3 ms·

> "He will live fifty years instead of thirty-five as at present – for he will reside in the suburbs" Clearly a fake article. Language is anachronistic. Also l

> "He will live fifty years instead of thirty-five as at present – for he will reside in the suburbs" Clearly a fake article. Language is anachronistic. Also life expectancy in 1900 was not 35 years, but closer to 50: http://www.demog.berkeley.edu/~andrew/1918/figure2.html http://www.demog.berkeley.edu/~andrew/1918/figure2.html

mmastrac 17y ago
Here's a scan of the original article, found by Googling the title: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_sGYULzoQCgA/RiR7L_dyCLI/AAAAAAAAAdU/2COTRQtZAk8/s1600-h/Ladies+Home+Journal+Dec+1900+paleofuture+paleo-future.jpg http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_sGYULzoQCgA/RiR7L_dyCLI/AAAAAAAAAd... This comment says that it's available on microfilm: http://paleo-future.blogspot.com/2007/04/what-may-happen-in-next-hundred-years.html?showComment=1197791820000#c5523051432288129428 http://paleo-future.blogspot.com/2007/04/what-may-happen-in-... Here's a source article with more information: http://paleo-future.blogspot.com/2007/04/next-hundred-years-milwaukee-herold-und.html http://paleo-future.blogspot.com/2007/04/next-hundred-years-...
- ramanujan 17y ago
  My bad. Might be the only time my Snopes radar was off -- struck me as similar to some of those "faux old" articles. Anyway, I'd delete my original comment, but evidently too much time has elapsed. Serves me right for writing "Clearly" :)...Hopefully at least the life expectancy link in it was informative.
  - mmastrac 17y ago
    It was informative still- I was surprised that the average lifespan was only 45. It does make some sense I suppose: penicillin was still thirty years away and there wasn't a single vaccine yet.
    - sabat 17y ago
      The vaccine had been invented more than 100 years prior to 1900. I'm not sure how wide-spread they were at that point, but the vaccine was invented some time in the 18th century. Antibiotics -- you're right, not discovered yet in 1900.
      - mmastrac 17y ago
        I stand corrected. Wikipedia lists some interesting proto-vaccines in the 1800s and earlier (including one for smallpox). There was a major increase in the availability and breadth of vaccines in the 1900s, but a lot of groundwork was already laid before that. Thanks for the correction.
IsaacL 17y ago
In fairness, I thought that when I read that line too - it seems almost too perfect. Goes to show that, despite all the quotes about world markets for five computers, sometimes yesterday's futurologists were right.

mmastrac 17y ago

Here's a scan of the original article, found by Googling the title: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_sGYULzoQCgA/RiR7L_dyCLI/AAAAAAAAAdU/2COTRQtZAk8/s1600-h/Ladies+Home+Journal+Dec+1900+paleofuture+paleo-future.jpg http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_sGYULzoQCgA/RiR7L_dyCLI/AAAAAAAAAd... This comment says that it's available on microfilm: http://paleo-future.blogspot.com/2007/04/what-may-happen-in-next-hundred-years.html?showComment=1197791820000#c5523051432288129428 http://paleo-future.blogspot.com/2007/04/what-may-happen-in-... Here's a source article with more information: http://paleo-future.blogspot.com/2007/04/next-hundred-years-milwaukee-herold-und.html http://paleo-future.blogspot.com/2007/04/next-hundred-years-...

ramanujan 17y ago
My bad. Might be the only time my Snopes radar was off -- struck me as similar to some of those "faux old" articles. Anyway, I'd delete my original comment, but evidently too much time has elapsed. Serves me right for writing "Clearly" :)...Hopefully at least the life expectancy link in it was informative.
- mmastrac 17y ago
  It was informative still- I was surprised that the average lifespan was only 45. It does make some sense I suppose: penicillin was still thirty years away and there wasn't a single vaccine yet.
  - sabat 17y ago
    The vaccine had been invented more than 100 years prior to 1900. I'm not sure how wide-spread they were at that point, but the vaccine was invented some time in the 18th century. Antibiotics -- you're right, not discovered yet in 1900.
    - mmastrac 17y ago
      I stand corrected. Wikipedia lists some interesting proto-vaccines in the 1800s and earlier (including one for smallpox). There was a major increase in the availability and breadth of vaccines in the 1900s, but a lot of groundwork was already laid before that. Thanks for the correction.

IsaacL 17y ago

In fairness, I thought that when I read that line too - it seems almost too perfect. Goes to show that, despite all the quotes about world markets for five computers, sometimes yesterday's futurologists were right.