In 1966, the BBC tasked a group of children with predicting what they believed the 2000s would hold.
The group of UK kids were educated at Marlborough College, Roedean and Chippenham schools and were asked to air their concerns for the future.
Some children believed robots would dominate, with people attending funerals for deceased machines, while others were busy dictating artificial intelligence armies from their base on the moon.
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Another said they believed a 'cabbage pill' would be developed, while a third claimed atomic bombs would begin 'dropping around the place', causing the Earth to 'melt' and become inhospitable.
Interestingly, the idea of an atomic bomb flattening the world was popular, with another kid claiming a 'madman' would get their hands on one, blowing the world to smithereens.
Thankfully, none of these predictions has yet to come true. However, some other children were eerily spot on the money.
The rise of battery farms
“Sheep and cows and livestock, they will be kept in batteries, they won’t be allowed to graze on pastures, they’ll be kept in buildings all together,” said one child.
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According to statistics published in 2023, 99 per cent of livestock in the US were factory-farmed in 2022.
If the idea of animals being forced to live together in small proximity is abhorrent, then we do have some good news.
Last year, Humane World for Animals reported that 40 percent of hens used for eggs in the United States are now cage-free!
Technology will take over our lives
Another of the children said: “I don’t think it’s going to be so nice, all machines everywhere, everyone doing everything for you, you’ll get all bored, I don’t think it will be so nice.”
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Of course, technology has come on by leaps and bounds since 1966. There are streaming services, cloud computing, and the invention of the lithium-ion battery in the 1980s which powers our smartphones and portable electronic games devices.
However, a report by Save the Children UK said the youth of today are 62 per cent less likely to play outside and climb trees than their grandparents were.
What’s even more worrying is that 42 percent of US children have a smartphone by the age of ten, while a whopping 91 percent own one by the age of 14, as per The Guardian.
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New research published this year has shown there to be a direct correlation between increasing smartphone use and spending less time playing outside, as outlined by The Telegraph.
Automated jobs and increased population
One boy noted to the BBC: “I don’t think there is going to be atomic warfare, but I think there is going to be all this automation, people are going to be out of work and a great population, and I think something has to be done about it.
“If I wasn’t a biologist, that’s what I’d like to do, to do something about the population problem, try and temper it somehow, I don’t know how.”
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According to stats published by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), AI’s rapid development could put eight million jobs at risk.
Meanwhile, LSE writes that roughly 47 percent of all careers could one day become automated by AI.
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Regarding the child’s issues with population, the US has grown exponentially since 1966.
In the year the group were speaking, it’s estimated that 196,560,338 people lived in the county. When compared to the approximate 347,275,807 people who currently inhabit the US—that’s a pretty big jump.
However, the rate of population growth across the world is slowing down.
UN News claims women are having one child fewer on average now than they did around 1990. The global fertility rate is also less than half the rate (5.3) of those giving birth in 1963.
More people living in flats than houses
One girl claimed that people wouldn’t be able to live in ‘ordinary’ two-up-two-down houses in the 2000s because of a lack of space.
Instead, she predicted they would be ‘piled on top of one another’ in apartment blocks.
According to statistics, 9.2 percent of homes in New York City are detached one units, while a whopping 48.4 percent of buildings comprised of 20 or more units.
So, it appears where New York City is concerned, the little girl was right—more people are living in apartments than houses.
Of course, this isn’t the case for every city on Earth. But, a correct prediction is a correct prediction, right?
Topics: New York, Technology, US News, Nostalgia, BBC
Ella Scott