In 1882, an unknown author predicted the flat screen television and the digital clock. Readers are asked to help predict the technology of the year 2100
A forgotten Victorian text, written by an obscure Scottish author, predicted the development of flat-screen televisions, bullet trains and digital clocks with fair accuracy. The book, written in 1892 and published under a pen name, is a science fiction book whose plot takes place in the year 2000 and describes many of the modern inventions and social changes with not bad accuracy.
Very little is known about the author Jay McCullough, who apparently lived in St. Andrews in Scotland and probably wrote only one other book - a guide to the game of golf. A rare copy of his book "Golf in 2000", or "What we are facing", written under the name of the magazine Jack (JACK), is to be sold at an auction in Scotland. Which shows that even a commissioned book for a golf club can be literary interesting.
In the story "The story of the bodybuilder Alexander Gibson", the protagonist falls into a deep sleep on March 24, 1892 and wakes up on March 25, 2000, and as expected discovers that the world around him has changed.
He was amazed by the invitation he received from his hosts to see a comedian perform inside "a 12-foot-square dark sheet of glass." Well, it's a flat screen TV, and not even a wide screen TV, but it's not a bad guess considering he wrote the story 30 years before the invention of the first primitive TV. His program was, of course, transmitted from a theater in London's West End on a magic screen, where the images are projected through a system of mirrors and cables.
He also envisioned the construction of an ultra-fast subway, connecting New York and London in less than three hours. This is possible, but probably not economically viable. What's more, parts of the London Underground still use 19th century technology. A bullet train, although not underground, was first introduced in Japan in 1964. McCallie also described digital clocks and predicted electronic miniaturization. He told about rings that show the time in numbers, instead of hands. The description therefore anticipates the development of the digital clock, created 80 years after the book was written.
Televisions, high-speed trains, digital watches and the liberation of women - all these were predicted in the story, which predicts a world of comfort, where the game of golf is the most important. The copy sold at the auction belonged to the library of professional golfer and former PGA captain Alan Walker.
It's surprising to think that someone in 1892 thought of the idea of television and digital watches. It was a time when there were technological leaps, but only someone with the imagination of Leonardo da Vinci or H.G. Wells might have made such accurate predictions.
He also envisioned the liberation of women and equality in employment, although his vision of the future is also embedded with a lot of wishful thinking. He expected that the women and men would wear similar clothes, and that the women would do all the work that was done by men at the time. He also predicted that over half the members of the British Parliament would be women, and that it would be rare to find male officials. The men will enjoy their new status and spend many hours on the golf course.
"The dream of my life in the previous plane has come true. I am fortunate to see this come to fruition. The women work while the men play golf. Great", the hero of the story sums up his enthusiasm for the future.
Intermediate: precisions and omissions
What was JACK right?
* Flat screen TVs
* Bullet trains
* Tiny digital watches
* Driverless golf carts
* Unisex clothing
* Women work in male occupations
* The existence of international golf competitions
What did he do wrong?
* Controlling the weather to allow good conditions for holding sports games
* Replacing the evening dresses with shorts of the other color
* A leisure society, where people work less than before
* Parliament with a female majority - in the UK only 18% of members of parliament are women. In Israel the rate is even lower.
* A world obsessed with golf. Well, here he owed something to the sponsors...
