100 years ago people made 15 predictions for 2023 and some were pretty accurate

Editor's note: This article was originally published on January 6, 2023. It has since been updated.

We all are constantly worrying about what the future holds for us. We unconsciously make predictions about what could happen next and prepare ourselves on the basis of that. This fascination with the future is not new; people have been attempting to predict the far future for centuries. Paul Fairie, a researcher at the University of Calgary, created a thread on 1923 predictions about living in 2023. While some of them are untrue for now, some are hauntingly similar to everything happening in the world right now. 

His Twitter thread has gathered over 60k likes since being posted on January. Here are 15 of the most interesting predictions that Fairie noted:

1. Radio Telephones

Fairie revealed the prediction made for communication in 2023, "By 2023 there'll be no mail between New York and San Francisco. Pittsburgh and London concerns will record, on talking films, orders from merchants in Peking, and 1,000-mile-an-hour freighters will make deliveries of goods before sunset. Watch-size radio telephones will keep everybody in communication with the ends of the earth." It is completely accurate since the invention of technology and telephones has connected and globalized the world, where everything is available at the tap of a finger.

2. Four-hour work-day

This one is very close as several countries around the world have started introducing flexible timings of work. Fairie shared something predicted by Dr. Charles P. Stein- Metz, "the electrical expert, believes that the time is coming when there will be no long drudgery and that people will toil not more than four hours a day, owing to the work of electricity. He visualizes an amazing transformation in life in 2023. Every city will be a 'spotless town.' That is to be the work of electricity, also." 

3. All people will be beautiful

This prediction is not completely true as the world is still dappling with unhealthy beauty standards. However, it might be hope for the future as the prediction reads, "Beauty contests will be unnecessary as there will be so many beautiful people that it will be almost impossible to select winners. The same will apply to baby contests."

4. Eradication of Cancer

It sounds like a dream come true but is far from reality as more and more people are being diagnosed with cancer now. The prediction reads, "Cancer, tuberculosis, infantile paralysis, locomotor ataxia, and leprosy will be eradicated."

5. The U.S. population

One eerily accurate prediction was that the United States will have a population of 300 million people. The United States now has a population of over 332 million people. The prediction says, "The population of the United States in the year 2023, probably 300.000,000, will imply an immense progress in the drainage of our low lands, in the irrigation of arid lands."

6. Newspapers

This prediction suggests, "In reading a forecast of 2023 when many varieties of aircraft are flying through the heavens, we do not begin the day by reading the world's news, but by listening to it for the newspaper has gone out of business more than half a century before." 

7. Life Expectancy

According to the 1923 prediction, "A scientist says a century from now the average length of human life will be 300 years. Quite a change. We of today have been living that long about once a month."

8. Chicago to Hamburg

"A new Polar airline is opened making flights across the north pole from Chicago to Hamburg possible in 18 hours," the excerpt predicts. 

9. Women will shave their heads

This snippet predicted how gender stereotypes might get eradicated, "Good night! It is now predicted that by the year 2023 - only a mere little stretch of a century ahead - women will probably be shaving their heads! And the men will be wearing curls. Also, the maidens may pronounce it the height of style in personal priming to blacken their teeth. Won't we be pretty? - Savannah News." 

10. Men will curl their hair

"CURLS FOR MEN BY 2023 PREDICTS ANTHROPOLOGIST. Bases His Statement on the Trend of Masculine and Feminine Styles," states another prediction.

11. Private kitchens will disappear

"The private kitchen will disappear. Tomorrow's food will be seasoned and prepared by chemical formulas, which will preserve the freshness of fruits and meats, rid them of indigestible qualities, and send them to the table ready to use. Instead of sauces that merely cozen the palate, we shall have delectable blends of concentrated vitamins, calories, ferments, and tissue tonics." This prediction is far from true right now, but who knows what the future beholds. 

12. People will wear kidney cosies

A snippet reads, " 'Kidney cosies' will be worn to protect the kidneys on chilly days, just the same as a teapot in the north is kept warm by a 'tea cosy.' "

13. Life expectancy will be 100 years

"By 2023 the average life of man could be increased to 100 years. In individual cases, it could be increased to 150, perhaps 200 years," the prediction states and it is obviously proven to be false in today's times. 

14. The Canadian population

"Canada may well have 100,000,000 people. She is powerful now, with her fine equipment for transport, commerce and trade, equipment sufficient to serve twice the number of people she has today, and with a 100,000,000 population, who can set bounds to the power of Canada 100 years from now." It is not even remotely true as Canada only has a population of about 38 million people. 

15. Radio will replace gasoline

"Minneapolis Journal: It is an attractive prophecy that Glenn Curtiss, the airplane authority, gives of air flight. He predicts that by the year 2023 gasoline as a motive power will have been replaced by radio and that the skies will be filled with myriad craft sailing over well-defined routes."