Past Predictions That Came True

By | July 25, 2018


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Baldwin Headphones, c. 1910 (Utah State Historical Society)

If you think about it, the future that is, it’s not hard to come up with something so “out there” as a possible futuristic invention. In fact, the more ridiculous it sounds to us at the moment, the more probable is the thought of it becoming a reality in the distant future. Or, you stood the chance of becoming the laughing stock of everyone you knew.

Here’s a list of five ideas of the past that did come true and that we use in our everyday lives today.

Ear buds. You know those little white things we put in our ears that connect to our cell phones? They were invented in 1910 by Nathaniel Baldwin in his kitchen. Prior to amplifiers, the only way to listen to electrical sound signals was through the ear piece of a telephone. The successful headphones were now a reality and Baldwin sold them to the United States Navy. However, prior to this, Ray Bradbury in his famous book, Fahrenheit 451, published in 1953, described the now famous tiny earpieces like this: "And in her ears the little seashells, the thimble radios tamped tight, and an electronic ocean of sound, of music and talk and music and talk coming in, coming in on the shore of her unsleeping mind." Now did Baldwin and Bradbury know each other, I don’t think so. 

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Who would have thought about debit cards back in the 1800s?

The Debit Card. Who doesn’t carry one or two in their wallet today? And who would have thought about debit cards back in the 1800s? Edward Bellamy did. A science fiction writer and journalist from Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts, explained a very parallel idea in his visionary work of fiction called, Looking Backward, 2000-1887, published in 1888. It was in chapter nine, the two characters, Dr. Leete and Mr. West discuss money and Dr. Leete enlightens Mr. West that in a new world "A credit corresponding to his share of the annual product of the nation is given to every citizen...and a credit card issued him with which he procures at the public storehouses, whatever he desires." Pretty foretelling no?