From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Prediction is hard, especially that of the future. Psychics and would-be prophets often give exact details of what is about to happen and when the day passes, their followers conveniently forgot they ever said anything of the kind. And they remember mainly those that happened to come true.
However, would-be psychics are hardly the only people prone to making wrong conclusions — scientists may make inopportune predictions based on faulty data or conservatism.
Science fiction is often set in the future, but is very rarely intended to be an actual prediction of events to come; a timeline of fictional future events is listed elsewhere.
Many predictions have been conventionally vague but that is not the case of the following ones:
- 1761
- April 5: destruction of London according to a soldier named Bell.
- 1899
- "Everything that can be invented has been invented." - attributed to Charles H. Duell, director of the US Patent Office
- 1919
- Conjunction of 6 planets would make sun explode, according to meteorologist Albert Porta
- 1925
- End of the World according to Jehovah's Witnesses
- 1943
- "I think there is a world market for maybe five computers." - Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM
- 1977
- "There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home." - Ken Olson, founder and president of Digital Equipment Corporation
- 1981
- "640K ought to be enough for anybody." - attributed to Bill Gates
- Kingdom of Heaven according to the Unification Church (rescinded).
- 1982
- End of the world according to Pat Robertson.
- Jupiter effect, astronomical alignment of planets on the one side of the sun would cause lethal solar flares - according to US authors John Gribben and Stephen Plagemann.
- 1985
- "(by 1985) Machines will be capable of doing any work Man can do." - Herbert Simon, US Nobel laureate
- 1988
- Rapture according to The Late, Great Planet Earth by Hal Lindsey
- 1991
- End of the world (attributed to Mother Shipton)
- 1998
- May 31: Rapture according to evangelist Marilyn Agee
- July 5: X-Day according to the Church of the SubGenius
- 2003
- May 15: end of the world according to Pana Wave Laboratory (later changed to May 22)
