|
Click on the radio and experience the start of my favorite radio series about the future
The Third Millennium is here. Looking backward at the last hundred years, we can only imagine what wonders the next century will bring. In 1887, at the close of that last century, Edward Bellamy, wrote a novel called Looking Backward in which a man of the future describes his world of the year 2000. It was an enmormously popular book, selling over a million copies. In this section we'll look at some of the trends of the past and see what they might tell us about our own future.
While science fiction has often shown us the incredible potentials that the future may bring with amazing clarity, our own experts dont always see the future clearly. Even the brightest men and women, including those who have shaped our world through their innovations, can be wrong -- as witnessed by these preditictions they probably would like to forget.
"Everything that can be invented has been invented."Charles Duell, Commissioner US Patent Office, 1899
"I think there's a world market for maybe five computers."
"This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us."
"Computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons."
"Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible."
"There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home."
"640K ought to be enough for anybody."
So what are the ideas today that are so absurb they can never happen? Cold fusion? Teleportation? Faster-than-light travel? Immortality?