“Okay, I’m getting something… I predict that the cost of living will continue to rise, birth rates will continue to fall, and you will be very happy in the future. That’ll be $100.”
Now, you might not be willing to pay a psychic to run their hands across a crystal ball and prophesize about your future. But there have been some people throughout history who have managed to make surprisingly accurate predictions about what’s to come, so Bored Panda has compiled a list of their forecasts down below. From projections about technological advancements that became reality to eery anticipations of tragedies, this list is full of reminders that the future might not be as mysterious as you think.
#1 Moon Landing
French novelist Jules Verne, known for works like Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas, predicted the moon landing with surprising accuracy in his 1865 book, From the Earth to the Moon. Written over a century before the actual Apollo 11 mission, Verne’s story included several details that later became reality. He correctly placed the launch site in Florida, the future home of the Kennedy Space Center, and described a crew of three astronauts. Furthermore, Verne named his fictional spacecraft the Columbiad, remarkably close to the real Apollo 11 command module, Columbia, and even depicted the crew returning to Earth by splashing down in the ocean with parachutes, just as the Apollo 11 astronauts did.
Image credits: NASA
#2 The Titanic Tragedy
Journalist and psychic William Thomas Stead wrote fictional stories years before the Titanic disaster that eerily mirrored the event, describing a ship sinking due to insufficient lifeboats and another hitting an Atlantic iceberg. These narratives tragically came to fruition with the 1912 sinking of the Titanic, which lacked adequate lifeboats after striking an iceberg. In a striking twist of fate, Stead himself was aboard the Titanic and was among the roughly 1,500 people who lost their lives.
Image credits: Francis Godolphin Osbourne Stuart
#3 Organ Transplants
Robert Boyle, a key figure in modern chemistry, created a list of scientific predictions back in the 1660s, a time when science was still developing. Among his forward-thinking ideas was the concept of organ transplantation, which he described as “The cure of diseases at a distance or at least by transplantation.” This remarkable prediction came true nearly 300 years later, with the first successful organ transplant taking place in 1954.
Image credits: Harvard Medical Library
#4 Photographic Technology
In a 1900 article titled ‘What May Happen in the Next Hundred Years’, American engineer John Elfreth Watkins made several striking predictions about future technology. He foresaw advancements in photography, writing, ‘Photographs will be telegraphed from any distance.’ Watkins imagined scenarios where ‘If there be a battle in China a hundred years hence, snapshots of its most striking events will be published in the newspapers an hour later.’ He further predicted that ‘photographs will reproduce all of nature’s colours,’ a remarkable insight considering color photography was rudimentary and the concept of instantly transmitting images worldwide was revolutionary for the time.
Image credits: 19th Century Dictionary Illustration
#5 The Cold War
After touring the United States in the early 19th century, French political philosopher Alexis de Tocqueville predicted a future rivalry between America and Russia in his famous book, Democracy in America. He wrote that these two nations would one day “hold the destinies of half the world in its hands,” a surprising view at a time when both countries saw Great Britain as the main rival and were geographically distant. Tocqueville believed their different ways of thinking would inevitably lead to conflict, a prediction proven correct over a century later with the onset of the Cold War between the two superpowers.
Image credits: GrandPalaisRmn
#6 Earbuds
In his classic 1953 novel Fahrenheit 451, science fiction author Ray Bradbury accurately described a technology remarkably similar to modern earbuds, decades before their widespread use. He painted a vivid picture of people listening to audio through small devices worn in their ears, writing: “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…” Bradbury not only foresaw the technology itself but also hinted at the potential for such devices to isolate individuals.
Image credits: cottonbro studio / Pexels Images (not the actual photo)
#7 Periodic Table
Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev developed the foundational structure of the modern periodic table in the 1860s. Working with the approximately 60 elements known at the time, he arranged them based on atomic weight and observed recurring properties, leaving gaps where he believed undiscovered elements should sit. Remarkably, Mendeleev predicted the existence and characteristics of several elements yet to be found, such as Germanium, which he tentatively named “ekasilicon” long before its actual discovery in 1886.
Image credits: Den fjättrade ankan
#8 The iPad
Decades before Apple launched the iPad, science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke described a very similar device in his 1968 novel, 2001: A Space Odyssey. Clarke called this device a “newspad” and detailed how a character would use it to access information, writing, “[He] would plug his… Newspad into the ship’s information circuit and scan the latest reports… The postage-stamp-size rectangle would expand until it neatly filled the screen.” This fictional “newspad,” imagined 42 years before the real iPad, closely resembled the tablet computer and its app interface that would eventually become commonplace technology.
Image credits: ITU Pictures
#9 World War II
As the Supreme Allied Commander during World War I, French General Ferdinand Foch was a key figure in the peace negotiations following Germany’s defeat. He strongly disagreed with the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, arguing that failing to fully occupy the Rhineland left France vulnerable to future aggression. Voicing his dissatisfaction, Foch stated prophetically during the treaty’s signing, ‘This is not a peace. It is an armistice for twenty years’. True to his prediction, global conflict erupted again with the start of World War II almost precisely twenty years later.
Image credits: U.S. National Archives
#10 Antidepressants
In his 1931 novel Brave New World, Aldous Huxley imagined a future society where the government keeps citizens compliant and happy through a medicament called “Soma.” Huxley described Soma as creating “a quite impenetrable wall between the actual universe and their minds,” effectively eliminating sadness and anger, resulting in faces breaking out “in happy, friendly smiles.” This fictional medicament has drawn comparisons to modern antidepressants, with the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons noting in 2016 that Huxley’s novel “set the stage for our love affair with mind-altering pharmaceuticals.”
Image credits: Aldous Huxley
#11 The Two Moons Of Mars
In his 1726 novel Gulliver’s Travels, Jonathan Swift made a remarkably accurate prediction about Mars, writing about “two lesser stars, or satellites, which revolve about Mars.” This description predated the actual discovery of Mars’s moons, Phobos and Deimos, by over a century. Even more impressively, Swift’s fictional account included details about their size and speed of rotation that were surprisingly close to reality, despite the lack of technology to observe such features at the time.
Image credits: Jonathan Swift
#12 Utilization Of Solar Energy
In his 1911 science fiction novel Ralph 124C 41+, inventor Hugo Gernsback described the practical use of solar energy, among other technological advancements like television and space flight. Although his story was set far in the future (2660), the real-world application of solar power began much sooner, with the first solar-powered device appearing in 1978. Gernsback’s foresight highlighted the potential of harnessing the sun’s energy long before it became a significant part of modern technology.
Image credits: Tom Fisk / Pexels Images (not the actual photo)
#13 Blogging And Tweeting
In his 1835 novel Year 4338, Russian writer Vladimir Odoevsky envisioned a future where people communicated instantly, sharing brief updates akin to modern tweeting and longer, journal-like entries resembling blog posts. This prediction is particularly noteworthy because Odoevsky conceived of these concepts more than a decade before the telegraph’s invention, lacking any contemporary basis for rapid, long-distance communication.
Image credits: Sergey Lvovich Levitsky
#14 Touchscreen Devices And Siri
In a 1987 promotional video titled Knowledge Navigator, Apple presented a vision of future technology that proved remarkably accurate. The video showed a professor interacting with a flat, touchscreen tablet similar to an iPad and using a voice-controlled digital assistant—the “Knowledge Navigator”—to access information and even take video calls, much like modern Siri and FaceTime. Intriguingly, the video’s fictional timeline was set in late 2011, precisely when Apple launched the iPhone 4S and introduced Siri to the world.
Image credits: rkarena
#15 Online Shopping And Email
Celebrating its 75th anniversary in 1967, electronics company Philco-Ford created a short film, Year 1999 A.D., speculating on future technology. Despite its 1960s style, the film accurately depicted concepts like online shopping, electronic bill paying, home laser printers, and even a form of email, described as “instant written communication between individuals anywhere in the world.” The authenticity of this prescient film, which foresaw these innovations decades before the internet age, was later confirmed by Snopes after it resurfaced online and was initially suspected of being a hoax.
Image credits: J K
#16 Wi-Fi And Cell Phones
In a 1909 interview with the New York Times, renowned electrical engineer Nikola Tesla remarkably predicted technologies resembling modern cell phones and Wi-Fi, decades before their invention. He envisioned a future where “It will soon be possible to transmit wireless messages all over the world so simply that any individual can carry and operate his own apparatus.” This foresight into personal, portable wireless communication devices was truly groundbreaking for the early 20th century.
Image credits: Napoleon Sarony
#17 The 1666 London Fire
While many of Nostradamus’s 16th-century prophecies are considered vague, his prediction regarding the Great Fire of London stands out for its specificity. Written a century before the event, his verses stated: “The blood of the just will be lacking in London / Burnt up in the fire of ’66 / The ancient Lady will topple from her high place / Many of the same sect will be killed.” This accurately pinpointed both the city and the year (1666) of the devastating fire. Additionally, the line about the “ancient Lady” potentially corresponds to the death of Henrietta Maria, wife of King Charles I, who also died in 1666.
Image credits: Yale Center for British Art
#18 Mark Twain Predicted His Own Death
Mark Twain, whose real name was Samuel Langhorne Clemens, was born in November 1835, shortly after Halley’s Comet graced the skies. In 1909, he made a remarkably accurate prediction about his own demise, telling his biographer, ‘I came in with Halley’s Comet in 1835. It is coming again next year, and I expect to go out with it.’ True to his words, Mark Twain died of a heart attack on April 21, 1910, just one day after Halley’s Comet made its predicted return appearance.
Image credits: A.F. Bradley
#19 Greenhouse Effect
In a 1917 National Geographic article, telephone inventor Alexander Graham Bell warned that the unchecked burning of fossil fuels would create a “sort of greenhouse effect,” eventually turning the Earth into “a sort of hot-house.” Foreshadowing modern climate concerns, he questioned what energy sources would replace finite coal and oil, suggesting alcohol fuels and solar power devices. His century-old warning about global warming and potential solutions are remarkably relevant today.
Image credits: Writers for Popular Mechanics magazine, March 1912.
#20 Coffee Machines, Microwaves And Meal Prep
In a 1964 piece for The New York Times imagining life 50 years later, science fiction author Isaac Asimov predicted that “gadgetry will continue to relieve mankind of tedious jobs.” He specifically envisioned conveniences like “automeals” ready in seconds, frozen semi-prepared meals, and machines that could instantly heat water into coffee. These concepts accurately foreshadowed modern technologies such as microwaves, meal kit services, and automatic coffee makers.
Image credits: Charlotte May / Pexels Images (not the actual photo)
#21 GPS
In a 1993 AT&T commercial, actor Tom Selleck posed the question, “Have you ever crossed the country… without stopping for directions?”, hinting at a future navigation technology. Although other parts of the ad were less accurate, this particular prediction foreshadowed the widespread use of GPS systems. Just six years later, President Bill Clinton declassified GPS technology, making it commercially available and eventually transforming how people navigate.
Image credits: AEDC
#22 Credit Cards
In his 1888 utopian novel Looking Backward, 2000-1887, author Edward Bellamy described a futuristic system remarkably similar to modern credit cards. Bellamy envisioned citizens receiving a “credit corresponding to his share of the annual product of the nation… and a credit card issued him with which he procures… whatever he desires.” As detailed in the novel, he actually coined the term “credit card” more than 60 years before their widespread introduction, foreseeing a world where transactions were based on credit rather than cash.
Image credits: Pixabay / Pexels Images (not the actual photo)
#23 H. G. Wells Predicted The Atomic Bomb
In his 1914 novel The World Set Free, H.G. Wells conceived of horrifying “atomic bombs” capable of destroying entire cities. While he lacked the scientific understanding of nuclear fission that would later lead to the real atomic bomb developed during the Manhattan Project (starting in 1942), Wells understood the destructive potential inherent in radioactive elements. He presciently recognized that harnessing this power for weaponry would have catastrophic consequences for humanity.
Image credits: Charles Levy
#24 Automatic Doors
In his 1899 novel The Sleeper Awakes, H.G. Wells described a futuristic technology remarkably similar to modern automatic doors. He wrote of a character approaching a seemingly solid wall where “A long strip of this apparently solid wall rolled up with a snap… and fell again.” This fictional depiction predated the first actual installation of an automatic door by over 60 years, which occurred in 1960.
Image credits: Secondarywaltz
#25 America’s Population Boom
In 1783, Ezra Stiles, then president of Yale University, made a remarkably accurate demographic prediction. He projected that the population of the United States would surpass 300 million within approximately 200 years. This forecast proved astonishingly correct, as the U.S. population reached the 300 million mark in the early 21st century, underscoring Stiles’ keen insight into long-term population trends.
Image credits: Samuel King
#26 DVDs And Streaming Movies
In a 1987 interview with OMNI magazine, film critic Roger Ebert accurately predicted major shifts in how people would watch movies at home. He envisioned a future without video stores, where viewers would “order a movie on demand and then pay for it,” and foresaw the obsolescence of videocassettes, suggesting playback would rely on “laser-disk/CD technology.” These predictions presaged the rise of video-on-demand services in the 1990s, the development of DVDs (based on CD tech and standardized in 1995), and ultimately, the streaming platforms that dominate today.
Image credits: Sound Opinions