In January 1925, Dr. Lee De Forest, inventor of the Audion vacuum tube, predicted human telepathy would be commonplace within a century.
While we are not yet mind-melding with each other, the field of brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) is advancing rapidly.
Advancements in artificial intelligence are improving our understanding of brain function, and we are also nearing the ability to create images from brain activity.
While BCIs may not be true telepathy, they are leading to significant breakthroughs in visualizing a person’s thoughts.
In the March 1925 issue of the Nation’s Health, Dr. Edwin E. Slosson, director of Science Service, predicted in “The Future of Food” that traditional farms would disappear by 2025, replaced by synthetic foods created in laboratories.
While traditional farms remain dominant, alternative food sources, such as lab-grown meat and vegan plant-based alternatives, are becoming popular and are being sold in stores.
In 1924, Richard Ranger of Radio Corporation of America (RCA) invented a photoradiogram for wirelessly transmitting photographs via radio transmission.
His system sent a photograph of President Calvin Coolidge from New York City to London Nov. 29, 1924, marking the first transoceanic radio transmission of a photograph.
In the New York Times, Nov. 30, 1925, Ranger predicted that newspapers with photos and text would be printed at home, with news transmitted by radio waves reproduced on paper using home receivers.
Radio facsimile involves scanning an image, converting it into a modulated radio signal, and transmitting it over the airwaves. A receiver would then demodulate and print the image.
Early pioneers of the facsimile technology, like William G. H. Finch developed systems to transmit “radio newspapers” using home radio receivers and special paper.
RCA, along with newspapers such as the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, operated radio facsimile services.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch launched the world’s first regular broadcast of facsimile newspapers Dec. 12, 1938, via W9XZY. The broadcasted newspaper was nine pages, each 8.5 inches long and four columns wide, in 7-point type.
By the 1960s, machines such as the Xerox Magnafax Telecopier used telephone lines for faster transmission.
However, the rise of the internet and email in the 1980s ultimately led to the decline of fax technology. Today, wireless technologies such as cellular, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth dominate the world of printing and data transfer.
Although radio facsimile never achieved a large public use, it did lay the groundwork for modern fax machines.
In 1925, publications such as Popular Mechanics magazine and aviation pioneers like Glenn Curtiss (1878-1930) predicted that personal aircraft would become as commonplace as automobiles.
Today, privately owned miniature aircraft and helicopters are becoming increasingly seen.
Advancements in electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) technologies may make personal aircraft more commonly seen within the next 100 years.
Some 1925 predictions about automated homes with “electric servants” that clean, cook, wash, iron, and automatically control temperature and humidity have partially come true.
Today’s smart homes and businesses commonly feature automated control of lighting, heating, security systems, appliances, and other devices, such as robot vacuum cleaners.
In 1925, speculative discussions about a transatlantic tunnel were proposed, but due to the engineering challenges, no serious plans were pursued.
While the 31.3-mile Channel Tunnel (Chunnel) connecting the U.K. and France was inaugurated in 1994, a direct New York to London tunnel remains largely speculative.
Recently, however, Elon Musk, CEO of the Boring Company, has expressed interest in making a transatlantic tunnel spanning approximately 3,400 miles from London to New York a reality, at an estimated cost of around $20 billion.
Musk proposed a high-speed transportation system, the Hyperloop, using pods traveling through low-pressure tubes using magnetic levitation, minimizing air resistance, could travel at speeds of up to 3,000 mph, with a transatlantic travel time of about 60 minutes.
The 31-mile stretch of the Channel Tunnel took six years to complete. If built at the same pace as the Channel Tunnel, a transatlantic tunnel would take more than 700 years to complete.
In his 1925 book “The Future,” engineer Archibald Montgomery Low predicted technological advancements, including “automatic telephones” that could connect calls without dialing, foreshadowing modern speed dialing and automated hotlines.
Low also envisioned radio alarm clocks, television and space exploration, including space stations. He predicted wireless communication in cars, with vehicles equipped for calls and information access via wireless telephones.
Today, this prediction is a reality with cellular phones, GPS, and in-car Bluetooth. Low also foresaw everyday uses for wireless technology, such as in alarm clocks, thermostats and security systems.
Low also shared famed inventor and engineer Nikola Tesla’s vision of a future where power is transmitted wirelessly, a concept reflected in Tesla’s early 1900s Wardenclyffe Tower project, also known as Tesla Tower, in Shoreham, New York.
Today, we are using wireless power charging devices, though not on the grand scale either of them envisioned.
Low predicted that humans would control the climate within immense glass domes covering cities.
While city-sized domes are not yet a reality, large-scale enclosed spaces like stadiums and biodomes with advanced HVAC systems partially fulfill his vision.
Examples include AT&T Stadium, which can hold more than 80,000 people; biodomes like the Eden Project, with a capacity of up to 1,000, and Biosphere 2, which can hold up to 1,200; and U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, which seats 73,000.
The Minneapolis Skyway System is the world’s most extensive continuous network of interconnected buildings, stretching 9.5 miles across 80 city blocks to form a massive, climate-controlled environment.
“The Future” can be read for free at Google Books using shorturl.at/CM1rq.
Reminiscent of the “Star Trek” series episode “Tomorrow Is Yesterday,” we find ourselves living in a future predicted in the past.
Welcome to 2025.
