The idea of predicting the future has been the subject of countless books, movies and televisions shows (and is basically the basis of all gambling). Outside of a few uncanny instances, no one can tell exactly what the future holds, especially for the world at large. But people sure love to predict it anyway.
The BBC shared a video compilation of kids in 1966 sharing what they imagine the year 2000 would be like, and their predictions are fascinating. After five or six kids share, it becomes clear what some of the most pressing concerns of the 1960s were. Some kids thought we’d have bombed ourselves into oblivion. Others believed we’d be so overpopulated we would be packed like sardines and wouldn’t be able to build houses anymore.
Not all of the predictions were so dark. Some kids had some hilarious predictions about cabbage pills and robots. Others thought we’d have better cures for diseases and less segregation among the races, which we have.
Watch what these young folks envisioned nearly 40 years into their future—now more than 20 years into our past:
Thankfully, the year 2000 wasn’t as dire as many of these kids imagined it would be. In fact, hearing these predictions might even make us feel pretty good about how humanity has fared in the past 60 years.
How about the kid predicting the future of automation? Or the kid who said people would be regarded more as statistics than people? Or the one who predicted animals being kept in buildings instead of grazing so they could produce more?
And hey, props to the kids who didn’t predict an overpopulated nuclear hellscape. It can be hard to see negative news and not think the world is on a downward spiral. But if nothing else, seeing that these kids’ doom and gloom predictions didn’t come true is pretty heartening and a good sign that our own future may not be as dark as it sometimes appears.
This article originally appeared on 12.7.23