History Literature / WhatMayHappenInTheNextHundredYears

[[quoteright:320:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/apia8cxcv__24541.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:320:Cover of the December 1900 issue, in which the article was published.]]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/apia8cxcv__24541.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Cover of the December 1900 issue, in which the article was published.]]

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This article has been copied around the Internet. Since it is from 1900, it has fallen into the public domain, and may be found among other places [[http://personal.psu.edu/staff/t/w/twa101/whatmayhappen.pdf here]]. Not to be confused with the book [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Next_100_Years:_A_Forecast_for_the_21st_Century The Next 100 Years]], by geopolitical scientist George Friedman, which predicts the ''21st century''.

An article originally published in the ''Ladies' Home Journal'' in 1900 predicting what may happen by the year 2000. Some predictions were surprisingly accurate, managing to predict air conditioning, fast food, and global transmission of news. Some weren't (e.g., hot and cold air are to be supplied via pipes from a central plant, wild animals exist only in zoos). Some were technically correct, but completely missed the mark (opera ''is'' transmitted to private homes, but it's hardly a major form of entertainment, and while [[DeathFromAbove weaponized flying machines]] and [[TankGoodness forts on wheels]] do exist, they're not the airships and ''literal'' forts on wheels the article predicted). And we only wish that we had exterminated mosquitoes and flies.

An article originally published in the ''Ladies' Home Journal'' in 1900 predicting what may happen by the year 2000. Some predictions were surprisingly accurate, managing to predict air conditioning, fast food, and global transmission of news. Some weren't (e.g., hot and cold air are to be supplied via pipes from a central plant, wild animals exist only in zoos). Some were technically correct, but completely missed the mark (opera ''is'' transmitted to private homes, but it's hardly a major form of entertainment, and [[DeathFromAbove weaponized flying machines]] and [[TankGoodness forts on wheels]] do exist, but not in the form of airships and ''literal'' forts on wheels). And we only wish that we had exterminated mosquitoes and flies.

An article originally published in the ''Ladies' Home Journal'' in 1900 predicting what may happen by the year 2000. Some predictions were surprisingly accurate, managing to predict air conditioning, fast food, and global transmission of news. Some weren't (e.g., hot and cold air are to be supplied via pipes from a central plant, wild animals exist only in zoos). Some were technically correct, but completely missed the mark (opera ''is'' transmitted to private homes, but it's hardly a major form of entertainment). And we only wish that we had exterminated mosquitoes and flies.

This article has been copied around the Internet. Since it is from 1900, it has fallen into the public domain, and may be found among other places [[http://personal.psu.edu/staff/t/w/twa101/whatmayhappen.pdf here]]. Not to be confused with the book [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Next_100_Years:_A_Forecast_for_the_21st_Century The Next 100 Years]], by geopolitical scientist George Friedman.

* ExpandedStatesOfAmerica: The article predicts that Mexico, Nicaragua, and many other Central and South American countries would have willingly joined the USA to escape European expansionism. This, naturally, did not happen. On the other hand, the article's low guess on the population of America is pretty close to the reality (350,000,000; actual US population census in 2000 281,421,906).

Tropes include:

This article has been copied around the Internet. Since it is from 1900, it has fallen into the public domain, and may be found among other places [[http://personal.psu.edu/staff/t/w/twa101/whatmayhappen.pdf here]]. Not to be confused with the book [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Next_100_Years:_A_Forecast_for_the_21st_Century The Next 100 Years]], be geopolitical scientist George Friedman.

* ExpandedStatesOfAmerica: The article predicts that Mexico, Nicaragua, and many other Central and South American countries would have willingly joined the USA to escape European expansionism. This, naturally, did not happen. On the other hand, the article's low guess on the population of America is ''very'' close to the reality (350,000,000).

This article has been copied around the Internet. Since it is from 1900, it has fallen into the public domain, and may be found among other places [[http://personal.psu.edu/staff/t/w/twa101/whatmayhappen.pdf here]].

An article originally published in the ''Ladies' Home Journal'' in 1900 predicting what may happen by the year 2000. Some predictions were surprisingly accurate, managing to predict air conditioning, fast food, and global transmission of news. Some weren't (e.g., hot and cold air are to be supplied via pipes from a central plant, wild animals exist only in zoos). Some were technically correct, but missed the mark (opera ''is'' transmitted to private homes, but it's hardly a major form of entertainment). And we only wish that we had exterminated mosquitoes and flies.

* ExpandedStatesOfAmerica: The article predicts that Mexico, Nicaragua, and many other Central and South American countries would have joined the USA to escape European expansionism. This, naturally, did not happen. On the other hand, the article's low guess on the population of America is ''very'' close to the reality (350,000,000).

* ScienceMarchesOn[[invoked]]:
** The article assumes that air travel will be done by dirigibles, and would be rather limited in scope. Airplanes wouldn't be invented for another twenty years after it was written.
** Hydro-electricity is posited to be the primary source of power for all civilization. The article was written before the discovery of nuclear energy, which is much more feasible for providing our power needs than water. While hydro-electricity is used in some locations, these tend to only be where there's a convenient waterfall or dammed river to take advantage of nearby.
** The article assumes that pests like flies and mosquitoes would be exterminated, and that swamplands would be filled in. Since the article's writing, we've learned much about the ecosystem and how much of a role both those things play in it, and exterminating mosquitoes or flies, while maybe ''possible'', is not something today's scientists would seriously consider.

* ScienceMarchesOn:

* {{Zeerust}}: A lot of the predictions are correct in basic idea, but not in how they are actually implemented. For instance, fast food and home delivery are both predicted more or less accurately, but the writer at the time believed they would be delivered via "pneumatic tubes" rather than by car, and that such establishments would use actual dishes, rather than the paper/plastic/cardboard disposables most fast food restaurants provide.

** As a general rule, while the article is mostly spot-on about our technological capabilities, it misses the effects that most of these technologies would have on society as a whole.

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* {{Zeerust}}: A lot of the predictions are correct in basic idea, but not in how they are actually implemented. For instance, fast food and home delivery are both predicted more or less accurately, but the writer at the time believed they would be delivered via "pneumatic tubes" rather than by automobile, and that any dishes used would be returned to the restaurant which provided them.

* {{Zeerust}}