Edison's Predictions for 2011
Most people are aware of Thomas Edison, the inventor, scientist and businessman (to quote Wikipedia). Apparently he was asked, in 1911, to predict the technology of a hundred years in the future (i.e. 2011). So how did he do? Well, not bad.
What he got right
- He was right in the steam engines where on their way out and trains would largely use electricity.
- He got planes right, though 200 mph is a little slow.
- He predicted ebook readers, though he talks of books made of nickel slivers.
What he got wrong
- Houses and furniture are rarely made of steel, and certainly not exclusively of it.
- We didn't conquer alchemy either, so we haven't made gold a worthless entity we can produce whenever we wish.
Still, not bad though, considering this was a time before electricity was commonplace and the computer was a long way from being invented.