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19th Century Postcards Predicting the Future

Edited By: Krista M.

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If you had to predict what life would be like 100 years from now, what would you depict? The European artists who created the postcards below were asked to do just that. The postcards, created at the end of the 19th Century, illustrated scenes from the future. Each scene was showcased inside cigarette packs and chocolate boxes. Let's take a look at the fascinating illustrations that depicted the world as it was imagined to be like today:

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1. Advanced technology was predicted at school with knowledge being transmitted into students' heads through specialized headsets.

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2. Using a multi-functional machine, barbers are able to cut all their clients' hair at once.

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3. An idea that unfortunately didn't come to be! Flying taxis circling over cities giving lifts to residents.

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4. A firefighters' uniform that would enable them to fly, saving everyone and putting out fires immediately.

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5. They weren't the only ones, the police were also predicted to have a flying uniform to go after aerial criminals.

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6. It was believed that by the year 2000, a war would occur in the skies involving a battleship attached to a large balloon.

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7. The jobs of farmers would have been a lot easier with this technology. The image depicts farmers cultivating their lands simply by sitting in front of an electric device, pressing buttons and handling a lever.

Wikimedia Commons

8. A maid cleans the house with ease with the help of an electric scrubbing machine.

Wikimedia Commons

9. Ocean travel was thought to be possible too! People travel beneath the ocean by underwater buses drawn by tamed whales.

Wikimedia Commons

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