These Predictions Made in 1900 Are Eerily Accurate, But Some Didn’t Come True. See List

Engineer John Elfreth Watkins Jr. made a number of predictions for the future over a century ago. His article published in ‘The Ladies’ Home Journal’ in 1900 listed a list of predictions for the next 100 years. While some came true and were eerily accurate, others were too optimistic and didn’t come true. ‘What may happen in the next hundred years’ guessed at what the world would look like in the year 2000. Here are the predictions made by Mr Watkins Jr in 1900 that came true and those that did not.

Predictions made over 100 years ago that came true or somewhat right:

• Man will see around the world – People would be connected around the world through cameras and screens. And the world is connected with the internet and video calling today.
• Invisible rays of light – The prediction was that, through this method, a physician would be able to see and photograph a living throbbing heart, as well as any other organ. Plus, they would be able to photograph and magnify the image.
• Ready-cooked meals – The article predicted that ready-cooked meals would be available at places similar to the bakeries of the time. It went on to say that, these meals would be prepared in labs instead of kitchens, and chemicals would be used to wash and kill the microbes in the cooking utensils.
• Grand opera will be telephoned to private homes – With live streaming, this is now possible. The article also mentioned automatic instruments and added that “many devices will add to the emotional effect of music.”
• Aerial warships and forts on wheels – Giant guns will shoot at long range. Balloons and flying machines will carry cameras.
• Cars will be cheaper than horses – John Elfreth Watkins Jr. essentially predicted that cars would make horses obsolete, for both farming and daily life.
• Hot and cold air on tap – Turning hot and cold air on in your home just like you would with a tap for water. That air conditioner was predicted back in 1900.
• Telephones around the world will be wireless
• Photographs will reproduce all of nature’s colors – Color photography did take photography to another level.
• Vegetables grown by electricity – “Winter will be turned into summer and night into day by the farmer.” Electricity used in farming is nothing new in our day and age.
• Photographs will be telegraphed from any distance – While photos are not telegraphed, sending a photo from one part of the world to the other has been made possible since the age of the internet.
• Trains will travel at 150 mph and coal would not be used to fuel trains – Japan’s L0 Series, for instance, can travel up to speeds of 375 mph.
• English would become extensively spoken – English is not currently the language with the most speakers in the world, Mandarin is, but it is widely spoken globally.
• Black, blue, and green roses – It might have seemed like a futuristic thing back in 1900, but this is not that hard to achieve nowadays.
• There will be air-ships – These would be used by the military to transport goods and men, and by scientists. These would not compete with cars or vessels.
• Americans will be taller – The prediction was that Americans would grow between one and two inches taller, and life expectancy would rise to 50, instead of 30! Americans’ height has increased around two inches in 100 years, and life expectancy has increased significantly.

Predictions made in 1900 that didn’t come true:

• The letters C, Q, and X would disappear from the alphabet – These would be abandoned because they’d become unnecessary, as spelling by sound would be adopted. He suggested language would become made up of condensed words.
• No mosquitoes or flies – These insects supposedly would all have been exterminated by the year 2000. All water would be treated, so no mosquitoes or flies would be able to breed and proliferate.
• No steel cars in large cities – Traffic would be high above or below ground. Cities would be free from all noises.
• Strawberries as large as apples – While it sounds appealing, this did not become a reality. Though genetically modified fruit might get us there in the future.
• Free university education – Plus free medical care, free meals, books, and clothes for poor students – what still remains a dream for many countries around the world.
• There will be no wild animals – Only those kept enclosed. Rats and mice will have been exterminated. Cattle and sheep will have no horns. Animals will be bred for food purposes only. There are plenty of animals bred for food, there are also many wild animals out there.
• Everybody will walk 10 miles – Exercise would be compulsory in schools and start in nursery. It was also predicted that anyone unable to walk 10 miles would be deemed unfit. Not 100% accurate, but PE classes did become a reality.
• Coal will not be used for heating or cooking – They predicted that coal would be scarce, although they said it wouldn’t completely disappear until the years 2050 to 2300. Water-based electricity was predicted as the future.
• Peas would be as large as beets and sugar cane would produce twice the sugar
• Few drugs will be swallowed – Drugs would be taken through the skin, or carried through an electric current – not completely there yet.
• Store purchases by tube – Packages would be delivered by pneumatic tubes instead of store wagons. We might be skipping this step and moving to drone delivery instead.
• Two days to cross the Atlantic – It would take just two days to go from the US to the UK, thanks to the fast electric ships. These ships would have a mechanism that would allow them to go underwater safely during a storm.
• 500 million people – The prediction was that there would be somewhere between 350 and 500 million people in the United States. A 100 years later, the US had around 285 million, which is significant growth, but not 500 million.
• No foods will be exposed – Liquid-air refrigerators would keep food fresh for longer and those caught selling food exposed to air would be prosecuted.