13 predictions about the future that came true

iPad predicted in 1968

Of all the predictions of the future made in Stanley Kubrick's masterpiece "Cosmic

And  it's not about lunar colonies or flight attendants in zero gravity, but about a tablet used by astronauts.It's almost identical to today's iPads.

As author Arthur C. Clarke described in his 1968 novel of the same name, such devices were called "newspapers" and could be connected "to an onboard information circuit (for) scanning the latest messages from Earth."Unfortunately , neither Kubrick nor Clark lived to see the release of the iPad in 2010.

Mobile phones - 1909

At the beginning of the 20th century, home telephones were an innovation.and an inventor who worked briefly with Thomas Edison suggested in 1909 that someday humans would  But people won't just make calls.

At the time, he explained to The New York Times, "It will soon be possible to transmit wireless messages around the world so easily that anyone canwear and control your own device."

Credit Cards - 1888

The concept of credit cards was first introduced in Edward Bellamy's 1888 novel Looking Back.As one of the characters explains, each person (in the future) is given a physical punch card, " with which he acquiresIn the shared warehouses that can be found in every community, whatever he wants, whenever he wants.This agreement, as you will see, completely eliminates the need for business transactions of any kind between individuals and consumers."

Moon Landing - 1865

In many works of artit talked about flights to the moon. But Jules Verne's 1865 novel From Earth to the Moon was distinguished by a lot of details. Of course, the general premise was kind of silly - a giant cannon fires a guided projectile into space. However, the author wrote about the weightlessness experienced by the astronauts. In the XlX century Jules Verne could not know about this.

Vern also predicted that on the first lunar missionthree astronauts will go and that the launch pad will be Tampa, Florida (the Apollo 11 mission is launched from the Kennedy Space Center in nearby Orlando).

Organ transplant - 1660

The first major organ transplant took place in1954, but chemist Robert Boyle predicted it 300 years earlier. Boyle, often referred to as the "father of modern chemistry," drew up a "wishlist" for the future. He presented all the achievements that humanity expected in the coming years. Almost all of his predictions came true, including the belief that one day science will be able to cure all diseases by "transplantation".

Of course, we have not yet cured "all" diseases, butorgan transplantation has reduced the number of deaths in some diseases. The fact that he made this prediction in 1660, when the medical world knew so little about how internal organs actually work, is simply incredible.

Internet - 1898

Mark Twain envisioned a future with the internet in his 1898 short story.There, he introduced readers to something called a "teleelectroscope," which used a telephone system to create a worldwide network for the exchange of information.

This innovation, Twain wrote, would make "the day-to-day affairs of the globe visible to all, as well as discussible to witnesses.The next time you use Twitter and YouTube, always remember that the person who wrote The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was the first to think of it.

Streaming TV - 1987

Back in 1987, Omni magazine interviewedpopular film critic Roger Ebert and asked him to predict the future of cinema. It was an ambitious task for someone whose job was to evaluate films.

“We will have high-definition widescreen TVs.clarity and a push-button dialing system to order the right film at the right time, he said. - You won't go to a video store, but instead order a movie on demand and then pay for it. Videotapes as we know them now will be obsolete for both showing pre-recorded films and recording films. "

The greenhouse effect - 1917

Alexander Graham Bell, better known to most people as the inventor of the telephone, made a surprising warning in a 1917 newspaper.The uncontrolled burning of fossil fuels would "have a kind of greenhouse effect," he wrote , and would eventually turnWhat are we going to do, he asked in an article for National Geographic, when all the oil and coal are dry?

His proposals include alcohol as an alternative fuel and devices that would collect solar energy from sunlight and  use it as an energy source.At the time , his ideas didn't get much support, but a century later, global warming has become the center of global debate.

Smart Homes - 1999

Bill Gates wouldn't be one of the richestpeople in the world without bold and risky ideas. Back in 1999, he made a dozen predictions, all of which seemed absurd at the time, but some of them eventually came true. In particular, one prediction seemed particularly unusual even as we approached the new millennium. "Constant video feeds of your home will become commonplace," Gates wrote, "that will inform you when someone comes, when you are not at home."

It may have once seemed like science fiction, but now devices like Nest, Netgear, and Amazon's Ring allow you toNot only monitor your home from afar, but also change the temperature, check the smoke detectors, and even open the door via video chat.

Digital Photography - 1900

John Elfret Watkins, engineer, shared histhoughts with the Ladies Home Journal in 1900 with his thoughts on the vision of the future. Many of his predictions never came true - mosquitoes and house flies did not disappear, but he guessed some with startling accuracy, such as the emergence of digital photography.

"The photographs will reproduce all the colors of nature," he wrote .   If in a hundred years' time in China there will be aThe battle, pictures of its most striking events, will be published in the newspapers in an hour."Cameras around the world will be "electrically connected to screens at opposite ends of circuits spanning thousands of miles."

Wireless headphones - 1953

In Ray Bradbury's 1953 dystopian novel“Fahrenheit 541” has one detail that has become a reality. In Bradbury's book society, they are obsessed with entertainment and need to be constantly distracted by the media. Many of them do this with the help of “little shells” that fill their ears with “an electronic ocean of sound, music and conversation, music and conversation.” They sound just like today's wireless headphones.

Coffee makers, microwave ovens and robotic butlers - 1964

Isaac Asimov, legendary science fiction writer andprofessor of biochemistry, in 1964 shared his thoughts on what the world will look like in 50 years. In an article for The New York Times, he told readers that by 2014, "Gadgets will continue to free humanity from tedious work."

People will be able to cook “automatic meals”ready to eat in a few seconds, and complete lunches and dinners, “with semi-finished products... stored in the freezer until ready to eat.” There will also be devices that can “heat water and turn it into coffee.” Robot butlers, by the way, also already exist.

Two moons of Mars - 1726

More than a hundred years before we knew thatMars has two moons, Phobos and Deimos, Jonathan Swift made an educated guess about the Red Planet. In his 1726 novel Gulliver's Travels, he wrote about "two lesser stars or satellites which revolve around Mars."

What's even more remarkable is that he predicted their exact size and rotational speed. Given that the technology did not yet exist to make the moons of Mars visible, how could Swift know this? 

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