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What Did People Think The Year 2000 Would Look Like In 1900?

What Did People Think The Year 2000 Would Look Like In 1900?

Not anything like it actually does.

Matthew Cooper

Matthew Cooper

Historically, we've been terrible at predicting the future in popular culture. Judgement Day never happened and Terminators haven't killed us all. Ridley Scott's vision of LA in 2019 in Blade Runner is much more colourful than actual LA. So why are we so bad at predicting the future?


Credit: Warner Bros

Who knows but it's not a new thing, back in 1900 people predicted what the year 2000 would look like and it couldn't have been much further from the truth.

These paintings dug up by The Independent called 'France In The Year 2000' were made by Jean-Marc Côté and other French artists in 1899, 1900, 1901 and 1910. They depict what they think France would look like in the millennium, obviously.

So how wrong did they get it?

To be honest, this would make an interesting sci-fi film, especially when you throw in the mad vehicles they concocted too:

But the real piece of brilliance is the Whale Bus:

Why aren't we funding this?!

Words by Matthew Cooper

Lead Image Credit: France In The Year 2000

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