What do you think the world will be like 100 years from now? Someone looked at predictions people made in 1924. Here are the highlights, including a few insightful predictions . . . and some that WEREN'T so spot-on.
1. No one would have teeth. (???) A nationally syndicated advice columnist thought America's eating habits could drastically change our looks. Quote, "Will we have any teeth at all? Will there be any color on our face except paint? Will the men have any height to speak of, or will they be all girth?"
2. Horses would go extinct. A professor at USC predicted horses would be an endangered species, because the invention of automobiles would render them useless. Quote, "In another hundred years, you may find horses in zoos. I am sure you will not find them anywhere else."
3. Working from home. In a book called "Wireless Possibilities", a guy basically predicted the Internet. He said we'd be doing most things remotely, and it would be great if you hate cities. Quote, "What a help to the man who objects to a large city! Why could he not conduct his business from his house in comfort?"
4. 75 would seem young. A British politician predicted life expectancy would be "at least 100 years old," and we'd still feel fairly young at 75.
5. World peace. Movie mogul D.W. Griffith predicted moving pictures would help end all wars, because they were a "universal language" that could help us all understand each other. He said by 2024, movies would have played a huge part in, quote, "eliminating from the face of the civilized world ALL armed conflict."
6. Constant war everywhere. The president of the American Chemical Society had a different take. He thought futuristic weapons would mean major cities would constantly be under attack.
7. Women would be in charge, and men would be raising the kids. In a letter to the "New York Daily News", a guy said "women will occupy all the highest positions," and men will just do physical labor, or stay home to, quote, "wait on the babies or mind the pets." (Maybe we are trending that way?)
8. A limit to the number of kids you could have. A Department of Agriculture official predicted we wouldn't have enough food to go around. So births would "have to be limited in some manner" by 2024.
9. Cities would be totally rebuilt around cars. The 1920s were when cars really started taking off. In 1924, a Swedish architect wrote, "In the city of a hundred years from now, I see three-deck roads, speedways through the heart of town, [and] skyscrapers with entrances for automobiles as high as 15 stories."
10. Everyone would be flying to work. A real estate mogul in New York said the airplane was still "in its infancy." But eventually, we'd all be using them. Quote, "It will be the everyday occurrence for the businessman to fly from home to office, and back home again."