In years to come people will look back on our current technology and our visions of the future (which, tellingly, have become progressively more dystopian) and laugh. Hopefully. The other alternative is that our predictions will be proven right and we’ll be living in the gray, post-apocalyptic wasteland foretold by innumerable movies and video games.
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But right at this moment we can live in relative bliss, and laugh at the predictions made by previous generations in regards to what society would look in their future and our present. Some of these illustrations are oddly prophetic, while others are way off the mark, but they all offer a fascinating look into how the future of the Earth has been perceived over the years.
Take a look in the gallery below:
Credit is due to the subreddit RetroFuturism for these images. If you’re interested in more futuristic visions from eras past, check it out here.
15 Incredible Predictions for the Future Made by People from the Past
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Force-Feeding Books (1899)
We're not sure how commercial artist Jean-Marc Côté thought this would work, but his vision of the future in terms of schooling involved books being ground up and then being fed into the minds of children. It's a little terrifying, but it's not too dissimilar from audiobooks, minus the books being shredded.
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The Home of the Future (1969)
This illustration by Syd Mead is a pretty luxurious look at what he predicted the home of the future would look like.
It turns out that it'd be made almost entirely out of steel, and would boast an oddly-shaped metallic car parked in its driveway and would be inhabited by a woman who wouldn't look out of place in the music video for Queen's 'I Want to Break Free.'
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A World of Segways
We now know that the Segway is a stupid vehicle that no one wants, but this old illustration depicts a world in which everyone owns a similar vehicle that's enclosed in a glass shell, presumably to prevent right-minded people from throwing rotten fruit at them and telling them they look like idiots.
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Space Settlement (1976)
The O'Neill cylinder was a space settlement proposed by American physicist Gerard K. O'Neill that would be built using material from the Moon and surrounding asteroids, complete with artificial gravity, mirrors that reflect sunlight into the settlement and an atmosphere roughly similar to that of the Earth's.
Meanwhile, we haven't colonized Mars yet. Hurry up NASA!
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Flying Saucers as Public Transportation
One of the more outlandish predictions was that flying saucers would become a new method of public transportation, potentially overtaking buses as the most popular method of travel for those not travelling by car. Needless to say, it's now 2015 and we're still stuck with boring old airplanes.
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Japanese Astro-Combat Suit (1930s)
We're not really sure how effective this combat suit would be in battle, with it being a weird mixture of futuristic tech and the armor of an English knight, but the combination of both a machine gun and what appears to be a rocket launcher would certainly cause damage (though the latter weapon would likely harm the individual who was wearing it more than their enemies, given that its strapped to their back).
What is particularly notable about this design, though, is the set of skis attached to the front of the suit, which probably seemed great in theory but in reality would leave the soldier sliding along the floor if he stumbled to the ground mid-battle.
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Police Automatons (1924)
A concept that would increase police presence and protect the safety of officers, this authoritative automaton, or any variation of it, has yet to be seen in any police force around the world, with the world still reliant upon the judgement of humans to protect us.
With the illustration highlighting how the automaton would be controlled remotely by car and, among other things, it would have a tin of tear gas hidden in its pelvis, it seems the predicted use for this robot would be to disperse crowds in the event of a riot. Thankfully, this idea has never seen the light of day.
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Portable Telephones (1930s)
While they're a lot more unwieldy than the super-slim smartphones we all use today, this prediction of portable telephones certainly isn't too far off the mark considering it was made in the early 20th century.
Featuring two women talking to their friends/families whilst the images of those they're in conversation with are beamed to them on a small, circular screen, this drawing is similar to the Facechat/Skype calls we enjoy today, only more awkward looking. Also, bonus points to the illustrator for depicting these two individuals sitting opposite one another, yet being more concerned with looking at their portable telephones. Now that's accurate.
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The Future as Depicted by a North Korean
This one's a little less humorous and a lot more upsetting. This design was penned relatively recently by a North Korean architect who had never left the isolated country, and that it doesn't look out of place among the other designs in this list designed around a century ago speaks volumes of the conditions the Hermit Kingdom is forced to live within, and how far behind they are compared to the outside world they're forbidden from experiencing.
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The Pre-Kindle (1930s)
Prior to Amazon negating our need for physical books with the Kindle, an artist in the 1930s sketched this precursor to the ebook reader that was essentially the same concept, only much, much less portable. While the Kindle has its uses due to it being able to store an entire library in one lightweight device, this just seems like a more complicated way to read a book than manually flicking through the pages yourself.
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Apple's Tablet Concept (1980s)
This Apple concept for a tablet before tablets even existed shows how the company was always thinking ahead of the curve, even before they become the ultra-popular behemoth they are today.
Yes, it looks unsightly with its pastel colors and chunky design, but the small screen accompanied by an attached keyboard are early signs of a look towards portable computing such as the iPad and Macbook.
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The Future Computer (1981)
This early '80s front cover of Byte magazine predicts that the future of computing could be housed on the user's wrist, complete with the world's tiniest keyboard.
While we now have the Apple Watch, it's more of a superfluous addition to the desktops, laptops, smartphones and tablets we use more frequently, rather than a decide that could successfully eradicate your need for other computing technology.
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Home Studying
This illustration depicts a professor conveying his lesson to students whilst they sit at home, sort of like video calling only without the professor being able to see his students. Considering that colleges still require students to turn up to their lectures, we're sure that there are plenty of students who'd rather this teaching method be employed so they could stay in bed all day nursing a hangover whilst not failing their degree.
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Land-Based Aircraft Carrier
Stan Mott's concept for a land-based aircraft carrier for the improbably wealthy is a gorgeous design, if quite improbable. Also, are those sharks in the water? What would be the need for sharks to be there? Surely that would just add more problems?
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The Watch-O-Phone (1981)
This amateur concept for a "phone of the future" from 1981 is basically a smartwatch, and with its rectangular design, it even looks a little like the Apple Watch (albeit with an unreasonably small keypad, given that the earliest touchscreen computer wouldn't be released until two years later.) If only this designer knew how much money would be in the wearable game back then, they might have spent more time making this watch's crusty old band look little more stylish... perhaps golden?
