Friday 5 October 2007

But where are the jet packs?

Here's the reprint of an article written in 1900 for Ladies' Home Journal, predicting what would come to pass in the next hundred years, i.e. the hundred just gone by or so. How accurate were the predictions?

Hits:
Dominance of English
Changes to spelling-by-sound
Cold and warm air piped into homes via "spigots"
No more smoky coal fires

Misses:
Life expectancy extended from 35 years to 50
Pesky insects like skeeters exterminated
Canteloupes big enough to feed a whole family
Electric ships cross from New York to Liverpool in only two days

Lots more fascinating stuff.