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35 Prognosticators Who Came Up Short — Or Stunned the World

The bull’s-eyes and missed marks of the prediction game

35 Prognosticators Who Came Up Short — Or Stunned the World

August 13, 2024

In this prediction coin flip, some people looked like geniuses, and others looked like complete dolts. But hey, that’s what you get for making bold statements. Good on you for your risk taking. Personally, we can’t handle that kind of pressure. We’re happy to just sit back and see how it all plays out.

So let’s get the judgment train rolling, shall we?

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35

Tired: gold. Wired: steel. THOMAS EDISON HADRIATTE CRACKED.COM Edison was convinced we were on the verge of dispensing precious metals like a Taco Bell soda fountain. And what would we do with the power of alchemy? Devalue gold and turn all our furniture into cold, hard steel. — Source

34

There's simply no demand for YouTube. YOUTUBE COFOUNDER CRACKED.c COM Cofounder and СТО Steve Chen once said there's just not that many videos I want to watch. Strange that a man with zero foresight could accidentally invent a perpetual motion propaganda machine! — Source

33

AT THE SAME TIME ENEMY WARSHIPS FIRE ON PEARL HARBOR, HAWAII.. NATIONAL COMICS #18 DEPICTED UNCLE SAM DEFENDING PEARL HARBOR NATIONAL IT RELEASED WAS IN 10° NOVEMBER, 1941. AMERICA'S HERO UNCLE SAM CONSTITUTE ON DECEMBER 7, 1941, JAPAN ATTACKED PEARL HARBOR GRACKED.COM — Source

32

AIRPLANETT THE SEQUEL an SCANNERS THAT GENERATE NAKED IMAGES OF PASSENGERS? SURELY YOU CAN'T BE SERIOUS. CRACKED.COM — Source

31

IN 1987, APPLE RELEASED A PROMO VIDEO IMAGINING FUTURE TECHNOLOGY. time IT SHOWED A TABLET COMPUTER WITH VIDEO CHAT AND VOICE-BASED SEARCH. The scene was supposed to take place on september 16, 2011. The iPad ended up coming out in 2010. The first Apple tablet with a voice- based assistant (siri) came out september 2011, within two weeks of the date the video predicted. CRACKED.COM — Source

30

THE 2005 SHOW EXTRAS FEATURES A FICTIONAL HOLOCAUST FILM STARRING KATE WINSLET. SAYS WINSLET, CYNICALLY: DO A FILM ABOUT THE HOLOCAUST, YOU'RE GUARANTEED AN OSCAR. Fast-forward to 2008, and Kate winslet has a leading role in The Reader, a Holocaust film. Despite getting mixed reviews, it scores winslet an Oscar for Best Actress. CRACKED.COM — Source

29

A FORGETTABLE 1995 HBO MOVIE CALLED ABOVE SUSPICION FEATURED CHRISTOPHER REEVE. ...AS AN OFFICER CONFINED TO A WHEELCHAIR. This film aired May 25. May 27 was the day of Reeve's horseback riding accident. The movie where he plays a paraplegic was released just two days before he landed in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. CRACKED.COM — Source

28

Michael Jordan won't carry this franchise. CHICAGO BULLS GM LLS CRACKED.COM General Manager Rod Thorn was almost apologetic that there was no one taller he could have drafted: What can you do? Jordan isn't going to turn this franchise around. — Source

27

Torome 13 Torbin DOME 167 CV Mondensator HOMES SOLK CRACKED COM In the '60s, architects thought dome homes would catch on because they would totally shrug off damage from hurricanes and other natural disasters. Buyers rejected them because they looked completely bloody stupid. A — Source

26

FLYING CARS Honderson SOLA 3218 fe CRACKED.COM Henry Ford had a plan for cheap, easy-to-use, personal planes everyone can own. A plane in every driveway! Then his prototype (avoidably) crashed during a test flight, and Ford scrapped the whole idea. S — Source

25

Horrible Predictions

Audiences don't want to hear actors. A WARNER BRO. CRACKED.COM H.M. Warner thought silent movies were the height of cinema: Who the hell wants to hear actors talk? — Source

24

Terrible Predictions

FEMALE 50 EVOLUTION DECEMBER 1950 1950 O , 2000 GRACKED.COM The woman of the year 2000 will be will be more than six feet tall, wear a size 11 shoe, have shoulders like a wrestler and muscles like a truck driver. -Associated Press. True for some women. AP also predicted, She may even be president. — Source

23

HOME 50 5 APPLIANCES 1955 CRACKED.COM Nuclear-powered vacuum cleaners will probably be a reality within ten years. -Alex Lewyt, vacuum company president. We have nuclear power today, but it makes a lot more sense to produce it centrally than to stick a reactor in every appliance. — Source

22

50 DEMOCRACY 5 1936 CRACKED.COM Democracy will be dead by 1950. -John Langdon-Davies, British journalist. Yeah, it got hairy there for a bit, but they haven't quite managed to get rid of democracy so far. — Source

21

50 REMOTE 5 DIAGNOSES 1905 CRACKED.COM The Popular Mechanics version of medical video conferencing included an electric handshake that touches you from afar. That didn't come to pass. And if it did, you know we'd have it shaking body parts for decidedly non-medical purposes. — Source

20

50 AVAILABILITY 5 OF MEAT SEPTEMBER 1913 GRACKED.CON If current trends continue, Americans in the 21st century will live as the low-caste Chinaman does now, on rice and vegetables, and like him, slothful creatures, anaemic and without initiative. -Gustav Bischoff, Meat Packers Association — Source

19

GRAGKED.COM two lesser stars, or satellites, which revolve about Mars...- Jonathan Swift, describing the Red Planet's moons in his 1726 novel Gulliver's Travels. Phobos and Deimos, discovered in 1877 by Asaph Hall — Source

18

A 1995 student PSA featuring 5th graders from Helena, MT not only correctly proclaimed By the time we're in college, the Internet will be our telephone, television, shopping center, and workplace. ка The Greatest Thing in Lin ADA It also hinted at the Internet's future infatuation with felines. I even found a recipe for cat food cupcakes! CRACKED.COM — Source

17

Video Games

CRACKED COM THE VIDEOGAME TOM CLANCY'S GHOST RECON UNCANNILY PREDICTED THE RUSSIA - GEORGIA WAR. RELEASED IN 2001, THE GAME WAS SET IN APRIL 2008 - JUST R FEW MONTHS BEFORE THE REAL WAR. — Source

16

CRACKED COM When the Treaty of Versailles was signed, officially ending the First World War in 1919, French Marshal Ferdinand Foch responded... THIS IS NOT PEACE. IT IS AN ARMISTICE FOR TWENTY YEARS. The Second World War started in 1939. — Source

15

And in her ears the little Seashells, the thimble radios tamped tight, and an electronic ocean of sound, of music and talk and music and talk coming in, coming in on the shore of her unsleeping mind. -Fahrenheit 451 Well, It seems that Ray Bradbury knew something that we didn't CRACKED.COM — Source

14

TV won't last 6 months. 20TH CENTURY FOX CRACKED.COM Studio exec Darryl Zanuck predicted that people will soon get tired of staring at a plywood box every night. Staring at that box is the only thing that gets us through the day! — Source

13

50 THE INTERNET 5 DECEMBER 1995 CompuServe Internet Services - - The - Lineer - : - - a - - = tomat - iw Mappy CRACKED.COM I predict the Internet will soon go spectacularly supernova and in 1996 catastrophically collapse. -Robert Metcalfe, the inventor of Ethernet. Не said he'd eat his words if he were wrong. And so he did, sticking a magazine page in a blender then eating the goop with a spoon. — Source

12

50 DEMOCRACY 5 1936 CRACKED.COM Democracy will be dead by 1950. -John Langdon-Davies, British journalist. Yeah, it got hairy there for a bit, but they haven't quite managed to get rid of democracy so far. — Source

11

50 THE BEATLES 5 FEBRUARY 1962 CRACKED.COM We don't like the sound. Guitar groups are on their way out. -Dick Rowe, head of artists and repertoire at Decca Records. The Beatles then went on to some success, as did rock music in general. — Source

10

55 MOVING 50 5 HOUSES JULY 1971 CRACKED.COM The house of the future would have no roots Gone would be water pipes, drains, power lines; the autonomous home could therefore move, or be moved, to anywhere on earth. -Arthur C. Clarke. Не wasn't predicting RVs, which already existed. — Source

9

50 5 TRAINS 1850 8 SIERRA RAILROAD GRACKED CON Rail travel at high speed is not possible because passengers, unable to breathe, would die of asphyxia. -Irish professor Dionysius Lardner. We do have high-speed trains now, as well as even faster transport methods. — Source

8

CRACKED.CON 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) Apple iPad (2010) — Source

7

Poltergeist

A FOOTBALL POSTER IN POLTERGEIST SAYS 1988 SUPER BOWL XXII. 1988 SUPERSON XXII WHICH IS WEIRD, BECAUSE THE FILM WAS RELEASED IN 1982. In 1988, on the day of super Bowl XXII, Poltergeist actress Heather O'Rourke happened to be living in san Diego, the city where the game was taking place. she suddenly became violently ill and died the following afternoon. CRACKED.COM — Source

6

H.G. Wells

H.G. WELLS FIRST WROTE ABOUT THE ATOM BOMB IN A 1914 NOVEL CALLED THE WORLD SET FREE. IT WOULD BE DECADES BEFORE SCIENTISTS MADE THE BOMB REAL. wells didn't even know the bomb was possible. не just knew a little bit about radioactive decay, and thought if we ever split an atom, it would probably make a really big boom. CRACKED.COM — Source

5

In 1932's Evening News LATE KELLY SPECIAL FYOOS Brave New World, - - SALE - - Meet Louise, the world's Aldous Huxley first test-tube arrival described in-vitro fertilization. SUPERBABE BRAVE NEW WORLD Wide-eyed Louise Brown pictured la hospital 18 booms after the ... born Today the's doing well for Page Three In 1978, the world greeted Louise Brown, who was the first ALDOUS HUXLEY test-tube baby. CRACKED COM — Source

4

NICKI MINAJ PREDICTED HER COUSIN'S DEATH, WITH A SONG. Why'd you have to leave in July? On a peaceful and serene summer night... Why the doctors could not stop the bleeding... Now you see you not bullet proof... I could've told you about my intuition ... Why'd you have to go so soon? -We Miss You A year after Nicki wrote this, her cousin Nicholas Telemaque was gunned down in July and left to bleed to death. CRACKED.COM http://www.nydailynews. com/news/crime/nicholas-telemaque- 27-shot-death-brooklyn-street-leaving-nightclub-article-1.155416 — Source

3

WARREN ZEVON PREDICTED HIS OWN DEATH. His song The Factory ends with these lines: Kickin' asbestos in the factory Punchin' out Chryslers in the factory Breathin' that plastic in the factory. Zevon died from advanced malignant mesothelioma, which is usually caused by inhalation of asbestos. That wouldn't be so odd if Zevon wrote that song from his personal experience, but he didn't. Не never worked in any such risky environment himself and had no reason to believe he was at risk of mesothelioma. CRACKED.COM www.nytimes.com/2003/01/26/magazine/warren-zevon-s-last-waltz.htm/?pagewanted=all&src=pm — Source

2

ALBERT BROOKS PREDICTED REALITY me TV IN 1979. FILMING THANKSGIVING His mockumentary film Real Life featured an obnoxious, intrusive camera crew trailing a family and deliberately stirring up conflict. It was meant as a sendup of a PBS documentary series, but with the twist that most of the drama was generated artificially by the producer. CRACKED.COM http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/real-life-1979 — Source

1

IN THEIR PILOT EPISODE, THE LONE GUNMENTHWARTED A PLOT TO HIJACK A PLANE AND CRASH IT INTO THE WORLD TRADE CENTER. (Cue X-Files theme music.) It aired in March, 2001. CRACKED.COM https://youtube@ruMG2hHSLo — Source

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