A Canadian researcher has resurfaced what newspapers in 1924 predicted the world would look like 100 years into the future.
And some of those predictions turned out to be eerily accurate as humanity winds its way through 2024.
University of Calgary researcher Paul Fairie shared headlines and articles from the past on his X account, showing in what ways the world has changed and how it has remained the same.
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While the clippings from 1924 got some things wrong, they also got some things very right.
Here’s a rundown of the 1924 predictions that have actually come to pass in 2024 — and those that haven’t.
Accurate
Car speedways
One 1924 newspaper article cited by Fairie predicted that in the future, cars would drive on “speedways” that allowed them to travel faster.
While cars first appeared in the late 1880s, it wasn’t until the 1920s that car ownership really became ubiquitous, and suddenly towns and cities needed more roads to cater for them and move them quickly.
While there were certainly some “highways” by the 1920s in places such as the United States, the modern-day concept of the high-speed freeway didn’t arrive until a little later.
“In the city of 2024, this authority predicts there will be three-deck roads; speedways through the heart of town,” the newspaper article predicted.
However, the space age concept of “skyscrapers with entrances for automobiles as high as 15 stories” hasn’t yet come to pass — although we’ve all seen the concept in plenty of sci-fi movies over the years.
The article also envisaged monorail express services to the suburbs replacing cars and buses and moving sidewalks (similar to airport travelators) that moved people in all directions, “serving all railroad stations and business districts”.
Not a bad idea!
Women getting tattooed
In the Western world at least, it was practically unheard of for women to be tattooed in 1924.
Tattoos were the reserve of sailors, criminals and gangland figures until comparatively recently, historically speaking.
But one 1924 article predicted, incredibly accurately, that by 2024 women would be getting tattoos and dyeing their hair “all the colours of the rainbow”.
“Debutantes of 1924 are shingle-haired, sleek-looking maidens with delicately rouged cheeks and provocative red lips,” the article stated.
“The 1924 debutante successfully conceals her personality under paint and power.
“The debutante of 100 years hence may revert to type and frankly copy her ancestors, who dyed their skins with woad; only, with the modern instinct for progress.
“She may go still further and dye her complexion and hair all the colours of the rainbow.”
Women becoming physically stronger
The newspapers of 1924 also predicted that women of the future would be “physically strong, vital and alert.”
One article predicted that women would spend more time in the outdoors, be active in sports, and would be “engaging by choice” in activities that were historically restricted to men because of their riskiness or danger.
Intellectually, women would be “quick at wit and keen of judgment,” while spiritually, she would “radiate love and good will”.
Interestingly, the predictions also included that dancing would become more wild and vigorous.
“Dancing will continue in it’s rush towards the exotic and will be wild and full of animation,” the paper predicted.
Now, the dances of the 1920s were pretty vigorous — think of the Charleston or the Shimmy — but remember, techno music hadn’t been invented yet, and neither had raves.
Remote viewing
One of the more uncannily accurate predictions made in 1924 was that people would be able to view things “remotely”.
“Many inconveniences which the touring artist now has to suffer will no doubt be eliminated,” one prediction read.
“It will not be necessary to travel great distances.
“The strain of the concert tour will be dispensed with.
“Artists may not even have to leave their homes (to perform).”
While concerts have resumed since the height of the COVID pandemic, livestreaming means we can all view concerts and performances from afar and in real time — including in studios, on stages and in homes far away from where we live.
Not so accurate
No more horses
One of the more bizarre predictions of 1924 was that horses would disappear from the face of the earth.
A scientist predicted that horses would be extinct by 2024.
The process of extinction was seen as a natural conclusion to the replacement of horses with cars as a mode of transport.
“If a house would decrease in the same ratio as in the last ten or twenty years, it might be easy to tell when the last horse would give up his stall to an automobile,” the prediction read.
Child-launching beds
It was also predicted that by 2024 there would be an invention that launched children out of their beds in the morning to wake them up.
“Beds will automatically fling children out in the morning” might sound like child abuse to us now, but in 1924 it was seen as a reasonable way to ensure kids got to school on time.
Describing this futuristic scenario, the reporter wrote: “My bed turns over automatically and I am deposited on the floor”.
“Eight o’clock and the switch operating above the fiendish substitute for an alarm clock is operated from school, so at the moment, I am in the same predicament as the rest of the 450 scholars.”
Never mind, the ruthless shrill of our smartphone alarm waking us up is bad enough.