Predicting the future is hard. Nobody knows what's going to happen next, and there will always be twists and turns we don't expect. Still, some logic and common sense goes a long way, and some predictions feel wrong before they even have a chance.
Here are 20 predictions of the future, from the past, that are so far off base we just have to laugh.
1
Citroen predicted a flying, driverless car from 1960.
2
Every animal will have a use! Yeah, tell that to my cat.
3
While commendable, Guglielmo Marconi predicted that his invention of the telegraph would bring world peace, because it would “make war ridiculous.” Stated in 1912, he didn’t have to wait long for that one to go haywire.
4
The US Army’s 1959 “Soldier of the Future.” Looks a bit silly if you ask me.
5
This newspaper writer believed that men's legs will wither away from underuse.
6
“Sea cities” by the year 2000 to deal with population growth.
7
Decca A&R rep Mike Smith rejected the Beatles. Decca claimed that "guitar groups are on the way out," and that "the Beatles have no future in show business."
8
This writer predicts “flying” clothing, with suits made from elephants, and more. Shockingly however, he still thinks that feminism will makashion.
9
Pretty accurate, just replace the Segways with massive three row Nissan Armadas and lifted GMC Denalis.
10
An illustrator in 1931 predicted an express ocean liner in the year 2000. Nope, we all fly now.
11
A spherical bubble train, from 1946.
12
Pneumatic tubes to shoot hot meals straight into your kitchen. Pretty close, we just use immigrants on electric bicycles instead.
13
Horses will go extinct, because of the car. Have they stopped working? Mostly yes. But they’re still ALIVE.
14
Blockbuster “laughed us out of the room.” That’s how Blockbuster reacted to Netflix offering itself up for $50 million, according to co-founder Marc Randolph. It’s now a $50 billion company. They reportedly weren’t confident in the business model.
15
This man predicted that Canada’s population would hit 100 million, and they would be the world’s biggest wheat producer. They currently have a population of just over 40 million.
16
A hotel on wheels, in the year 2000.
17
In 1876, Western Union declared that “The 'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us.”
18
New York City will have a population of 30,000e the biggest impact on f,000 without traffic problems in 2024. I don’t think congestion pricing is working THAT well.
19
Float predicting "the shape of things to come" in the 1954 Rose Parade.
20
Unfortunately, world peace was not solved last year, and definitely not by cinema.
21
The vacuum catastrophe is considered "the worst theoretical prediction in the history of physics." The measured values of vacuum energy density and theoretical zero-point energy predictions are off by 100 orders of magnitude. That’s a bigger value than there are atoms in the universe.
