The Risks of Prediction

I know there have been many grumpy books and articles about the wonderful future that never happened. ( For instance, Where’s my jetpack? : a guide to the amazing science fiction future that never arrived / Daniel H. Wilson ; illustrated by Richard Horne. New York : Bloomsbury USA : Distributed to the trade by Holtzbrinck Publishers, c2007)  But I like to think I was in the vanguard, since I mounted a display back in 2000 about the many unrealized predictions for that year.  I limited my material to respectable academics and think tanks, though I did use a few pictures from old science fiction pulps.  Here's a future chronology I used from The Book of predictions / [compiled] by David Wallechinsky, Amy Wallace, Irving Wallace.  New York : Morrow, 1980, c1981

A Chronology of the Future

1985

 People work a 4-day, 32-hour week.

1987

 The U.S. legalizes marijuana.

1988

 The first human being is cloned.

1989

 Weather forecasting achieves accuracy for 30-day periods.

1990

 Daily body checkups by computer provide ample warning of any impending illness

1992

 The first human is brought back to life after being frozen and thawed.

1993

 After a stock market crash and major depression, the U.S. ceases to be a great power.  The Soviet Union dominates most of the world.

1998

 First tourist service to outer space.

2000

 Cocaine is legalized in the U.S.

 A shortage of oil starts a large-scale migration of people from cold to warmer parts of the world.

 50,000people are living and working in space.

 The first children are born off the Earth.