We’re eight years late for ‘rocketbelts’ and still waiting.

The Usbourne Book of The Future, published in 1979, promised us rocket belts by the year 2000. I demand to know where they are!

More interestingly, most of the predictions made for the period 1980-1990 all seem to be happening now, 20-30 years too late.

I loved the quaint prediction of how email might work (predicted for 1991-2000, despite having already existed for a couple of years back in 1979):

Hand-written letters are electronically copied, sent via a satellite link to their destination, where the incoming message is printed out.

Aww, bless! That sort-of did happen, but that was fax-machines and they weren’t really used for letters, only for business documents.

Read more wonderful predictions about the future here!

3 thoughts on “We’re eight years late for ‘rocketbelts’ and still waiting.”

  1. I blame artists for the delay in science 😉
    lots of love
    Patrick

  2. There’s only one group who we can really blame, and I think we all know who that is…

    Astrophysicists. Specifically Welsh ones. Wouldn’t you agree, Strawpig? 😉

  3. If you click on the last link, the first picture has a space ship that looks very much like red dwarf.

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