Throughout history, humans have been fascinated by technology and its potential advancements. Curiosity about future homes, transportation, and technology has spanned generations. In 1966, the British TV series “Tomorrow’s World,” which focused on contemporary developments in science and technology, featured children making predictions about life in the year 2000. The episode originally aired on BBC on December 28, 1966, and was uploaded to YouTube in 2021.
The children featured in this episode were pupils from Marlborough College, Roedean, and Chippenham schools. They discussed how they thought the world would evolve. The tone of the video wasn’t very optimistic, and the kids didn’t seem excited about the future. Most expressed concerns about nuclear wars, overpopulation, and mass unemployment.
The video starts with a boy interestingly saying, “In the year 2000, I think I’ll probably be on the spaceship to the moon dictating robots.” He talks a little about computers and robots and then adds, “Or if something’s gone wrong with the nuclear bombs, I may have come back from hunting in the cave.” A lot of the kids share the same sentiment about nuclear bombs and wars. One kid says, “All these atomic bombs will be dropping around the place.” Another kid adds, “Some madman will get the atomic bomb and just blow the world into oblivion.”
A segment from the video was shared on X by Historic Vids (@Historyinmemes). The 40-second clip commences with a boy saying, “People will be regarded more as statistics than as actual people.” After him, a girl gives her opinion, “I don’t think it’s going to be so nice. I think, sort of, all machines everywhere, everyone doing everything for you. You know, you’ll get all bored and I don’t think it will be so nice.”
As the clip progresses, another girl talks about how work will be scarce for people, with machines taking over our jobs. She adds, “First of all, these computers are taking over now. Computers and automation and in the year 2000, there won’t be enough jobs to go around and the only jobs there will be, it will be for people with high IQ and those who work computers and such things.”
The video has garnered over 1.4 million views and more than 40,000 likes. The short clip was widely appreciated by X users, with many expressing shock over the accurate predictions by the children. One user, @daequanbeats, commented, “The first kid was smart and it turned out to be true.” @DRSmithauthor commented, “It’s not the predictions that I find interesting but the fear of nuclear war. They’re a product of their fearful times. Also missing is any sort of hope on their part that technology will be good for the future.”
Proving that humans will always be curious about the future, @MIAfinsheat asked others what the year 2062 would be like in their opinions. “My guess is the work week will go from 40+ hours a week to 20. Automation will take over. Brick-and-mortar stores will be nearly gone. And everything will be online,” he noted. Hilariously, one user, @CannotFitUserna, commented, “By 2062, half of the world will be owned by Elon and Disney, with the two at war with one another.” @xSTiCKFiGAx noted, “Huge decrease of the human population due to man-made viruses and/or war.” How many of these predictions will turn out to be true, we never know!
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