People have always been fascinated by the possibilities of the future. The future captures our imagination. There are movies depicting our possible futures (The Matrix, Inception). There are books about the future (1984, The Road). There are video games set in the future (Starcraft, Halo). There are futurists who explore our possibilities (Ray Kurzweil, Michio Kaku). The media is constantly making new future predictions and projections.
People seem drawn to post-apocalyptic Armageddon scenarios. Our stories about the future often guide real technological advances. They are “ideas” for what may be possible and what we should work towards inventing.
There should be a website that collects all forms of future predictions into one timeline. That way we can more easily combine the ideas and make better sense of what the future has in store for us. It would be especially fun to see which predictions are close and which are wildly off-mark as our present catches up with the future.
Perhaps such a website can be opened to public entries in the form of a contest. Contributors can be ranked by their ability to predict the future, with predictions made further in advance being worth more points. As the future flows into the past, the amateur futurists can be ranked by how accurate their predictions were.
Do you know of any websites that present future history in a fun, easy way? Let me know in the comments.
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