“Retrofuturism”: 103 Future Predictions From Past Generations That Were Either A Hit Or A Miss (New Pics)

The future is fascinating. It’s mysterious and exciting, and because we can’t know for certain what’s coming, it provides endless possibilities. Even when it looks bleak, you can choose to be optimistic and believe that good things are coming. And we can clearly see from the Retrofuturism subreddit that being fixated on the future is nothing new.

This community has been around since 2009, and it still boasts 33K weekly visitors. According to the page’s “about" section, it’s focused on “futuristic visions of eras past.” The moderators explain that after humanity’s sudden thrust into a technological revolution, people became optimistic about creating a technological utopia. And while we haven’t achieved that just yet, we still love to daydream about the magical future that will (hopefully) be here someday. 

If you were to imagine your perfect future, what would it be like? Would there be flying cars, or would everyone rely on free, accessible, and efficient public transportation? Would you live in a city full of skyscrapers, or would you prefer one covered in greenery? Would you be interested in taking weekend trips to the moon, or would you rather spend your free time visiting the bottom of the ocean?

Because it hasn’t arrived yet, we can imagine anything we want in the future. But if you’re looking for science-based predictions, the BBC got in touch with some experts to find out what technology they expect us to have in the coming decades.  

According to Professor Steven Bramwell at the London Center for Nanotechnology, we should expect the lines between machines, electronics, and biology to become “significantly blurred” in the next 25 years. This might mean nanotechnology implants to monitor the health of humans or aid communication. Bramwell also says we might have machines at a nanometer scale that can deliver medicine exactly where it needs to go in the body.

Artificial intelligence has already become extremely pervasive in today’s society, and we shouldn’t expect it to slow down any time soon. But as for the next generation of AI, futurist Tracey Follows believes that it will have a huge impact on the way students learn. Instead of human teachers, Follows predicts AI teachers will give lessons across “virtual and physical realities” that can “adjust in real time.” 

There are already many driverless vehicles on the streets, but the technology definitely hasn’t been perfected yet. These cars are notorious for driving onto train tracks and getting into accidents. But by 2050, writer Bill Douglass thinks that traffic will be a thing of the past. He explains that, if all cars are autonomous and safe, there’s no reason why they can’t go up to 100 MPH on highways. They’ll also be able to drive closer together, because if one stops, they’ll all react instantly. We won’t have to worry about human error causing accidents.

Some futurists even predict that a “technological singularity” is only a couple of decades away. This is a theoretical scenario in which AI technology becomes so advanced that it surpasses human cognitive abilities and can autonomously enhance itself. “The theory suggests that such advancements could evolve at a pace so rapid that humans would be unable to foresee, mitigate, or halt the process,” IBM explains. These AIs could potentially create innovations that are beyond human comprehension, which could be amazing or terrifying.   

While we certainly haven’t reached the technological singularity yet, there are signs that it’s getting closer. In only a few short years, generative AI has gone from creating blurry videos that don’t remotely resemble real life to making videos that people automatically assume were taken on a smartphone. I’m sure you’ve noticed your parents or grandparents liking or sharing “cute” videos of animals that, upon closer inspection, turn out to be AI. And if the technology can improve so much in less than half a decade, who knows what the future holds?

Are you enjoying this simultaneous peek into the past and the future, pandas? Keep upvoting the images that you find particularly fascinating, and let us know in the comments below what predictions you have for the coming decades. Then, if you’re interested in checking out even more posts from Retrofuturism, you can find Bored Panda’s last article on the same topic right here!