Predictions from the past

Predictions people were making about today 100 and 50 years ago:

1. there would be no more c x and q in the alphabet
2. Digital colour photography
3. The rising height of Americans
4. Mobile phones
5. Pre-prepared meals
6. Television
7. No more cars in large cities
8. No mosquitoes or flies
9. Firefighters will fly around with batwings on
10. We will domesticate whales and use them as transportation
11. We'll be able to control the weather
12. Flying cars will be a thing
13. one worldwide currency
14. Automated bathrooms
15. Our hardworking barbers and salon specialists will be replaced by robots
16. Our education system will become way more high tech
17. We'll communicate via video chatting / Communications will become sight-sound and you will see as well as hear the person you telephone. (FaceTime)
18. 3D television
19. Cancer, the common cold, and tooth decay will all be conquered; the revolutionary new problem in medical research will be to accomplish "regeneration," i.e., to enable a man to grow a new leg, rather than fit him with an artificial limb.
20. people will travel to the moon routinely

        These predictions all seem like a wish list, none of them seem to be  a warning of bad things to come. I guess people from 100 and 50 years ago only thought the world would get better. Some of these predictions have come true such as numbers 2,3, 4, 5, 6, 12(kinda), 14, 16, 17, and 18. Ones that are extremely bizarre and seem out of reach now and forever include numbers 9,10,11,and the regeneration part of number 19. All of the other ones have not come true and seem out of reach for the time being, but could MAYBE be possible in the future with a lot of hard work from the current generation. A trend within these predictions is positivity. Not one of these predictions would be a negative innovation to our world, and people back then seem mostly practical yet hopeful. In general these generations expected a better world to come. 
        Now, what do I think will happen in the future? I think that our generation will succeed a lot technologically. Robots will become way more popular as well as functional, and will replace a lot of jobs. Medicine will also have huge break throughs thanks to the new technology, maybe even cure cancer. I hope for a better world, but I do think things will become better in some places but worse in others. Sure, technology is great for many things but I think we are raising a lazy generation because of it. A lot more people will rely on technology to do our work, and books might even become extinct. I guess we'll see how it goes!




http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-16444966 

https://www.wired.com/2014/05/victorian-postcards-predict-future/

http://www.upworthy.com/11-ridiculous-future-predictions-from-the-1900-worlds-fair-and-3-that-came-true 

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-27069716

http://io9.gizmodo.com/5871053/robert-heinleins-predictions-for-the-year-2000-from-1952