What We Thought This Decade Would Be Like Vs. Reality

Gold Would Be Worthless

Thomas Edison was undeniably brilliant, but his predictions were sometimes misguided. Edison truly believed that in the future, gold would be as common and worthless as steel. He thought science would be able to convert iron into gold like it was no big deal. Though science definitely has learned to synthesize precious stones, lab-grown gems just don’t have the same value even if they look almost exactly the same as their natural counterparts.

Edison wasn’t entirely wrong though because while gold has value, it no longer has bearing on our economy. As of the 1970s, U.S. currency is no longer backed by gold, but every Cash4Gold commercial on TV proves the precious metal is definitely still worth something in 2018.