What We Thought This Decade Would Be Like Vs. Reality

Humans Would Live In Underground Cities

In 1964, author Isaac Asimov imaged the 2014 World’s Fair for The New York Times. OF course, World’s Fairs are no longer a thing, so that was his first incorrect prediction. His second was that humans would have underground cities.

“Men will continue to withdraw from nature in order to create an environment that will suit them better,” he wrote. “By 2014, electroluminescent panels will be in common use. Ceilings and walls will glow softly and in a variety of colors that will change at the touch of a push button… Suburban houses underground, with easily controlled temperature, free from the vicissitudes of weather, with air cleaned and light controlled, should be fairly common.” Some of us may only be able to afford basement apartments and are sorely lacking in Vitamin D, but it’s just not the same thing.