Jetpacks, disintegrator rays, nuclear energy, Mars.Decades ago, academics, futurists and government agencies cast their predictions of what would happen by the year 2020. Will submarines reach historic depths? Who will lead future nations, and which ones will be global superpowers? Will Planet Earth even exist as we known it?.
"I
shall not be surprised if on my 92nd birthday I am able to go for a ride in an
antigravity car," mathematician and scientist D.G. Brennan wrote in 1968.
Some,
like Brennan, were overly optimistic. Others were spot-on. Here's what happened,
what didn't and what was just plain crazy.
1. Life
expectancy will rise to over 100
Futurist
Ray Kurzweil predicted in 1999 that human life expectancy would rise to
"over one hundred" by 2019.
"Computerized
health monitors built into watches, jewelry, and clothing which diagnose both
acute and chronic health conditions are widely used. In addition to diagnosis,
these monitors provide a range of remedial recommendations and
interventions," he wrote in "The Age of Spiritual Machines."
Nope:
While Kurzweil may have accurately predicted health-related gadgets (such as
fitness watches, BioScarves and EKG apps for your smartphone), he jumped the
gun on life expectancy.
In 2019,
the average life expectancy of the global population was 72.6 years, according
to the United Nations. That average is slightly higher in the U.S., at 78.6
years in 2017, according to a report in the Journal of the American Medical
Association.
While
life expectancy in many industrialized nations continues to inch up, it has been
going in the opposite direction in America. The U.N. predicts the average
global life expectancy to rise to 77.1 years by 2050.
Life
expectancy: What countries have the longest?
2.
Computers will be invisible
Kurzweil
had several other prophecies for the year 2019, including invisible computers.
"Computers
are now largely invisible. They are embedded everywhere — in walls, tables,
chairs, desks, clothing jewelry and bodies. People routinely use
three-dimensional displays built into their glasses or contact lenses. ... This
display technology projects images directly into the human retina."
Keyboards
and cables would also become rare, he said.
It's
true — Computers are embedded everywhere these days. We have smart homes, smart
tables, smart chairs, smart desks and more. While we may not project images
directly into our retinas, Google Glass comes pretty close.
(Per
Kurzweil's previous prediction, scientists are also developing smart contact
lenses capable of monitoring the physiological information of the eye and tear
fluid and could provide "real-time, noninvasive medical diagnostics."
Several groups are testing smart lenses that would measure glucose levels in
the tears of people with diabetes.)
3. Books
will be dead
"Papers
books and documents are rarely used or accessed. Most twentieth-century paper
documents of interest have been scanned and are available through the wireless
network," Kurzweil predicted.
Wrong.
While the net revenue of the U.S. book publishing industry has been decreasing
since 2014, the industry still sold 675 million print books and brought in
nearly $26 billion in 2018, according to the Association of American Publishers
annual report.
4. Your
every move will be tracked
Kurzweil
predicted that privacy would be a huge political and social issue and that
"each individual’s practically every move (will be) stored in a database
somewhere."
True,
most say. Your TV watches you. Your smartphone follows you. Your web browser
traces your digital trail. In an era when some populations worldwide are living
under 24/7 high-tech surveillance, most U.S. adults now say they do not think
it is possible to go through daily life without having data collected about
them by companies or the government, according to a new survey of U.S. adults
by Pew Research Center.
More
than 80% say that the potential risks they face because of data collection by
companies outweigh the benefits.
5.
World's population will reach 8 billion
In 1994,
the International Food Policy Research Institute projected the world population
would increase by 2.5 billion to reach 8 billion by 2020. India, Pakistan,
Bangladesh and the continent of Africa would add another 1.5 billion people,
the institute predicted.
Close,
but no cigar: The world's population is 7.7 billion, according to a June report
from the United Nations. The report expects the population to grow by another 2
billion in the next 30 years. Around 2027, India is projected to overtake China
as the world’s most populous country, the report says.
6. China
will be the world's largest economy
Speaking
of China... in a 1997 article "The Long Boom," futurists Peter
Schwartz and Peter Leyden thought China would be on top:
"By
2020, the Chinese economy has grown to be the largest in the world. Though the
U.S. economy is more technologically sophisticated, and its population more
affluent, China and the United States are basically on a par," they said.
Close.
In 2019, China was still trailing the U.S. as the world's second largest
economy, by nominal GDP. Recent reports, however, predict that China and India
will overtake the U.S. by 2030.
7. We'll
have self-driving cars
"Self
driving cars are being experimented with in the late 1990s, with implementation
on majors highways feasible during the first decade of the twenty-first
century," Kurzweil wrote.
Kind of.
Dozens of companies — including Tesla, Google spinoff Waymo and ridesharing
giants Uber and Lyft — are still testing self-driving vehicles in select
locations, such as Boston, Las Vegas, Phoenix and Columbus, Ohio.
Widespread
use of a truly autonomous vehicle, however, is not yet here: Experts say it
might still be decades before we see a car that can drive anywhere it pleases.
Self-driving
shuttle: Why a Rhode Island police officer pulled it over
In
April, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said the company would have fully self-driving cars
ready by the end of the year and a "robotaxi" version — one that can
ferry passengers without anyone behind the wheel — ready for the streets next
year. Tesla owners can already "summon" their cars, which can drive
themselves from parking spots to the curb, where the owner is standing.
What
about flying cars? Porsche and Boeing are partnering up to create "premium
urban air mobility vehicles," and Uber plans to launch a flying taxi
service in 2023.
(Planes,
meanwhile, are landing themselves.)
8. It
will be normal to retire at 70
In his
1994 book "The World in 2020," British commentator and editor Hamish
McRae foresaw retirement ages reaching 67 to 70.
"The
main motive for this in Europe is cost to the state. Governments feel that if
retirement ages are not raised, the burden of paying pensions will be so high
that working people will not be prepared to pay the tax levels necessary to
fund them," McRae wrote.
No: In
the U.S., the average retirement age in 2016 was 65 for men and 63 for women,
according to the Center for Retirement Research. That number has stayed
relatively stagnant for men over the last few decades but has increased for
women. For full Social Security benefits, however, the age is slowly climbing
and depends on the year that you were born.
Some
European countries set 67 as retirement age, the earliest age when citizens can
start withdrawing pensions, and several plan to raise the age in the next few
years, according to the Finnish Center for Pensions. For many Europeans, the
topic is a matter of fierce debate.
9.
Americans will vote electronically from home
As the
millennial generation comes of age, they'll be able to vote electronically from
home, Schwartz and Leyden predicted — possibly as soon as the presidential
election of 2008.
Not yet.
Amid fears of foreign interference in U.S. elections, lawmakers aren't about to
let you vote in next year's presidential election on your iPhone. Proponents of
online voting, however, say it could improve turnout and prevent voter
suppression at polling stations.
Start-ups
are developing solutions for online voting, such as the Voatz mobile voting
platform, which has used biometric/facial recognition in at least four public
election pilots in the U.S. Last year, West Virginia began using Voatz for
absentee voting for military personnel stationed overseas. In one Utah county,
citizens with a disability were able to vote electronically on their
smartphones in a 2019 municipal general election.
10.
China will be on a path to democracy
Schwartz
and Leyden predicted that, despite taking "draconian measures" to
avoid an internal crisis in the first decade of the new century, China "is
generally acknowledged to be on a path toward more democratic politics — though
not in the image of the West."
Not
really. In 2019, China faces increasing scrutiny for human rights abuses
against pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong and against nearly 1 million
Uighurs, a predominantly Muslim population who have been arbitrarily detained
and imprisoned in "re-education" camps in China's Xinjiang
region.
11.
We'll have 'personal companions'
In his
1999 book "Business @ the Speed of Thought," Bill Gates predicted
personal devices that "connect and sync all your devices in a smart way,
whether they are at home or in the office, and allow them to exchange
data."
"The
device will check your email or notifications, and present the information that
you need. When you go to the store, you can tell it what recipes you want to
prepare, and it will generate a list of ingredients that you need to pick up.
It will inform all the devices that you use of your purchases and schedule,
allowing them to automatically adjust to what you're doing," Gates wrote.
Hey,
Alexa: Add milk to my shopping list.
While
Alexa isn't sorting through your emails (that we know of) and your smart
thermostat isn't tracking your purchases, Gates isn't far off. Siri, Google
Assistant, Amazon Alexa and an array of smart tech in the Internet of Things
now readily exchange data with your other devices and respond to commands.
12. Cars
will be able to go months without refueling
Schwartz
and Leyden also predicted that, by 2010, "hydrogen would be processed in
refinery-like plants and loaded onto cars that can go thousands of miles — and
many months — before refueling."
By 2020,
they said, almost all new cars would be hybrid vehicles, mostly using hydrogen
power.
What's
the future of the auto industry? Hydrogen cars appear to give way to electric
Not yet.
Toyota and Honda are leading the hydrogen-powered car market, but it's an
uphill battle against competitors peddling battery-powered electric vehicles.
In 2018, 2,300 hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles were sold in the U.S. — less than 1%
of the number of electric cars sold, according to InsideEVs, which covers
electric vehicle news.
In other
green transportation news: Last year, European railway manufacturer Alstom
launched the world’s first hydrogen fuel cell train, and, next year, London is
expected to roll out double-decker hydrogen-powered buses.
13.
Heart disease, depression will be world's top diseases
In 1996,
the Harvard School of Public Health and the World Health Organization predicted
that, by 2020, the world's top two causes of the global burden of disease — a
measurement of the number of healthy life years lost due to sickness,
disability or early death — were expected to be ischemic (coronary) heart
disease and unipolar major (clinical) depression.
At the
time, the leading causes were lower respiratory infections (like pneumonia) and
diarrheal diseases, the study said.
Close:
In 2017, the most recent year that the data set was published, coronary heart
disease was the second leading cause of the global burden of disease, not
depression.
The five
leading causes were neonatal disorders, ischemic heart disease, stroke, lower
respiratory infections and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
14.
Global surface temperature will increase
(Climate
predictions tend to have a longer range, but here's a snapshot of where 2020
stands.)
A 1995
report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicted that the
average global surface temperature could increase by about 3.6 degrees
Fahrenheit (2 degrees Celsius) by 2100 (or anywhere between an increase of 1
degrees Celsius to 3.5 degrees Celsius, depending on global emissions).
The
report also predicted that sea level could increase by about 20 inches by the
same year.
On
track: With 80 years still to go, both predictions appear possible. The global
average temperature has risen a tad more than a 1 degree Fahrenheit (about 0.6
degrees Celsius) since the mid-90s, according to NOAA. And since 1992, the
global sea level has risen a total of more than 3 inches, according to NOAA.
15.
Humans will step foot on Mars
A 1996
report by the Space Studies Board of the National Research Council said that
NASA would launch "possible human exploratory missions to the moon and
Mars within the next quarter century," predicting that humans would land
on Mars by 2018.
Schwartz
and Leyden envision a similar scenario: "In 2020, humans arrive on Mars
... The four astronauts touch down and beam their images back to the 11 billion
people sharing in the moment. The expedition is a joint effort supported by
virtually all nations on the planet, the culmination of a decade and a half of
intense focus on a common goal."
Not
quite: While we haven't set foot on Mars, we've landed eight unmanned
spacecraft on the planet's surface.
16.
Boris Johnson would lead Brexit
In 1997,
British news organization The Independent forecast that in 2020 Boris Johnson
would become a member of the Cabinet of the United Kingdom, a decision-making
body composed of the Prime Minister and a team of hand-picked Members of
Parliament.
At the
time, Johnson, 32, was known as an outspoken editor and columnist but had not
held public office. "Not shy in clashing with party lines, Boris would
'renegotiate EU membership so Britain stands to Europe as Canada, not Texas,
stands to the USA,'" the journalists wrote.
Pretty
close: Have you heard of Brexit? Johnson became Prime Minister in July 2019. He
first served in the Cabinet starting in 2016 as foreign secretary under Theresa
May. In December, Johnson led his Conservative Party to victory in a national
election on the promise to "get Brexit done."
17.
Antigravity belts will revolutionize warfare
Imagine
a world where battles are fought just a few feet above the ground, as soldiers
hover in mid-air. In 1968, mathematician and scientist D.G. Brennan predicted
that antigravity belts would "revolutionize the tactics of land
warfare," writing that "even if the antigravity mechanism did not
itself provide horizontal propulsion, relatively modest sources of thrust could
easily be provided."
He also
suspected that, by 2018, humans would have antigravity cars and jetpacks
capable of operating for 30 minutes.
No.
(Unless you're Luke Skywalker or Buzz Lightyear.)
18.
Nuclear will replace natural gas
In 1968,
Stanford University professor Charles Scarlott predicted that nuclear breeder
reactors would make up the majority of U.S. energy production by 2018 as
natural gas fades.
"Energy
from water power, solar radiation, the wind, tides, or earth heat will not
figure large in the totals. Power from nuclear power plants should be available
in large amounts at low cost," Scarlott wrote.
Wrong:
In 2018, fossil fuels — petroleum, natural gas and coal — accounted for about
79% of total U.S. primary energy production in 2018, according to the U.S.
Energy Information Administration. About 12% was from renewable energy sources,
and about 9% was from nuclear electric power.
19.
Americans will work 26 hours a week
In 1968,
it was thought that, by 2020, Americans would work 1,370 hours a year (or 26
hours a week), instead of the 1,940 hours (37 hours a week) that was average at
the time, according to physicist Herman Kahn and futurist Anthony J. Weiner.
Unlikely:
While we are working less than we were in 1968, the average American worked
nearly 1,800 hours in 2018 (35 hours a week), according to the Organization for
Economic Co-operation and Development.
20.
Nationalism will wane
In the
same 1968 text, Ithiel de Sola Pool, a political science professor at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, predicted that better communication,
easier translation and greater understanding of the nature of human motivations
would make it easier for people to connect across ethnic and national lines.
"By
the year 2018 nationalism should be a waning force in the world. The increasing
openness about feelings and identifications may help men to overcome some of
the more destructive and hostile motivations that underlie nationalism,"
he wrote.
The
opposite is true. Fueled by backlash against immigration, globalization and the
political establishment, populist nationalism was a driving force behind
Brexit, the election of Donald Trump and the rise of right-wing politicians in
France, Austria, Italy, Hungary and Poland, among other countries, academics
say.
"Everywhere
one looks, in fact, one sees nationalism at work in today’s world,"
Stephen Walt, a professor of international relations at Harvard University,
wrote in Foreign Policy Magazine.
https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/12/22/2020-predictions-decades-ago-self-driving-cars-mars-voting/2594825001/