It is always fun to look at predictions for a particular past year, especially when they were made a long time ago. What year could have been more fascinating to people than the year 2000? It seemed to hold some sort of mystical power over some people who believed that this year was very special. We have to remember that the end of a millennium always had a special meaning to people. They were right in one way, remember all the trouble computers had with it? Some computers only used the last two digits of a year and when the year 2000 came, it registered as 00, causing all kinds of computer havoc. Predictions and prophecies have been going on since there were people on the earth. Some were written in such a way that they could mean anything, others were more specific and sometimes some of them were more or less on the money. I guess if you make enough guesses, you are bound to get something right.

The ladies Home Journal was a very respected magazine over a hundred years ago, with over 1,000,000 readers and in its December, 1900 issue, it published a list of predictions for the year 2000. Lets take a look at some of them:

They predicted that the U.S. population would be somewhere between 350,000,000 to 500,000,000 people. While they were closer on the low end, this was still pretty good. Unfortunately this was the only close part of this prediction, becase they had also predicted that Nicaragua will become part of the U.S. union. I find this prediction very strange and I guess we would have to go back to that time and examine relations with the U.S. and that country. The prediction went on to say that Europe, in seeking more territory, would cause many South American and Central American countries to also join this union, along with Mexico.

They went on to say that good healthy food will cause people in the U.S. to grow two inches taller on average and increase our life span from 35 years to 50 years. Well they had the right idea, but were off a little. The average height increased about 4 inches and the life span went to 77.8 years in 2005. This prediction did go on to say that people would live in the suburbs. That was a good guess. Here is where they went way off. They said that the trip from the home to the office will take only a few minutes and cost a penny. Yeah, tell that to the people that ride trains like the Long Island Railroad and not only pay hundreds of dollars a month for the privilege, but are also frequently on the train for more than an hour in good times.

Apparently the magazine thought that street traffic was on the way out, because they predicted that all traffic would either be below ground, or high above in large cities. They were referring to street cars. There had already been a subway tunnel built in New York City by that time (around 1840) and this must have caught their imagination. Most people don't even know about this tunnel. They also predicted that escalators and moving sidewalks would ferry the people to the high rail lines. They went on to say that trains would achieve the speed of 2 miles per minute or 120 miles per hour. We should have, but we didn't in this country, however trains in some places travel a lot faster than that. They were right when they predicted that the trains would be air conditioned.

They talked about how the automobile was going to replace the horse and become cheaper and that everyone would have one. I don't know about the cheaper than the horse part, but they really nailed this one.

Here are their words on this prediction, “There will be air-ships, but they will not successfully compete with surface cars and water vessels for passenger or freight traffic. They will be maintained as deadly war-vessels by all military nations. Some will transport men and goods. Others will be used by scientists making observations at great heights above the earth.” I guess it was just too hard to imagine that something like an airplane could ever become the backbone of the travel industry as it is today. No one had flown one successfully yet and even if there were models around, they looked too fragile to ever compete with trains and ships. They also predicted forts on wheels and great guns that could shoot over 25 miles. They predicted that the forts on wheels would be used in charges such as the cavalry made. They were certainly right on this one. Great tank battles took place in World War II and later. They also talked about bombs being dropped from great airships, again right on the money. I think that their idea of flight was some sort of balloon type vehicle.

I am impressed by their prediction on communications. They stated that photographs will be sent from any distance and they would be published within an hour of the actual event. They went on to say that they would contain nature's colors. Edison had already been making silent movies by this time and their next prediction seems to have been based on this fact. They stated that audiences would be able to hear sounds from around the world and hear actors talking as their lips moved. They reasoned that people would be sitting in a large hall and when the curtains were pulled back a screen would be visible that this could be shown on. I wonder if they would have believed that this could cost around ten dollars for a couple of hour's entertainment? This was quite a sum of money in 1900.

They predicted that the insect problem would be a thing of the past and that there would be no more mosquitoes or flies and that even the common roach will be gone. Boy did they underestimate the staying power of these creatures. As it turns out, the roach will probably be around long after man has left this earth. They also predicted that we would be able to increase the size of some of our crops. They predicted that we would be growing strawberries as big as apples, along with huge raspberries and blackberries. Another prediction stated that it will be against the law to have exposed foods in a store.

Here is a great prediction, “Telephones Around the World. Wireless telephone and telegraph circuits will span the world. A husband in the middle of the Atlantic will be able to converse with his wife sitting in her boudoir in Chicago. We will be able to telephone to China quite as readily as we now talk from New York to Brooklyn. By an automatic signal they will connect with any circuit in their locality without the intervention of a “hello girl”. I don't know what “hello girl” meant, but I assume that was the way one might have contacted an operator.

The magazine predicted that we would be using water power to create electricity. Yes even then it was known that this was a very efficient way to create electricity and a way that didn't pollute.

They predicted the selling of cooked meats (cold cuts). They had the idea that these meats could be delivered by pneumatic tubes or automobiles. One prediction that seemed to be ahead of itself was the one that said that medicine would be applied to the skin. As we all know, this is the newest type of delivery system for drugs. They also predicted that all wild animals would be gone except for those in zoos.

Lastly, they predicted that we would be able to get to England in two days using fast electric ships. What do you think they would have said if we told them we could do it in seven hours?

It is always interesting to see what past people thought the future would bring. As we advance further along the technological path, it becomes harder to predict the future because our progress increases faster and faster. It is too hard to imagine where we might be in another hundred years. One thing is for sure, if we don't destroy ourselves, the world will be a marvelous place in another hundred years and we, the people of today, might not recognize it.