People who predicted the Future (and pretty accurately, too!)
I love illustration that was created during the 1950’s that depict flying cars and futuristic technologies, reminiscent of the sci-fi boom of the time. Many tried to predict the future to see and prepare the public for the major shifts ahead. Some of them predict the 2000’s as being so far ahead in the future, we cannot help but laugh at the absurdity of it all. There were a few, however, who actually predicted some of the inventions that came way beyond their time. Let’s take a look at some of these claims.
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Nikola Tesla
Tesla was WAY before his time on a lot of matters. His work in electricity spurred visions of free energy sources for the entire world, along with wi-fi and even mobile phones in 1909! that’s nearly 70 years before the invention of wifi. Now if only he could have predicted him falling in love with a pigeon…
Jules Vern
Vern predicted there would be a man on the moon in 1865, more than 100 years before we first took a step on another celestial body. He wrote about it in his science fiction book, which spurred the imaginations of scientists of the time. He even predicted that it would be launched in Florida!
Ray Bradbury
In 1953, Bradbury wrote a science fiction book called “Fahrenheit 451” which described small devices that would be placed in your ear, able to communicate with others far away and used to listen to music. These are the exact description of ear buds, made popular 70 years later by Steve Jobs.
Edward Bellamy
Edward wrote in his science fiction novels about a device that would be used to electronically transfer money for items. Commonly known today as the debit card, for 1888, this was a far vision from the reality of the time. How strange!
Arthur C. Clark
In his futuristic novel “2001: A Space Odyssey” he famously made the predictions of the Ipad. The book explained using a screen as small as a postage stamp enabling the user to expand it as you touch the screen. Truly amazing how accurate that is to touch screens now.
Robert Boyle
And finally, someone who isn’t a sci-fi writer, but an academic, 300 years before the first transplant was every performed, Boyle, the father of modern day chemistry, predicted them. This was in the 1600’s when the thought of such a thing would have you burned at the stake for witchcraft.
This goes to show that sometimes your idea, no matter how insane or far off it may seem to others, sometimes may just take some time for people to wrap their heads around. A lot of the time, it’s not for a lack of human imagination, but rather the limits of our technological advances. Patience! Maybe someday we will get that flying car…