32 Retro-Futuristic Predictions That Show How People Once Imagined the Future

There's something endlessly charming about looking back at the way people in the early 20th century imagined the future. Flying cars on every highway, radios built into hats, video calls on handheld mirrors - it's all equal parts wild, whimsical, and strangely accurate. Sometimes they nailed it (hello, FaceTime), sometimes they were hilariously off (radio hats never quite caught on, sadly), but all of it reflects the optimism and creativity of a time when technology seemed like pure magic.

These 32 examples show how past generations dreamed about tomorrow—and whether they got it right, wrong, or somewhere in between, the imagination is what makes them timeless.

01
Video calls! 1930

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02
In car navigation. 1950s

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03
The food delivery of the future as imagined in 1940s.

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04
Television newspaper!

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05
Self driving cars of the future, 1960s

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06
“Ship’s Cat” By Keith Spangle.

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07
The future of phones, 1956.

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08
James Bond receives a “text” via his smartwatch in the Spy Who Loved Me. 1977

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09
1970s futuristic concept for jetliner air travel

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10
Japanese vision of the future classroom

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Is that a robot beating the child for getting a question wrong?!
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11
VR made by NASA in 1989.

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12
Space colonies of the future as imagined by NASA in the 1970s

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13
Fashions of 1950, as predicted on the cover of Life Magazine in 1914.

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14
1981 vision of suburbia after there’s no more room left for suburbs.

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15
Shopping from home as imagined in the 1940s.

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16
Futuristic road trip with the Family created by Bruce Mccall.

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17
Soviet vision of the future in the 1930s.

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18
Futuristic Netherlands, drawn in 1970.

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19
The 2020 Olympics on the moon!

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Jokes on them, the 2020 Olympics was cancelled because of a global pandemic
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20
Absolutely ridicules space suits

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21
Teen-agers of the 21st century.

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22
Nuke-proof underground city below Manhattan, 1969. (Created by Oscar Newman).

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23
The Air Curtain Entrance, 1956.

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24
Radio Hat, 1949.

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25
Farming in the 21st century, 1958

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26
Vacations on the Moon

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27
Thanks to the magic of Nuclear Energy!

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28
An express ocean liner in the year 2000, as imagined in 1931

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29
Is everyone floating on the water thanks to balloons?!

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30
Giant pinball rail, 1946

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31
A flying, driverless car, 1960.

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