When scientist and inventor Professor Archibald Montgomery Low predicted “a day in the life of future man” a century ago, his predictions were sometimes dismissed as “fanciful lack of mercy”.
They included, reported the London Daily News in 1925, “horror things” such as being woken up by a clock radio; communications “by human radio”; eating breakfast “with the news on the radio and watching some events on television”; shopping by moving stairs and walkways.
A century after Low published his book The Future some of his predictions have come to light. Others, including his prediction that everyone would wear synthetic suits and hats, were discounted.
Researchers at the online genealogy service Findmypast have unearthed Low’s predictions from their extensive archive of publicly available historical journals, and added them to a collection of 2025 predictions by people a hundred years ago.
Low, born in 1888, was an engineer, research physicist, inventor and writer. A pioneer in many fields, he invented the first self-propelled drone, working in the development of television, he was known as the “father of radio guidance systems” for work his of aircraft, torpedo boats and guided rockets and is reported to have attracted at least two unsuccessful kills. German experiments.
In 1925, he predicted how home loudspeakers and the “television machine” would replace the “picture paper” – or newspapers – for necessary information and entertainment; access to global broadcasting at the click of a button; and the use of secret cameras and listening devices to catch criminals.
He foresaw the use of escalators, especially today’s escalators and walkers, as well as “automatic telephones” with the advantage of getting the right number every time, unlike the rotary phones of the 1920s.
Other groundbreaking ideas included new ways to light streets with herbs (1926), electrically charged water jets to replace horsemen (1923) and mind-to-mind communication (1925). Others, such as women in pants becoming a habit (1924) and prenatal sexual determination (1926) are very important.
The huge investments in offshore wind and solar energy in recent years seem to fulfill another saying: “wind and waves will also be used for the benefit of people”. Yet another was: “Life will be made far easier by the use of machines that will do hard and unpleasant work.”
According to one newspaper report, the average man “will be called on time by a radio alarm set to pick up a certain sound at the time he wants to rise”. Before the advent of automatic alarms, people were woken to work by the morning “knocker upper”, a door-to-door person knocking on windows with a long wooden stick, which did not die out in Britain until the 19th century. -1940. 50s. However, Low’s statement that the alarm clock would be set for “probably thirty minutes past nine” was optimistic.
Another prediction, that every morning people would enjoy “a few seconds of radio therapy or massage to keep them in good shape and alert for of a day’s work,” seems to be creeping into today’s health and wellness trends.
Jen Baldwin, research specialist at Findmypast, which has more than 87m pages of historical newspapers archived, said: “It’s amazing that a hundred years ago, a visionary could predict how technology would emerging – in its infancy at the time – could have changed the world by 2025. It makes you wonder if the progress we see around us today will be experienced by how our grandchildren.”
Low, who has died aged 68, continued to make predictions throughout his life. Not all received grace. In 1929, the Daily Express reported, somewhat indignantly, a professor who was somewhat “conservative” who said that it would be centuries before “women approach men they are intelligent” even if they take on the “physical characteristics of men” .
“A gynecologist in Munich recently predicted that women who cut their hair will eventually grow beards. He and Professor Low should meet,” the paper said.
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