Predicting the future is a dangerous occupation. Few people can claim as much success as Arthur C. Clarke, the famous science and science fiction author. Thanks to the BBC and the Australian Broadcasting Company, we can see what Sir Arthur thought about the future in 1964 and then ten years later in 1974.

Perhaps his best-known prediction was that of communication satellites, but he called quite a few other things, too. Like all prognosticators, he didn’t bat a thousand, and he missed a wrinkle or two, but overall, he has a very impressive track record.

Horizon

In the 1964 BBC show, Horizon: The Knowledge Explosion, Clarke himself talked about how hard it is to predict the future. He then goes on to describe ultra-modern cities prior to the year 2000. However, he thought that after the year 2000, we won’t care about cities. We’ll communicate with each other without regard to location. Shades of the Internet and cell phone!

He clearly saw the work-from-home revolution. However, he also thought that we’d enslave other animals, which–mercifully–didn’t come to pass. His thoughts on computers were much more on point, although we still don’t quite have what he thought we would.

Direct information dumps to your brain are probably not happening anytime soon. Suspended animation isn’t very popular, either. Of course, all of this could still happen, and it would be totally spooky if he’d been 100% right.

To wrap up, he talks about a replicator when K. Eric Drexler was not even ten years old. We won’t say he called out the 3D printer, exactly, but he was on the track.

The Home Computer

Fast forward to 1974. A science reporter brought his son with him to an old-school mainframe room and pointed out to Clarke that in the year 2001, the boy would be an adult. Clarke predicted that the boy would have a computer in his house that would connect to other computers to get all the information he needed.

Once again, Clarke was really interested in being able to work from anywhere in the world. Of course, he moved to Sri Lanka and still managed to work, so maybe he just thought we should all enjoy the same privilege.

Two Years Later

In 1976, Clarke spoke with an AT&T interviewer about the future. He clearly saw the Internet for news and communications with — you guessed it — working from home.

He also brought up the smart watch, another invention to add to his yes column. About the only thing in that interview that we haven’t had luck with yet is contact with extraterrestrials.

Our Guess

We try not to make too many predictions. But we are going to guess that at least some of Clarke’s predictions are yet to come. There is one thing we are pretty sure of, though. When anyone predicts the future — even Clarke — they rarely see the gritty details. Sure, he saw the cell phone, but not the cell phone plan. Or malware. Or a host of other modern problems that would perplex anyone back in the 1960s.

Clarke has a better track record than most. We love looking at what people thought we’d be doing here in the future.

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