People of the Past Predicting the Future

Last night I dreamt that I was in a movie theatre. I don’t remember which movie I went to. The movie that I “saw” was likely a concoction of my mind. The theatre itself felt so distorted, almost as if it were a theatre from the Jetson's cartoon, or 2001 A Space Odyssey. I could feel the sense of being in outer space, despite the fact that there were no windows to alert me of that being the case. It was like I was living in that colourful, hyper futuristic world that we all thought we would be living in by now. 

It makes me think about what people from decades ago thought the world would be like today. I feel like they would be disappointed in our lack of flying cars and teleportation devices. Disappointed in the commodification of social media. Disappointed in the growing oligarch lurking under the guise of a democracy. 

This idea of what people from the past thought the future would be like brought me to this video, that shows children in the 1960s predicting what life would be like by the year 2000. I really wish that the ages of the children were included in the video because they all seem quite well read and articulate. 

One boy predicted that there would be spaceships to the moon. He was correct, as there have been a handful of missions to the moon. Though I wonder whether he was envisioning a more frequent or common kind of space travel. This same boy also foretold that there would be a court composed of robots. An interesting idea, though these robot jurors would be none the wiser than the humans programming them. Another concept that this boy talked about in the video was the funeral of a computer. Though I have not heard about such a formality taking place, I’m sure that one may feel the same sentiment when their computer or cell phone takes a turn for the worse. It is a loss,  though not one too terrible if you have the funds for a replacement. 

One girl suggested that by the year 2000, there would be a cabbage pill to eat for breakfast. She must have had quite the disdain for breakfast. I’m sure that such an invention akin to this idea exists somewhere. It is the last thing that I would want though, as breakfast is my favourite meal of the day. 

Many children throughout the video predicted the destruction of the Earth by the atomic bomb, and warned of the chaos that could ensue as more and more people get their hands on it. Those children were spot on. 

Some more predictions that ring true: the idea of the Earth eventually becoming too hot to sustain life, automation resulting in a loss of work, people being seen as statistics rather than people, and machines doing everything for you. 

If anyone has any insight on this topic, or any related videos in mind, please comment below.