Top 10 Predictions From 1900 That Were Right and Wrong
#10: Live Performance from a Distance
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Right At the turn of the 20th century, thoughts about life in the future were plentiful, from individual predictions to marketing campaigns. German chocolate company Hildebrand’s commissioned this series of postcards, some of which were nonsensical, while others were pretty spot on. One postcard depicted ‘Theater in the year 2000’, and showed a woman performing on a stage in one location and being projected onto a wall with a source of sound in another. Though the audience’s wardrobe is different today, the basic idea is correct. We have multiple means of watching or listening to pretty much anything live from a distance, such as television, radio, and the internet. We left the petticoats behind, however.
#9: Insta-Chickens
Wrong Can’t wait for the proper gestation of your chickens? Why not try this insta-chicken machine! Simply insert the eggs in one end, the machine does…uh…something, and out the other side come chickens! Wow! And wrong, we definitely don’t have this, nor does it seem like a viable idea at all. There is no explanation as to what exactly is happening to the eggs in the steam-powered atrocity, and honestly, we’d rather not know. This is one of a series of cards by French artist Jean-Marc Côté; they were never released, as the company that commissioned them went out of business. They did predict the use of complex machinery in farming on another card though - sans insta-chickens.
#8: Hot & Cold Air from Spigots
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Right John Elfreth Watkins was a mining engineer, railroad clerk, and curator of mechanical technology at the United States National Museum. In December of 1900, he contributed an article to the “Ladies Home Journal” in which he listed his predictions for the dawn of the 21st century. As always, some were right, and others wrong. One thing he got right was the use of spigots, or faucets, to distribute hot or cold air into interior spaces - modern day heating or air conditioning. He also accurately predicted the replacement of horse travel by automobiles, and that by the year 2001, trains would reach speeds of 150 miles per hour.
#7: Construction Machinery
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Mixed Jean-Marc Côté, the artist who gave us “Insta-Chickens”, did have some good ideas. One of the cards depicted the use of complex machinery on a construction site. Though the method on the card is perhaps not quite how it’s done, the use of machinery for heavy lifting in construction projects is very much the norm. However, we still have humans on sites for manual labor, and the architect isn’t usually hands on in the construction process. In fact, this little detail will likely irk the engineers in the audience!
#6: Dishonorable Warfare
Wrong Scottish American industrialist Andrew Carnegie was a strong anti-warfare advocate. In fact, he attempted to bribe Kaiser Wilhelm II to prevent World War I, offering to pay millions for peace, with no success. Carnegie’s prediction for the year 2000 was along these lines - he hoped to see warfare “become the most dishonorable” profession. While subsequent conflicts have opened people’s eyes to the hell of war, and the atrocities that accompany it, we’d have to call this prediction largely inaccurate, both in terms of how many people see warfare and military service.
#5: X-Ray Machines for Police
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Mixed We’d all like to see right through walls at some time or other, but unfortunately only Superman truly gets that privilege. One of Hildebrand’s postcards depicts ‘X-Ray Machines for Policemen’, and shows a cop behind a wall using a machine that allows him to witness the crime taking place behind it. Technically, one could say that this is possible, though through other means - heat signatures or security cameras. But the technology to see directly through walls has yet to be invented, and to be honest, that’s probably a good thing. It would likely pose more of a problem than anything else, as it would undoubtedly end up in the wrong hands.
#4: Reader & Writer Connected
Wrong Naturally enough, the prediction of English poet and author Richard Le Gallienne focused on the relationship between writer and reader. Le Gallienne hoped that “some more direct medium between the mind of the writer and the mind of the reader may be invented by some Edison of the future.” His description of such a device involved the speechless transfer of words from the author’s mind to the reader’s mind. Perhaps this will be achieved in the future using brain–computer interfaces. For now though, it’s just a dream. Arguably, we can more easily visualize stories that other people create though, thanks to TV, film, and video games.
#3: Contraceptives & Society
Right In an article from “Galaxy” magazine’s February 1952 issue, author and aeronautical engineer Robert A. Heinlein wrote his own predictions for the future, and some were quite progressive for his time. Heinlein wrote: “Contraception and control of disease is revising relations between the sexes to an extent that will change our entire social and economic structure.” He took a socio-economic standpoint when considering contraception, which is kind of refreshing for a 1950s point of view. The contraceptive pill was released to the public in May of 1950, and it definitely has since changed societal norms, playing a role in the sexual revolution of the 60s and 70s.
#2: Noiseless, Pollution-less Cities
Wrong In an article published in the Boston Globe on Christmas Eve of 1900, Thomas F. Anderson described his idea of a futuristic Boston. Among other things we don’t have, such as citywide pneumatic tube delivery, Anderson imagined a quiet city, sans pollution. That included noise pollution, something he saw disappearing with the horse and buggy. Well, this prediction was largely inaccurate. We may have gotten rid of some forms of pollution, but we’ve created quite a few others. He did accurately predict that “women will have taken a much more important position in the business and political life” - although it’s certainly been a long climb.
#1: Centenarians Everywhere
Mixed There have, of course, been many changes to the average human life expectancy over the centuries. Though we have made some impressive breakthroughs in science and medicine, speculation in 1900 was perhaps a little optimistic. Russian zoologist, immunologist and Nobel Prize recipient Élie Metchnikoff predicted that in the year 2000, the average life expectancy would be 60 years. This is actually close, as according to the UN, the 2000 average was 66.2 years. However, Metchnikoff also thought “centenarians will be plentiful and hearty along the shady broad streets of the next century.” Though we do have more centenarians than at the turn of the 19th century, we wouldn’t say they’re “plentiful”, and aren’t often seen jauntily strolling the streets.
