Anyone can look back 10 years to see trends and predictions for what 2023 would be like. It takes someone with vision, however, to dig through old newspapers to find out what people in 1923 thought the world would look like today.
Paul Fairie, an instructor and researcher with the University of Calgary, did the work for us to marvel at how our forefathers thought the future would look like.
Some of these have come true (the rise of airline traffic, smartwatches), but those aren’t why anyone reads this. Here’s to the ones that haven’t come true!
- “People will toil not more than four hours a day, owing to the work of electricity.”
- “Women will probably be shaving–their heads! And the men will be wearing curls. Also the maidens may pronounce it the height of style in personal primping to blacken their teeth.”
- “Gasoline as a motive power will have been replaced by radio, and the skies will be filled with myriad craft sailing over well-defined routes.”
- “Beauty contests will be unnecessary, as there will be so many beautiful people that it will almost be impossible to select winners. The same will apply to baby contests.”
- “The private kitchen will disappear. Tomorrow’s food will be seasoned and prepared by chemical formulas, which will preserve the freshness of fruits and meats, rid them of indigestible qualities, and send them to the table ready to use. Instead of sauces that merely cozen the palate, we shall have delectable blends of concentrated vitamines, calories, ferments, and tissue tonics.”
What the (CENSORED) are tissue tonics? People in 1923 were weird, man.
