What 1911 futurologists thought 2011 might be like.

[HamburgerBoy]

Vegetables grown by electricity is my favorite. :awe:

 

[SKORPI0]

So was the average lifespan 35 at that point? Seems pretty low for just 100 years ago.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_expectancy

Causes of Death in the Late 19th Century mentioned in the [URL="http://courses.wcupa.edu/jones/his480/riggtown.htm#rod"]Register of Deaths, 1893-1907[/url]

Lots of diseases during those days if not cured early, could result on death. Some of them even unheard of/no cure (treatment)/no medicine to combat with. Also accident and malnutrition. Both of my grandmothers who were born during the turn of that century lived to their 90s.

 

[Kaido]

Vegetables grown by electricity is my favorite. :awe:

My buddy does the plumbing system on a local winter greenhouse that grows vegetables year-round for a local grocery store chain (Stop & Shop). Basically, they have hot water tubes that goes through the roots of the plants in the greenhouse to keep the soil warm during winter. I had no idea food was grown like that

 

[Kaido]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_expectancy

Causes of Death in the Late 19th Century mentioned in the [URL="http://courses.wcupa.edu/jones/his480/riggtown.htm#rod"]Register of Deaths, 1893-1907[/url]

Lots of diseases during those days if not cured early, could result on death. Some of them even unheard of/no cure (treatment)/no medicine to combat with. Also accident and malnutrition. Both of my grandmothers who were born during the turn of that century lived to their 90s.

Nutrition has been a really interesting subject for me for the past few years. Until I got into the Health & Fitness section of this forum, I really had no idea what I was eating - sugar cereal for breakfast, fast food for lunch, Hostess products for snacks, etc. We have the world's cornucopia of healthy foods available (fresh tomatoes, lettuce, and a variety of fruits in the middle of winter at an affordable price, 5 minutes from my house at the grocery store - with plenty of stock!) and I choose to eat crap :biggrin: A few documentaries have really opened my eyes about food (Forks over Knives, Food Inc., Supersize Me, etc.), and yet most Americans live on the typical American diet and live a long time. Somehow nutrition does not correlate to staying alive, because I should probably be malnourished based on the diet I ate most of my life

Somebody's uncle at work died of a heart attack recently, and everyone was sadly commenting how young he was to have died at 72. 72 is young?! Holy cow! When did this become reality?? But yeah, both of my grandmas are still alive and are going into their 90's and are still independent. There was an article last year about a 91-year-old bodybuilder. It's amazing how much progress the world has made in the last 150 years or so, in terms of food, medicine, etc.

 

[lxskllr]

I think they did pretty well with their predictions all things considered. To a rural person, I bet a lot of that sounded like witchcraft, yet here we are :^)

 

[Kaido]

I think they did pretty well with their predictions all things considered. To a rural person, I bet a lot of that sounded like witchcraft, yet here we are :^)

When I hop in my car, my cell phone connects automatically to the onboard Bluetooth and I can call my brother 3,000 miles away and talk to him instant - no lag - through the speakers & mic in my car without having to touch anything. And I can do a dial-by-name through voice commands to my steering wheel (all this on an el-cheapo Kia, no less).

When my wife visits her family, I call her & my kiddo up on Skype...from my cell phone, in real time. It blows my mind sometimes, but we just take it in stride...why of course you can use the videophone!

 

[Sonikku]

California managed it for a while then ideology and greed killed the system.

Story of our life.

 

[T_Yamamoto]

Story of our life.

 

[HeXen]

impressive. i want to see prediction for 2111

 

[IronWing]

impressive. i want to see prediction for 2111

1) Santa buys a houseboat.
2) Last known Baby Boomer killed while jogging.
3) Ted Williams hits home run in first post-resurrection game.
4) Congress extends copyright protection again. Disney releases Duck Tales from the Crypt collection.

 

[sandorski]

Wow. That's an amazingly accurate list. They even managed to predict fast food and cell phones. The only ones that strikes me as really bad are the hot and cold air faucets, the ten miles, and the oranges in Philly. The other things were either right or not at all unreasonable.

Central Heating/Cooling(Air Conditioning). 10 miles is lolzy, but you could grow Oranges in Philadelphia. You can grow them anywhere you want, it just gets not Cost effective.

 

[Train]

The pneumatic tube one kills me lol, why would they make that prediction if they already predicted telephones would be everywhere along with telegraphed photos? One would think that people would just order over some method of manipulating those two predictions. Good list though and thanks for sharing. I really like the "Everyone will walk 10 miles" prediction because one of the things I want to do this year is run a 10 mile marathon lols.

Does not compute

 

[gevorg]

Just hang in there until 2045, after that you'll be immortal.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predictions_made_by_Ray_Kurzweil#The_Singularity_is_Near_.282005.29

 

[zanejohnson]

My buddy does the plumbing system on a local winter greenhouse that grows vegetables year-round for a local grocery store chain (Stop & Shop). Basically, they have hot water tubes that goes through the roots of the plants in the greenhouse to keep the soil warm during winter. I had no idea food was grown like that

It talks about farmers simulating seasons...we do this now...different frequency lights and automated pjototeriod is just that...this is what lets the plants know when to produce there fruit...we can also simulation soil...nutrients on timers and a delivery system and a medium for the roots to to inhabit ...actually the Mayans. Did this too..its called hydroponics

 

[Saint Nick]

I heard this on NPR the other day. LOL!