Since 2020 is ending in a few days, I thought we might compare 2020 to 100 years before. What happened in 1920?
Imagine what 2120 will be like.
Most of the
information found below is from Wikipedia*. In 1920,
My mother and father were each 5 years old.
Ford’s Model T captured 47% of the US car market.
The Treaty of Versailles took effect ending World War I.
The ACLU was founded.
The League of Women Voters was founded in Chicago.
The Spanish Flu ended with 17 to 50 million dead.
Life expectancy was about 54 years (today it is 78
years).
Galveston, TX grappled with the bubonic plague.
The Summer Olympics were held in Antwerp, Belgium.
The first game of the Negro National Baseball League was
played in Indianapolis.
The first commercial radio station in the US started in
Detroit.
NFL was established and play started with 5 teams.
Adolph Hitler made his first public address in Austria.
Warren Harding became the 29th President of the
US.
KDKA AM of Pittsburg started broadcasting radio signals.
Ireland partitioned.
Real GDP was about $670 billion (today it is almost $19
trillion).
Stan Musial was born.
Best songs were "Swanee" by Al Jolsen and "Makin' Whoopee" by Bing
Crosby.
There were 48 states and a population of about 107 million.
Cleveland Indians beat the Brooklyn Dodgers in the World
Series.
California, Harvard, and Princeton were the top college football teams and each was undefeated. Cal beat Ohio State 28-0 in the Rose Bowl.
The US Army Air Service began (the independent US Air Force would not come until 1947).
Lots of change in the last century. In 1920, who would have thought that we would be sending humans in rocket ships into the solar system. Who would have thought the Hooisers would have been in the top 10 -- in Football! Who would have thought that our main wardrobe accessory would be a mask?
So what's up for 2120? Any guesses?
I still wonder where the flying cars I was promised are. I remember in 1950 they were suppose to be here by 2000. As Yogi said 'making predictions is hard, especially about the future'.
ReplyDeleteYou didn't get your flying car yet? We have a lot of them out here in Seattle. :-)
DeletePredictions are more fun if they can be verified during our lifetimes and by a source other than posterity. In 100 years we have either dramatically reduced population and disinfected the planet or we’re living underground or on the seabed. Our leaky spaceship is beginning to list. The world now speaks only 40 languages and there has been enormous geopolitical consolidation, driven by economic and mutual defense treaties. Like Amazon, countries have learned to grow or die. Human body parts are easily produced with stem cell technology and organ transplantation is as common as a haircut. The oceans have risen and the world’s landmass is 70% the area in 2020. More food is synthesized than fertilized. A competency and solvency certificate is required to birth a child. Horses have been extinct for 40 years.
ReplyDeleteThanks Bruce. I won't be around in 100 years to check you, but these sound like some interesting possibilities. You didn't mention flying cars?
DeleteDear Bruce. Seemz you cuda ritt’n the 21st century verzun of Brave New Wirld. My my wut a dystopian outluk you present. You cuda mentioned current spaceship/extraterrestrial technology that endeavors to populate outer wirldz but you didn’t . . . a curious absenz of juxtaposition to only 40 languages left, geo-political consolidation, subterranean/ocean liv’n, stem cell advancements, ‘n equestrian extinction (only horsez???? Huh, huh????) etc. et al. . . . but you didn’t. If the leak’n spaceship you reference is still list’n while yer still vertical maybe you cud buy a ticket on one of the new extraterrestrial spaceships to Uranus. ‘appy f . . k’n New Year and may the Force be with you.
ReplyDelete