THINGS TO COME
Retrofuturistic Predictions: 10 Vintage Ideas That Eventually Came True
Published on September 2, 2024
Credit: Museums Victoria
Humans love to predict the future. The ability to imagine other possible worlds is probably what makes us human. None of the things we have been able to create throughout history, from pyramids to airplanes, would have been possible without first imagining them. During the 20th century, as the turn of the millennium approached, scientists, writers, and illustrators imagined technological innovations that, if they seemed outlandish at the time, were proven right years later. In this article, we have compiled 10 scientific prophecies that have come true.
Artificial satellites
Credit: SpaceX
British writer and scientist Arthur C. Clarke not only fascinated the world with his science fiction stories but also anticipated with remarkable accuracy some of the most relevant technological advances in history. In October 1945, Clarke published an article exploring the possibility of using artificial satellites as communication stations.
Clarke predicted that one day communications would be carried by a network of three satellites placed at fixed intervals around the Earth's equator. Two decades later, NASA launched one of the first such satellites. Syncom 3 was used to relay images of the 1964 Olympic Games from Tokyo to the United States, providing the first television transmission across the Pacific Ocean.
The Internet
Credit: JJ Ying
Today we couldn’t conceive our lives without the Internet. It allows us to communicate with our loved ones over long distances, learn the news as soon as it happens, and it provide us with entertainment at all hours. Many have claimed to have predicted this invention, however, the one who came closest to describing what we know today as the Internet was Serbian American engineer and inventor Nikola Tesla.
In a 1909 interview with The New York Times, he described it almost perfectly. Although the Internet would not be invented until a few decades later, Tesla told the newspaper that in the future people would be able to listen, broadcast, and share speeches, songs, and images to the most remote parts of the planet through inexpensive devices operated from a single station. Pretty accurate, don’t you think?
Smartwatches
Credit: Luke Chesser
The first smartwatch, as we know it today, was launched in 2004, and it wasn't until 2015 that Apple CEO Tim Cook introduced the Apple Watch. However, this device already existed in the minds of people who imagined an interconnected future as early as the 1940s.
In January 1946, the popular comic strip about police detective Dick Tracy first featured the Two-Way Wrist Radio. The newspaper comic series featured Tracy talking through his watch, a concept that was totally revolutionary at the time. The device became an icon of the comic strip and is said it later inspired American engineer Martin Cooper in the development of the mobile phone.
Video Calls
Credit: Vanessa Garcia
Between 1899 and 1910, a series of French postcards called "In the year 2000" —generally attributed to an artist named Jean-Marc Côté— attempted to portray what he imagined life might be like in the 21st century.
One of the most accurate predictions was the Cinéma-Phono-Télégraphique, a device very similar to what we know today as video calls. In this illustration, we see the image of a woman projected on a screen while the caller speaks to a receiver.
Throughout the rest of the century, there were several attempts to develop this technology. For example, in 1957, the Hughes company announced the Tonotron, which allowed calls to be made through a sort of television set. In the end, the Tonotron was not commercialized, yet retrofuturism was right in predicting systems such as FaceTime which are now essential to our daily lives.
Flying Mail
Credit: Goh Rhy Yan
Many of the predictions portrayed in the French postcard series depict various forms of air transportation, most likely influenced by the technological developments that were taking place in the early 20th century. From flying policemen and firemen to air tennis and air hunting, many of these inventions have yet to become a reality, but what is close to happening is flying mail.
Well, to be fair, we're not going to see mailmen delivering letters while mounted on some sort of personal flying saddle reminiscent of the Wright Brothers' early airbikes. However, even though today handwritten letters are almost a thing of the past, we are already starting to see the first autonomous drones delivering packages right up to our doorsteps.
Automatic Brooms
Credit: Onur Binay
Like flying vehicles, automation is a cornerstone of futurism. Today we have robots that vacuum and scrub our homes and it seems like the most normal thing in the world. But, back in the early 1900s, some masterminds had already envisioned that before the end of the century, we would see electric and almost automatic brooms. These cleaning devices, however, would still depend on a person to give them directions and tell them where they had to clean.
Luckily, technology has surpassed the wildest fantasies of these retro-futurists, and now we can let our trusty vacuum robots do the dirty work while we go out for a walk. Though to be honest, it wouldn't be a bad thing to have a Rosie the Robot who not only cleaned but also talked to us in a Brooklyn accent!
Virtual Reality Headsets
Credit: Michelangelo Buonarroti
In 1989, Back to the Future (Part II) showed the world an amazingly accurate version of a VR headset, worn by none other than Marty McFly. Today, virtual reality glasses are becoming increasingly popular and are here to stay. But did you know that different authors had already conceived of this idea in the early 20th century?
For example, Pygmalion's Spectacles is a science fiction short story by American author Stanley G. Weinbaum published in 1935. In it, a professor invents a pair of goggles that display a film that can be seen, heard, smelled, touched, and tasted. Not only that, the user becomes part of the story and is no longer a mere spectator. It may not sound like it, but this is not something for a promotional video of Mark Zuckerberg's Metaverse; it is a tale imagined 90 years ago.
Remote Education
Credit: Gabriel Benois
In December 1960, Arthur Radebaugh, a famous American futurist illustrator, published his vision of what the classrooms of the future would look like. Teachers would no longer have to attend schools and would impart classes to several groups at the same time from a distant location. Each student would have a device with a camera, screen, and keyboard available to participate and ask questions.
Sixty-five years ago these predictions might have sounded far-fetched; however, remote classes through applications such as Zoom have become a reality, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic. Today this is a key resource that allows students to receive education even if they are in distant and remote parts of the world.
Solar Homes
Credit: Daniele La Rosa Messina
"Don't be surprised if many of tomorrow's homes are built on turntables. They would slowly pivot all day long to receive maximum benefit from health-giving sun rays and ensure heat in winter," reads another Radebaugh illustration published in 1959 in Toronto's The Star Weekly.
While the prediction of rotating houses has not come true, the cartoonist correctly anticipated the idea that homes would begin to harvest solar energy. Today many houses have solar panels installed on the roof providing electricity in a more sustainable way.
Personal TV
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In 1938, a few years before the first television broadcast, the British company Gramophone Co. announced its "Television Monocle", an individual device that would allow personal, uninterrupted television viewing. The device projected a 1.5 x 1-inch image from a cathode ray tube, which the viewer could see thanks to two mirrors placed inside at 45 degrees.
Although this invention did not prosper, we can consider it an ancestor of one of the many uses we nowadays give to our smartphones. Who hasn't streamed a film or a video on their phone to kill time during a long trip? We have retro-futurists to thank!
