cars with “robot brains” capable of proceeding to destinations without the need for interference from human drivers. We’re still waiting on the jet-propelled cars he also predicted though.

“The Jetsons” (1962-63;1985-87) When most of us think of “The Jetsons,” flying cars are certainly what spring to mind. And while we are on the cusp of that technology, we elected to discuss a smaller device featured on the show - a watch. Several characters in this retro-futuristic cartoon use watches that can act as 2-way video phones, and have a few other functions too. These days, smartwatches like this are not only common, but they’re also considerably more powerful, essentially acting as mini-computers on our wrists that can do everything the ones on “The Jetsons” can do and more.

“Fahrenheit 451” (1953) Ray Bradbury’s dystopian book “Fahrenheit 451” got a surprising number of details about the future correct. Although firemen don’t go around burning books instead of stopping fires, some of the technology in the book has come to pass. One of the most seemingly minor of these is perhaps the most ubiquitous - earbuds. Bradbury describes characters wearing “seashells” on their ears, which are thimble radios that transfer sound. Unfortunately, Bradbury’s nickname for the technology didn’t stick, and women everywhere missed out on a chance to “sell ‘seashells’ down by the seashore.”

#7: Drones

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“Dune” (1965) Given that “Dune” is set in a universe without complex computers and machines, you’d think that Frank Herbert’s vision of the future would be anything but accurate. And yet, Herbert’s game-changing sci-fi novel hit on a common technology of today - drones. In the story, a spy uses a small, remote-controlled flying machine called a hunter-seeker in an assassination attempt on Paul Atreides. While the film versions typically portray the hunter-seeker as a small, flying needle-like device, real drones are probably closer to Herbert’s ornithopters - although they look significantly less like a dragonfly.

“Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas” (1870) Submarines have existed in some form since at least the 1600s. However, early submarines were powered manually by human hands or heat-based piston engines. And one of the first to herald the idea for our modern conception of submarines was Jules Verne, author of the adventure novel “Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas.” In the book, Captain Nemo’s Nautilus surprisingly resembles submarines today and is powered by electricity. And, sure, Nemo’s visits to Atlantis and other fictitious undersea locales weren’t quite as ahead of their time, but who knows what the future will bring?

#5: Smartphones

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“La Télévision, œil de demain” (1947) Many pieces of media have predicted modern telecommunications devices, but one of the most obscure is probably “La Télévision, œil de demain.” A French documentary short from the 1940s, this film reel imagines what the future of television would look like. People in the documentary can be seen walking the streets with small portable television screens. And while the large antennas aren’t used today, they still look remarkably like smartphones. There are even all-too-familiar sights, like people stopping in the middle of the road because they’re distracted by their screens! And they predicted this in 1947!

#4: Wi-Fi/Wireless Devices

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Nikola Tesla (1909) In many ways, Nikola Tesla was ahead of his time. His inventions may not have brought him financial success, but his ideas were decades or a century ahead of his competitors. Some of his most striking ideas were for wireless transmission. Tesla hit on the ideas that basically have the same principles as modern-day wi-fi in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Although his experiments with transferring power wirelessly proved fruitless, Tesla still managed to make great early strides in the field of wireless transmissions that proved downright prescient of today’s wireless technology.

“The World Set Free” (1914) H. G. Wells is well-known for his science fiction stories, but one of his most accurate ended up being one of his lesser-known works. “The World Set Free” envisions a world ravaged by a “war to end all wars” - and its publication coincided with the beginning of WWI! And the worst part of this terrible final war is its worst weapon - nuclear weapons. Although Wells’ understanding of the effects of nuclear explosions isn’t accurate, envisioning them as bombs that never stop exploding, he does correctly predict that nuclear weapons leave cities devastated for years after they’re destroyed. Whether early nuclear scientists were influenced by Wells is a matter of debate, though.

#2: Artificial Intelligence, Tablet Computers, Video Calls, & More

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“2001: A Space Odyssey” (1968) If there’s one movie that predicted the future the most, it’s “2001: A Space Odyssey.” Although interplanetary travel is still a ways off, as are the bizarre cosmic events, the film still managed to correctly envision several common technologies of today. Characters use a video phone to speak face to face. The astronauts watch TV on devices that look just like tablet computers. While HAL 9000 may be a tad murderous, he’s still essentially what most of the current A.I. is like. And there are still plenty more things the movie got right. Hopefully, we can live up to the potential promise displayed by humanity in the film and bring more of it to life in our own future.

“Star Trek” franchise (1966-) We could have done an entire list of the things “Star Trek” predicted. Oh, wait, we have! Just a few of the things “Trek” was ahead of the curve on include 3D printing with replicators, universal translators, video calls, and tablets. But if we have to narrow it down to just one, “Star Trek”’s prediction of the use of personal computers is arguably the most important. When “Star Trek” debuted in the 1960s, computers were much larger and more impractical than they are now. Their computing power amounted to doing basic math and they were the size of a small room! So, seeing Kirk, Spock, and the Enterprise crew work on computers the size of TVs was “boldly going” to the future.