"Thirty years from now people will be wearing clothes made of paper which they will be able to throw away after wearing them two or three times."
Changing Times Magazine, 1957.
MEN ON THE MOON
"With the first moon colonies predicted for the 1970's, work is now in progress on the types of building required for men to stay in when they're on the moon."
Arnold B, Barach in The Changes to Come, 1962.
THE BEATLES
"We don't like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out."
Decca Recording Co. rejecting the Beatles, 1962.
ROBOTS IN THE HOUSE
"By the year 2000, housewives will probably have a robot shaped like a box with one large eye on the top, several arms and hands, and long narrow pads on the side for moving about."
New York Times, 1966.
KEYS
"By the mid1980's no one will ever need to hide a key under the doormat again, because there won't be any keys."
Computer scientist Christopher Evans, The Micro Millennium, 1979.
没有实现的著名预言
并非所有的预言都变成了现实。许多预言都是错误的,并且有些错得很离谱。这里是人们在20世纪对21世纪所作出的一些不好的预言:
飞机
"没有任何飞行器能从纽约飞到巴黎。"
奥维尔·赖特,1908。
电脑
"我认为可能有一个大约有五台电脑的世界市场。"
托马斯·沃森,IBM总裁,1943。
衣服
"从现在起30年后,人们将会穿上由纸做的衣服,穿了两三次后就可以把它们扔掉。"
《变动时代杂志》,1957。
月球上的人们
"20世纪70年代人们预测会建立第一批月球殖民地,适合人类居住的建造工程正在紧锣密鼓地进行中,以备登上月球之用。"
阿诺德·B.贝拉克于《即将到来的变化》,1962。
披头士兵队
"我们不喜欢他们的声音,吉他所弹奏的音乐将会过时。"
反对披头士兵队的德卡录音公司,1962。
家中的机器人
"截止到2000年,家庭主妇们可能会有一个盒状的机器人,它的顶部有一只大眼睛,它还有几只胳膊和手,身体两边还有又长又窄的用来移动的脚。"
《纽约时报》,1966。
钥匙
"到20世纪80年代中期人们将没有必要再把钥匙藏在门口的擦鞋垫下面了,因为那时将不会有钥匙了"。
电脑科学家克里斯多弗·埃文斯,《微机黄金时代》,1979。