Six Eerie Predictions That Early Sci-Fi Authors Got Completely Wrong

Since the genre’s inception, science-fiction writers have imagined what the future might hold for Earth and beyond. While their stories are often fantastical, many of them anticipated technologies that actually exist today, such as television and artificial intelligence. However, countless more made predictions that were absolute whiffs. 1. Nuclear-Powered Soap Dispenser While many sci-fi authors envisioned the possibilities of nuclear power, Philip K. Dick’s “The Land That Time Remembered” got specifically stuck on the idea of a society where humans washed their hands with “soap dispensers powered by the almighty atom,” and where “torrents of soap spurted forth by means of the forces that birthed the universe.” 2. Shoe That Does Your Taxes Still cherished today, “Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea” brought us Jules Verne’s dreams of electric-powered submarines, tasers, and other technologies that were unheard of in 1870. However, there’s no arguing that his idea of a shoe that does your taxes—featured heavily in his novels “The Cerebellum Quandary,” “The Cerebellum Quandary 2,” and “Gizbo: The Shoe That Does Your Taxes”—more than missed the mark, as no such technology is even close to existing today. 3. “I’ve come up with something called e-mail. But it will never exist.” From Harlan Ellison’s completely misguided 1952 epic “A Moon Adventure: To the Stars!!!”: Lucas finished uploading his daily biometrics log for mission control back on Terra. He wasn’t sure what the commanding officers did with his bio-log, or if anyone even read it, but he liked the routine. You needed daily rituals to survive the kind centuries-long journey he was on. He popped another caffeine capsule and turned to his co-pilot, Shepherd. “What’s the word, Shep?” “Not now, Lu,” Shepherd replied. “I’m inventing a method for transmitting and receiving messages using electronic devices. It’s like receiving mail back on Terra, but an electronic version. I’m calling it ‘e-mail,’ and it’s going to revolutionize how we communicate.” Lucas frowned. “I don’t think ‘e-mail’ will ever become a viable technology.” Shep sighed and engaged the thrusters, revving the ship past light speed. “You’re right,” he said. “E-mail will never exist.” Note: […]

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