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- tomboy501, on 10/12/2007, -1/+56I like how they correctly predicted that the world would be tied together through a network - remote shopping, business conferences, etc. - long before there was any concept of the Internet. They referenced the only thing they knew at the time: TVs integrated with telephones...pretty close.
Great link, chrisek - evileddie, on 10/12/2007, -0/+39Food made from Sawdust....I just ate a Denny's last night and they got that prediction correct!
- noripcord7, on 10/12/2007, -0/+34"Nobody has yet circumnavigated the moon in a rocket space ship, but the idea is not laughed down."
19 years later... - Namco, on 10/12/2007, -0/+33Hey look, they predicted how retarded the RIAA and MPAA were going to be:
"The only obstacles to accurate prophecy are the vested interests, which may retard progress for economic reasons..." - Roger, on 10/12/2007, -0/+32Not far off with "shopping by picture-phone".
- errer, on 10/12/2007, -1/+30http://duggmirror.com/general_sciences/Miracles_You_ll_See_In_The_Next_Fifty_Years_printed_in_Feb_1950/
- Firemeboy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+28"Cancer is not yet curable in 2000. But physicians optimistically predict that the time is not far off when it will be cured."
Unfortunately this was a fairly accurate prediction, though I suspect 'the cure' is still a ways off. - Shakermaker, on 10/12/2007, -2/+25I think it did a pretty good job of being forward thinking. Missed the mark on some points (as it undoubtably would), but microwave ovens, Nair, solar heating, etc...
- brundlefly76, on 10/12/2007, -0/+23"Discarded rayon underwear are bought by chemical factories to be converted into candy."
GROSS! - subscribtion, on 10/12/2007, -0/+21Which is why you use the mirror. You know, the one posted above you.
- Firemeboy, on 10/12/2007, -1/+17Sawdust tastes better...
- Flashman, on 10/12/2007, -0/+14"My favorite prediction is that used underwear will be recycled into candy."
Yeah, in the innocent 50s they didn't predict that some people like it just the way it is :P - Goner, on 10/12/2007, -0/+14mmmm.. underwear candy. wait, we really have that...
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+14Yeah I saw that... 5000 hp is a ballpark. (But yeah, it's not measured in unit time. It's akin to saying 2 gallons per minute every day)
The sun hits us with about 1370 watts (~2 hp) per square meter. 5000 hp would be in about 1/2 acre. They're probably assuming light half day and dark other half... but that's inaccurate.
But hey, it was 1950. They were too worried about walking uphill both ways without shoes, to calculate the amount of sunlight. - Flashman, on 10/12/2007, -0/+14"There are electrochemical methods of stimulating and reactivating nerves, so that victims of Parkinson’s disease are no longer objects of pity. But these sufferers from damaged or degenerate nerves are somewhat like our diabetics who must take insulin regularly to remain alive. A little battery-driven apparatus must be carried in the pocket to provide the stimulus the nerves need."
That's actually reasonably accurate - subcutaneous pulse generators wired into the patient's brain are now able to mitigate the symptoms of Parkinson's, though the underlying disease is still incurable. - captinherb, on 10/12/2007, -1/+12@tomboy501
And even in 1950 they didn't call it a series of tubes - molecule, on 10/12/2007, -0/+11> My favorite prediction is that used underwear will be recycled into candy.
but like candy, it's available via vending machine in Japan. - tw0bit, on 10/12/2007, -1/+12mmm sawdust food
- Kittenality, on 10/12/2007, -1/+12"Because everything in her home is waterproof, the housewife of 2000 can do her daily cleaning with a hose."
*sigh*
Gawd, if only that were true I'd be one happy camper with the three cats living with us. Sure, they always use their litter boxes, but with their shedding hair and the stuff they track in, it can be a daunting task to keep up with. - ZeAce, on 10/12/2007, -1/+11I love this idea:
Following suggestions made by Zworykin and Von Neumann storms are more or less under control. It is easy enough to spot a budding hurricane in the doldrums off the coast of Africa. Before it has a chance to gather much strength and speed as it travels westward toward Florida, oil is spread over the sea and ignited. There is an updraft. Air from the surrounding region, which includes the developing hurricane, rushes in to fill the void. The rising air condenses so that some of the water in the whirling mass falls as rain. - velkymx, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10I hate when my vacuum tube burns out
- bongo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10Well, we're so far advanced now that you can buy underwear that's edible right from the get-go! No need to take it to factories for recycling, just buy a pair your local novelty store. Yum!
- Dissonance, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10Actually they were dead on with this prediction.
Edible underwear! - Opiate, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10The mirror needs to be recursive.. I'm not complaining but it doesn't help in this case where only the first page is mirrored.
- chrisek, on 10/12/2007, -2/+11@tomboy501
Julius Verne / Stains Lem did it. Human brain has infinite power to create, innovate, and analyize. - elnerdo, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10Have happened:
Fast, expensive supersonic planes.
Circumnagivating the moon
lots and lots of drugs ( chemotherapy )
Haven't happened:
Food from sawdust.
super-insanely big cities
rocket planes for everyday use
helicopters for everybody?!
Sawdust food
Have happened even BETTER than they say:
The internet
Medical things - geuisteses, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9"Haven't happened:
...
super-insanely big cities"
How do you think? Lets see Tokyo, South Florida (Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties are considered by locals to be one mega-urban center), LA, Mexico City, etc. LOTS of big cities. The article even said that the separation between cities will disappear, which is true. - RandomEngy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8Reading this article is so much more fun if you imagine it being read by a 50's style announcer to a black-and-white video of a smiling family in a jetsons-style house.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8 pfft, like they thought in 50 years we could predict weather DAYS, even WEEKS in advanced?? hahaha, yea, whatever
*goes back to cup spindle* - shadydentist, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8"Theoretically, 5000 horsepower in terms of solar heat fall on an acre of the earth’s surface every day."
5000 horsepower per day doesn't make any sense. energy/time squared? Perhaps they meant an average of 5000 horsepower over the course of a day? Or maybe a peak output of 5000 horsepower? - myheaditches, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7Pact with the devil?
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -2/+9I dont see MS Paint anywhere on the list.
No digg. - cortez_a, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7Coral Cache:
http://blog.modernmechanix.com.nyud.net:8080/2006/10/05/miracles-youll-see-in-the-next-fifty-years/?Qwd=./PopularMechanics/2-1950/next_fifty_years&Qif=next_fifty_years_00.jpg&Qiv=thumbs&Qis=XL#qdig - scottc, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6And the oil companies. We're still talking about the "potential" of solar energy 50 years later, without actually using a lot of it.
- emailingRob, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5@Namco
"The date has to be wrong because they keep referring to 1950 in the past tense."
I'm suprised you could type that, what with your knuckle-dragging stupidity.
No, seriously, I love these sorts of speculative articles. At the relativly young age of 19, I have often considered writing my own version of this, so I could uncover it later on in my life. My favourite thing in this article is the idea of 'hosing down' the living room. :) - WDot, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6Wait! You mean people DON'T eat underwear like candy yet?
- myheaditches, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6Yah, they made the mistake of calling it a truck.
- sparkles, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6Oops
- chrisclarke, on 10/12/2007, -1/+55000 hp is a unit of power, energy per unit time. I believe they are simply saying that over an acre of land, the power from the Sun's radiation is 5000 hp. That, my friend, is called irradiance. The "every day" comment I believe is just a generality.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stefan-Boltzmann_law - thedamian9, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6It is interesting that they predicted we would often fly in rocket planes, and yet did not think we could reach the moon. I guess that has shown the power of concentrated government effort versus large scale private enterprise in cold war competition.
- mexter, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4What surprises me is that the oil companies didn't latch onto this idea of pouring oil onto the ocean to control the weather.
- scottc, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Yeah, they missed that one, but think about how fast humans went from not being able to fly at all to landing on the moon. It was astoundingly fast, IMO, so I'm not surprised the authors didn't think it would happen that fast.
- Bamborzled, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4"By 2000, supersonic planes cover a thousand miles an hour, but the consumption of fuel is such that high fares have to be charged. In one of these supersonic planes the Atlantic is crossed in three hours."
Well, they got that right.
"Nobody has yet circumnavigated the moon in a rocket space ship, but the idea is not laughed down."
... then they had to ruin it. - knightblade2oo4, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4do people actually order ***** off of qvc and hsn?
- IronKurton, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3It's all about perception.
When you're growing up, your city seems the norm. I grew up in LA, and didn't realize how big it was until I actually traveled to other places.. I kinda chuckled inside when my friend in Brisbane said: "On this road, we get upwards of 100,000 cars per day" - Amplix, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3You're telling me Senator Stevens wasn't around back then? Just look at him!
I bet everyone thought he was the weirdo when he started talking about tubes filled with entire BOOKS! but in reality he was a genius ahead of his time.
*has a good chuckle* - Negyxo, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Waldemar Kaempffert (September 27, 1877 - 1956)
At least he wasnt alive for that (i guess..) - Namco, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3It seems to me that predictions back then were harder.
Then: Flying Rocket Cars are the future
Now: Video games are going to look really cool
Then: No need for powerlines, solar panel for each house
Now: Hopefully we'll stop using as much gasoline
Then: Order clothes over your television phone box
Now: Use a free online office suite that beats Office 2050 - DSPGeek, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3@brundlefly: Help meeeeee! Help meeeee!
Rayon underwear into candy? Betcha it'd sell in Japan. There's already vending machines selling used schoolgirl panties. - lickmygiggle, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Recycled underwear turned into candy?
Eh, close enough to Soylent Green for me. -
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