Many of these are not even predictions, and most are badly sourced and out of context. E.g. the guy who foresaw no further progress for engines of war in 84 CE

Many of these are not even predictions, and most are badly sourced and out of context. E.g. the guy who foresaw no further progress for engines of war in 84 CE was definitely right for the next few hundred years. But one quotation that I'm really taking issue with is the one about Sir Walter Scott dismissing public gas lighting. Far from that, Scott was actually a dedicated promoter of gas lighting in its early years, as evidenced by his tenure as the First Chairman of the Edinburgh Gas Street Lighting Company: http://www.scotlandmag.com/magazine/issue30/12007614.html http://www.scotlandmag.com/magazine/issue30/12007614.html But when was a little bit of historical research an obstacle in the way of feeling good at the expense of people who lived hundreds of years ago?