25 Weird Old Predictions For The 21st Century

[@Officialhelpkenet]

Setting an oil fire in the sea sound like the worst idea ever

[@MentalFloss]

Our fact-checker tried to explain Kaempffert's thought process to make sure we get the wording right, and at a certain point just threw his hands up and admitted, "It didn't make a lot of sense." 😆

[@johnstevenson9956]

@@MentalFloss Maybe not as bad an idea as using hydrogen bombs on the farm.

[@MentalFloss]

@@johnstevenson9956 Haha. I wasn't clear when we filmed if the hydrogen bombs were being used intentionally to promote mutant produce, or if the monster turnips were just one positive outcome in our H-bomb-ravaged hellscape.

[@carlos.-.618]

Remember BP?

[@seanbaugh3239]

@@carlos.-.618 Pepperidge Farms Remembers

[@oxcamel]

Please do a List Show with future predictions that were accurate.

[@Mate397]

That'd be a short episode as practically NONE came to be.

[@MentalFloss]

​@@Mate397 To be fair to the prognosticators, a lot of people had vaguely correct predictions. E.g. no one predicted that CMOS sensors and wifi would allow photographs to be taken and sent immediately, but many intuited that color photographs would be possible and would somehow be able to be transmitted quickly. (Indeed, at times their predictions in this realm were too conservative.)

[@AmarthwenNarmacil]

@@MentalFloss My ~90 year old grandma was totally flabbergasted when I explained to her that I didn't film the youtube video I was showing her on my phone myself. She called it "Works of wonder". I think it blew her mind. She also said "Oh, you have that too!" when googled I something. 😂😂😂

[@johnstevenson9114]

"Beets me" Oh peas

[@damienpeers6274]

In Georgia, it's forbidden to eat fried chicken with a knife and fork. Fingers are the only acceptable tools for chomping on some crispy chicken. This Gainesville, Georgia ordinance, passed in 1961 as a way to get publicity for the town, explicitly outlaws eating fried chicken with anything other than your hands. Although the "law" isn't really taken literally, and is rarely enforced, one visitor was arrested for using a knife and fork to eat her fried chicken in 2009. Gainesville Police Chief Frank Hooper reportedly informed 91-year-old Ginny Dietrick that it's against city ordinance to eat fried chicken, "a culinary delicacy sacred to this municipality, this county, this state, the Southland and this republic," with anything other than your fingers.

[@larapierce80]

In my dad’s hometown of Baldwin Park, California it is illegal to ride your bike in a swimming pool. Back in the 1940’s-50’s my dad and his friends used to ride their bikes home after school or after playing in the orange groves, and to cool off they’d ride their bikes into the city’s public pool. He’s always thought they may have had something to do with that law. 🤣

[@andyquanzhou]

3:07 When you said "we can make it rain" I pictured something else

[@MentalFloss]

Lol so did we, every time we read/heard it. 💸💸

[@shiningarmor2838]

I was a bit more concerned about the 4:36 comment about water sports.

[@seanbaugh3239]

😲

[@janemiettinen5176]

World without coffee? If that ever happens, take me behind the barn and put me out of my misery. My morning coffee is 6 cups, just to get me out of the door. I call it the nectar of the gods, which it is. _”..from my dead, cold hands!”_

[@doddjustin]

I wonder how Tesla felt about an Irish coffee then...

[@bjf10]

Boston - DC sure seems like a mega city to me.

[@TheInselaffen]

What would a 900 year old look like? "Well." - The Doctor.

[@idontanswerquestions9879]

Organon “When 900 years old you reach, look as good you will not. Hmm?” -Master Yoda

[@Faharis]

In Iceland its illegal to drive off road. A lot of tourists dont know and a lot of younger people dont care but since our ground soil is shallow our main vegitation cover is what's called a biocrust, made of moss and shallow rooted grass. A vehicle driving through tears the crust leaving the loose sandy soil underneith to just blow away, creating a patch of expanding sandpits as the moss around the tear continues to die as the soil weathers away.

[@KryssLaBryn]

That one makes perfect sense though. The law in BC, Canada about not sleeping naked, less so haha

[@sabikitsune5517]

(Supposedly) Parts of the UK have laws prohibiting the handling of salmon in a "Suspicious Manner." No mention is made of what constitutes the suspicious handling of fish. And I either really want to know, or really really don't...

[@MentalFloss]

😂😂😂

[@mystfaex8794]

Well said! Lol👏👏

[@MentalFloss]

PS hope you checked out the "weird laws" episode...kzbin.info/www/bejne/mWjHpGOtiKiAgLs 😉

[@RingPop14]

People in the past thought future humans would be smart

[@Mate397]

With all those weather based predictions no wonder Cobra has an obsession with Weather Dominators.

[@MentalFloss]

LOL. 25 Evil Organizations From Children's Toy Media That Presaged The Future of Our Planet.

[@Prospector32]

Some strange laws from Canada. We can be a bit backward up here too. In British Columbia it’s illegal to kill a Sasquatch. In Victoria BC, street entertainers aren't allowed to give kids balloon animals. In Alberta it's against the law to paint a wooden ladder. In Alberta it’s illegal to set fire to the leg of a wooden-legged man. In Fort Qu’Appelle, Saskatchewan it’s illegal to walk down the main street with untied shoes. It's Illegal to whistle in Petrolia, Ontario. According to the town's website, "Yelling, shouting, hooting, whistling or singing is prohibited at all times." Purple garage doors are against the law in Kanata, Ontario. It is against the law to eat ice cream on Bank Street on a Sunday while in Ottawa, ON. In Etobicoke, Ontario it’s illegal to have more than 3.5 inches of water in a bathtub. It's illegal to unhinge somebody’s front gate in Wolfville, Nova Scotia. In Halifax, Nova Scotia, taxi drivers are not allowed to wear T-shirts or shorts. It’s illegal to intentionally ring any doorbell or knock at any door in order to disrupt, disturb, or annoy any person in his home or place of work, in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. So much for being a door to door salesperson.

[@MentalFloss]

Hahah this is very impressive. #SasquatchesArePeopleToo

[@patrickmccurry1563]

If sasquatches existed, then it would be illegal to kill one as they would be a severely endangered species.

[@KryssLaBryn]

@@patrickmccurry1563 Yes; lived in BC at the time they passed it, and that's the rationale behind the law. Sort of a "they may or may not be real, and we aren't going to make any decisions about that; but if they are, then they will need protecting immediately, so let's do it now and protect them up front, just in case" sort of thing.

[@damienpeers6274]

In Arkansas, you can't honk your horn near a sandwich shop after 9 p.m. According to one law set in place by Little Rock, Arkansas, "no person shall sound the horn on a vehicle at any place where cold drinks or sandwiches are served after 9:00 p.m." It's unclear how enforced this law is, but the likelihood is that a cop would have to be at the right place at the right time to truly enforce this law. Stay on the safe side and avoid honking your car horn near any Subways after-hours.

[@MentalFloss]

We filmed on Friday afternoon, but both of your suggestions actually ended up in the script-wish we could've given you a shout-out, but clearly great minds think alike! 😉

[@Mlle_Bleue]

As late as the 1990s, in Quebec City, there was still a law on the books forbidding one from letting one's pig loose in the city's many stair cases. The law dated from the late 18th c. I don't know if it's still on the books today, though.

[@MentalFloss]

😂😂

[@KryssLaBryn]

Until at least the 90's in BC (and probably still, so far as I know), it was illegal to sleep naked, which on a hot night particularly is bullshit, lemme tell you. XD Ends up that it takes actual effort and legislation and stuff to repeal laws, so for most of the now-silly ones, it's much easier and cheaper to just stop enforcing them. But doing so does leave all sorts of hilarity still on the books!

[@ZsaZsaUmbra]

The first few just got the dates wrong. People (and their morals) are evolving much more slowly than predicted.

[@JonMayerGuy]

Even as an avowed meat-eater, I'll grant that you may be correct when it comes to meat. But do you really see an end in sight for coffee?

[@ZsaZsaUmbra]

@@JonMayerGuy haha no! I was referring to the newspaper headlines. Tesla obviously never had a mocha latte* or he wouldn't have made such a stupid prediction! *with either dairy or plant based milk lol

[@techsmechs4454]

Morals evolving 😂 you melt. Morals are entirely circumstantial based on time and location. It's funny that you have the privelege of judging people, from the safety of outside of the food chain, in modern society, entirely because early Genus Homos became omnivores. It's funny for two reasons; 1 - We evolved to eat meat, fact. What makes you assume it's any form of evolution to revert back to veganism? 2 - Its because we started eating meat, 2.4 million years ago, that our brains evolved, as they did allowing us to communicate and create working social hierachis and infrastructures, dominate the food chain and become the dominant genus. Why do you assume it's any more 'moral' to consume plants when they evolve as we do, live and die as we do, feel as we do and communicate as we do? Plant based life forms work, in tandem, with insects, to survive and grow, they overcome issues via intelligent evolution and some plants are even carnivorous. They live and they die. Meanwhile, you following a trend (which boils down to tackling overpopulation and climate change) supposedly makes you a better person 😂 Tell me something, if we all become vegan, what happens to the billions of livestock in the world? I can answer that question, they die. Nobody is paying to keep them alive without the industry surrounding them and, because of their great numbers, they would likely not even get a humane death, it'd be a global slaughter, animals like these are natural pray and have no defensive capabilities, they're alive because we have uses for them. We don't need to all stop eating meat, we need less people and you vegans can crack on not eating, I'll still be consuming at will. Consider yourself as superior as you need to but you're the one being led and following trends, you're not evolving into anything except weak genes that need supplements to avoid deficiencies

[@ZsaZsaUmbra]

@@techsmechs4454 Melt? I'm basing my morals on the here and now. Privilege* The entire moral argument for veganism IS that we are "outside of the food chain." People no longer eat meat out of necessity, it's a choice. And to a vegan, it's an immoral one. "Facts" numbered 1 and 2 are contradictory. How could humans have "evolved to eat meat" if our prehuman ancestors were already "eating meat 2.4 million years ago?" Evolve- I do not think it means what you think it means. Also your dates are way off, as is your understanding of pretty much every biology term you've misused. Revert to veganism? Humans have never been herbivores. Ever. In fact, I don't believe there has ever been an herbivorous hominid in history. (BTW to anyone reading this, herbivorous hominid is gonna be the name of my new band. Once I learn to play an instrument. And make friends...) Omg I can't even with you. I give up. I've been vegan for 26 years. We just called ourselves vegetarians back then, and people would ask us if we ate chicken and fish "cuz they aren't animals." Your silly hypothetical questions and statements are just so base and basic. There is literally a meme with every stupid thing you've said, Google "defensive omnivore bingo." I'm turning my notifications off. So see ya later sausage sucker.

[@techsmechs4454]

@@ZsaZsaUmbra facts 1 and 2 are not contradictory, 2.4m years ago is the point at which we evolved to become omnivorous. Although they're our ancestors, they're still part of the same genus and so the evolution does apply to us. Previously we were not meat eaters. "I base my morals on the here and now" is a nonsense statement; you are not basing your morals, you've just learned them and "the here and now" is a statement with an ever changing definition, the here depends where abouts you are and the now is constantly changing and affecting the morals of the 'here'. Good luck with 'your' morals and congratulations on thinking you've figured out the future of evolution, despite not understanding the evolutionary past .

[@uberchops]

Man I wish number 17 came true. Doing Laundry and going clothes shopping have lost their charm pretty quickly for me. Clothes are for winter.

[@MentalFloss]

Haha! This article may interest you: www.nytimes.com/2020/02/04/dining/nudist-cooking-naked.html?algo=top_conversion&fellback=false&imp_id=307307711&imp_id=497608598&action=click&module=trending&pgtype=Article&region=Footer (debatably NSFW, though it is the NYT, so not exactly X-rated)

[@RIXRADvidz]

Quit Following Fashion. establish Your Style. buy only those clothes, I cleaved my wardrobe way down after I retired from work, t-shirts, sweat pants, and jeans, one blazer for nice dress but that's it. it's easy, just find what you feel best in.

[@uberchops]

@@MentalFloss I.... I can't believe Mental Floss might well be pushing me over the edge into becoming a nudist. Whatta world. My roommates are going to be so upset when they find out.

[@johndemeritt3460]

This presentation shows exactly why university-trained professional futurists don't make predictions about the future -- and why scientists, technologists, and entrepreneurs are really bad at making predictions. The truth is that whether a "prediction" comes true is largely dependent on whether common folk choose to adopt the technologies being offered. People have to have reasons to adopt technologies, and if they can't figure out how those technologies will fit in their lives, they won't adopt. Of course, there's always the issue of what hurdles innovations have to overcome. For example, the idea of simplifying English sounds good; however, there's the practical issue of implementing the idea and getting people to adopt it. In this case, once people have a large enough vocabulary and have mastered spelling rules reasonably well, there's no incentive to simplify -- they've already put in the effort to master English grammar, syntax and spelling. And with most word processing programs today, automatic correction algorithms are generally the default feature, so simplifying English spelling rules won't gain one anything. What university-trained futurists actually do is help people recognize the assumptions they make about the future in order to expose the many alternative futures people are currently blind to. Once exposed to the much wider range of futures than they expected, people can make informed -- and hopefully intelligent -- choices about the futures they are creating. So, please, take away these two points about the future and people who make "predictions" about the future. First, avoid anyone who says they know what the future will be. The futures those people project may happen for some, but many others will not share those futures. Second, scientists, inventors and entrepreneurs tend to make remarkably bad predictions about how humanity will live in some future time. That's because they may know a lot about the science they're doing, working with, or selling, but they know much less about the social constructions that guide what people will adopt or reject. So listen carefully to the scientists, inventors and entrepreneurs and ask what untested assumptions they're making about the technical hurdles their innovations have to overcome and the reasons others might choose to adopt those innovations.

[@MentalFloss]

That's a great distinction, between what is scientifically possible and what is actually embraced by society. I also love the idea that futurists should expand the number of alternative futures we find conceivable-it's sort of like an Overton Window for our own minds. There are similar analogies in all sorts of scientific disciplines and pursuits. To name just one: when we think of discovering intelligent life beyond earth, it's very hard to envision something that doesn't, in some way, mirror life as we know it (i.e. reliant on water, or carbon-based-even the SETI project relies on ET's using/receiving radio waves, last I checked). (Of course, some type of incorporeal intelligent life might not be relevant to us, anyway, if there's no way for us to interact with it, but that's a different question entirely.)

[@franl155]

George Bernard Shaw also advocated spelling phonetically, but the problem then is what it still is: WHOSE pronunciation would be used as the standard? In Shaw's case, it would no doubt be English as spoken by middle-class university-educated white Englishmen - this was that kind of era, after all. Should it be American? which accent? BBC English? Cockney? Brummie, Scouse, Glaswegian? [] Arthur C Clarke wrote in the 50s that personal helicopters would spell the end of cities as people would be able to commute to work from their homes in the country

[@dragonskunkstudio7582]

7:00 There was a book in the children side of the library on promoting families casually being naked together with pictures. This is weird I thought as I quickly put it back to make sure no one saw me looking at this.

[@ZoidFile]

I don't know where you live, but in some parts of Europe this is far more common than you might hope for.^^

[@dragonskunkstudio7582]

@@ZoidFile This occurred in Montreal in the early nineteen eighties. I don't hope either way as at the time I was just a kid.

[@dadoctah]

If you're into weird predictions, try to find a copy of a book called "Criswell Predicts: From Now to the Year 2000". It was published in 1968, and consists of a series of short chapters each predicting something that will happen by the end of the century. Some are perfectly sensible (Miss America in some year will be a black woman from Illinois, a southerner will be elected president) and some are just bizarre (buildings in one city will mysteriously turn into rubber; another city's residents will suddenly become cannibals). The book ends with the end of the world in October of 1999. I used to get a lot of laughs reading this after the first couple of years had gone by. Yes, this is the same Criswell who narrated the intro to the movie "Plan Nine from Outer Space".

[@MentalFloss]

Can't believe we didn't see this as we were writing the script! Plan Nine! "This isn't 'Plans 1 through 8from Outer Space', this is 'Plan 9', this is the one that worked!"

[@dawne6419]

Heinlein predicted in one or 2 of his novels that the back third or half of the 20th century would be called the Crazy Years because that's when we'd go off the rails (culminating in a religious dictatorship starting in 2012). Don't think he's wrong in general, although naturally the details do vary. Also, one of the proponents for simplified spelling was Col McCormick, publisher of the Chicago Tribune. He dropped letters all over the place (trafic, catalog, etc) and replaced others (fotograf); there may have been more. But if you look at Tribune archives for those years, you'll see he really tried to put his principles into action.

[@20thcenturytunes]

My father graduated High School in 1959, and he remembers his English class writing on "What would the year 2000 be like" and with Sputnik and JFK's to the moon speech and tons of B Grade space flicks - The Class of '59 hoped for flying cars, no hunger/war/poverty and moon travel as common as plane travel. One cant stifle the human imagination and hope for a better tomorrow.

[@sjoerdwennekes]

Dear Mental Floss, Thank you for converting the American measurement that you use, into global ones. But you don’t have to convert them so extreme precise. For example: at the 10:37 mark you say 400 to 500 miles, and on screen it shows 643.7 to 804.7 km. This is way too precise and also too confusing to read and interpretate in such a short time. If you would have written 650 to 800 km, it would have given us the same information and also been much better digestible. Just round the figures up, in the same way how you have rounded the miles up to 400 and 500. Hope this feedback helps you to make your videos more accessible to your non-American viewers.

[@MentalFloss]

Thanks, we've discussed this very issue, as we don't want to be inaccurate, but of course don't want to give info that can't be meaningfully processed, either. We'll definitely take your feedback into consideration!

[@Reelix]

Or they could use the same unit of measurement used by 98% of Humanity.

[@robingarvin-mack]

@@Reelix 94.24% (approx)

[@Reelix]

@@robingarvin-mack I stand corrected :)

[@robingarvin-mack]

@@Reelix 😁😁😁

[@shrinebox]

*Re: Prediction # 20: Science-fiction writer Robert Heinlein also predicted that in the future, moving sidewalks would be the dominant form of mass transportation in America. In 1940, Heinlein wrote a story about moving roadways titled "The Roads Must Roll."* Reference: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Roads_Must_Roll

[@seanmalloy7249]

And the roadways addressed the problem of speed by having multiple strips, with the outer strips at walking speed, each strip as you moved inward moving faster, until you reached the high-speed strips on the inside.

[@adamishaw]

I wish Mental Floss would make videos out of all their History vs Roosevelt podcasts

[@MentalFloss]

Oo that's an interesting idea. Do you mean to literally just post the audio to YT, as some podcasts do, or you're really saying to make video versions w/ accompanying visuals?

[@adamishaw]

Mental Floss make the videos have visuals like this one I’m commenting on.

[@artkincell]

Those illustrations look very steampunk-y.

[@MentalFloss]

Oo, we definitely should have mentioned steampunk-I feel like it's probably the most popular retrofuturist aesthetic these days. 💨💨🚁

[@artkincell]

@@MentalFloss Retro-futurism-on-an-alternate-timeline is my interpretation of steampunk.

[@Remixthisgaming]

ISS also looks like a star at sunrise/sunset

[@MentalFloss]

Oo, I'd never seen those photos before-beautiful!

[@Mattteus]

Now I have the Rhema song 21st Century stuck in my head.

[@MentalFloss]

How did I not know about this movie?? *A guitar-shaped spaceship and Robot 1359 (voiced by Peter Cullen), search the universe for the source of rock and roll music.* kzbin.info/www/bejne/hnjSpoafarWZhKc

[@caywal000]

In Mohave county AZ if you steal a bar of soap your punishment is to wash with it until it is all gone.

[@LunaBari]

That is a creative law.

[@MentalFloss]

Haha! Isn't that also the reward for successfully stealing a bar of soap?

[@danielm.1441]

So pleased you're flashing up metric equivalents on screen now!! :D

[@MentalFloss]

😀I'm curious, would you agree with another commenter who suggested making the equivalents less precise, and more "round #s" that are probably easier to read quickly, even if they're a bit less accurate?

[@danielm.1441]

Well I think the accuracy is fine as it is, perhaps just leaving the equivalents to linger a little longer on screen would solve the issue?

[@KryssLaBryn]

@@MentalFloss Rounding is fine with me. I'd suggest making the metric equivalents as precise as those you are using for the imperial measurements (rounding to the nearest 50 or so? Same for metric. Accurate to two decimal places? Ditto). Canadian myself. We can think in inches and feet just fine, but miles are a pain, and don't even get me started on Fahrenheit for weather temperatures lol

[@Quokkat7]

3 types of clothes? Thats me lol

[@MentalFloss]

I did think of the Steve Jobs types who wear/wore a daily uniform. Maybe us 5-outfit-havers are just behind the times. 😆

[@pms4906]

I don't even have 3. I have one. If someone doesn't like what I'm wearing, they can look at someone else.

[@MentalFloss]

P M S 😂

[@ianlister7333]

on the one hand "Noah of Arc fame" I like that, but on the other, shipping all people over 80 to the moon, I like that idea.

[@cherylcampbell9369]

I will never leave my beloved planet.

[@ianlister7333]

@@cherylcampbell9369 but that will be the rules in future.

[@otakuribo]

i hereby volunteer for early moon exile

[@cherylcampbell9369]

@@ianlister7333 as if i haven't skirted rules before. I'll stay here. Y'all can go and colonize and dominate elsewhere. Ima stay here and celebrate with the Indigenous. Good riddance. Lol!!

[@ianlister7333]

@@cherylcampbell9369 what do you know about me and skirts? but seriously do you really think we are capable of colonizing another planet? seriously look at the world around you? we are not even capable of NOT electing Donald Trump, we wont ever leave this planet on mass, until we change our ways "bigly"

[@Liggliluff]

(2:30) I don't think we should get rid of C, but only use it as "CH", such as "chair", "channel", "chocolate", "cheer", "such", while the "CH" that sounds like K should be replased with K: "karaker", "kemistry", "kansellor", "dakshund". C making K and S sounds should be replased by such. Just aksept spelling C by the sound it makes and that will be the modern English spelling. That's how easy it kan be to make a spelling reform. The reform will have an akselerated effect. The English alphabet can then be updated to be. A B CH D E F G ... where CH is called Chee or Etch

[@Kenkire]

Springfield, OR has, or used to have a law that said you must keep your pet alligator or chicken on a leash at all times in public parks.

[@MentalFloss]

I mean, you wouldn't want a pet alligator *off* leash, would you? 😆

[@scottbilger9294]

That's a relief

[@tomgraves6463]

That was when chickens had teeth and the municipalities could issue citations and fines to anyone standing near an unleashed alligator. 😉😉😉😉😉😆

[@RIXRADvidz]

the Jetson's was a good look at the future. video phones, push button lifestyle, apartment living vs stand alone home, pointless jobs, and comedic interludes that conclude in 22 minutes. LIfe's Good in the Future. I wish we were a little closer to SeaLab 2020, That was a good Future show.

[@hifijohn]

dont forget a dog named astro

[@kayrose6670]

To be fair there have been a fair amount of pseudo meat products released in the past few years such as the beyond meat and the impossible burger

[@jamesslick4790]

"Pseudo Steak" is a good name for a band.

[@MentalFloss]

Their bass player: Al G. Barr

[@Cythil]

I am pretty sure that the man-made star was not intended to be a real star since you described it as reflecting sunlight. So it would just be a space mirror. I am pretty sure they knew what they where talking about even if no space mirror has yet to be lunched for the propose of illuminating the night (Even if there was some talk about china doing that. Astronomers hate the idea. The moon is bad enough for them. >_< ) Also those dome shaped movie theatres are a thing. And 4D movie theatres is generally what we call movie theatres that combined not only a 3D aspect. But also other sensory input. And those became a reality not long after the prediction. Today you see them mainly in amusement parks. So to me it does not sound like to wild predictions and not to far off. The tech for both are at least a thing today. But is also the case that the tech did not blow us away as much and did not become as ubiquitous as people sometime expected. I think Video Telephone is a great example of that. A feature most people actually can carry in there pocket today that is almost never used. Yet people as late the 90's though it would be the big thing when it come to making phone calls in the future.

[@yukalue]

One of my favorite laws in Utah is that it's illegal to hit a bird on the highway

[@KevinicusPD]

4D theaters do exist, but more as a special short attraction at carnivals and amusement parks, and never really made the jump to the mainstream, likely due to the prohibitive nature of producing a full- length movie with such effects in mind.

[@KryssLaBryn]

Expo '86, the World's Fair in Vancouver, BC, in 1986, had a full-dome theatre. It was a neat effect; but also a giant pain in the ass, what with, as you say, having to turn around to see stuff happening behind you. It also meant that you could only have fairly small groups of about 10-15 people, since otherwise your vision would be blocked pretty quickly. Staggered seating is a LOT more practical for giving lots of people a decent view!! They also had a wrap-around screen at another exhibit, which was about 180 degrees, and that was a lot cooler, and, frankly, more immersive than the 360 degree one was. And of course you only had to turn your head a bit to see the whole thing, which does allow it to work better with current seating layouts. Simiolar effect to an Imax screen, except of course curved. But to be honest, neither version compares to VR, I think because VR seamlessly even runs under your feet. But having personally experienced all of them, yeah, VR is far superior, and far, FAR more immersive. The Spirit Lodge at Expo '86 was my absolute favourite exhibit, though; I gather it ended up at Six Flags later? It combined live actors lip-synching to a pre-recorded voice track with holograms projected onto a pane of glass between the stage and the audience with a couple simple practical effects to put you into a First Nations lodge, with a fire burning away, and a Medicine Man talking about things (I think the past and future of transportation, the theme of the expo that year being "Man in Motion") that would then form in the smoke of the fire as he talked. At the end, he himself turns into smoke, and flies up out of the smokehole in a smoke canoe. It was really, really cool and left a profound impression upon me. VR is still the best, though. I can't quite decide who is the luckier: younger generations, for getting to grow up with it the way I grew up with going to the movies; or my generation and those older, for getting to experience life with only TVs and movie theatres, and getting to come to things like VR as a middle-aged adult, and having that simpler technology as my baseline for comparison, and getting so blown away by VR? Well, it's fantastic either way. Saving up for an HTC Vibe!! :D

[@dtrainbcca]

Dont get a Vibe get a Vive. But seriously an Oculus is better. I'm from bc as well. I faintly remember the theater.

[@alexnewmann25]

what is the yellow scarface book in the back?

[@MentalFloss]

"Scarface and the Untouchable: Al Capone, Eliot Ness, and the Battle for Chicago" by Max Allan Collins & A. Brad Schwartz 📕📕

[@alexnewmann25]

@@MentalFloss Thanks

[@MrA2Zor029]

Mental Floss! Good content but why is the AUDIO mix so OFF? The THEME TUNE is barely audible. If I turn it up then the Presenter is BELLOWING & I have to rip my headphones off to save my hearing!! love Steve Holliday

[@MentalFloss]

Thanks! RE: the audio mix, it's a bit tricky. The way headphones (and indeed, people) interpret the difference between spoken words and music can vary quite a bit. If you look at old episodes, you'll see some complaints about the LOUD intro music. We decided to err on the side of a quieter intro, since most people will be setting their volume to optimize the presenter's voice, and didn't wanna blow their ear-drums out when the intro starts. I realize that's probably not the most satisfying answer, but didn't want you to think we were ignoring your note. In any case, thanks for watching (and listening) :-)

[@MrA2Zor029]

@@MentalFloss! Thanx for your considerate reply! Could we please have the theme tune just a WEE bit louder. Please? love Steve holliday

[@MentalFloss]

@@MrA2Zor029 Lol- just for you, I'm gonna make sure we bump it (just a bit!) for the next episode!

[@MrA2Zor029]

@@MentalFloss! Bless You. love Steve Holliday

[@danielm.1441]

I thought it was fine? As someone with poor hearing I often find the opposite (theme tunes are excessively loud & then I can't hear the presenter). The important content is with the presenter not the theme tune.

[@augustwest5356]

You guys just keep nailing content for the over 14/somewhat educated crowd. Keep up the good stuff!

[@Liggliluff]

(2:10) Why wasn't the last one converted to metric? Metric does not use basketballs, washing machines, horses or whatever else you can come up with.

[@jaquanmiller9886]

Fact: The year 2000 was last year of the 20th century. The 21st century started in 2001.

[@jamesslick4790]

"Casual Nakedness" is a good name for a band.

[@secretaltruism4174]

My favourite silly law is that in Western Australia it is illegal to have more than 50kgs of potatoes.

[@Chemnerdy]

Restaurants in Wisconsin cannot only offer margarine for your table, butter must also be provided. Most places either don't have margarine in the first place, or you have to specify ask.

[@MentalFloss]

I'm guessing this is a nod to the state's dairy industry, but what kind of restaurant would put margarine on your table in the first place?

[@Chemnerdy]

From what I heard in school it dates back to when margarine was the brand new shiny thing, and considerably cheaper. I don't know why you would want margarine when you can have butter considering butter tastes 1000% better and it's an actual food.

[@TheFinktron]

I have a 1945 Popular Science magazine that predicted we would soon have self-driving cars that would use radar to follow the correct directions to get us where we want to go.

[@shrinebox]

*Re: Retrofuturism: reading William Gibson's story "The Gernsback Continuum" is highly recommended.*

[@gh0stmast3r]

It's still very much illegal to spit on the sidewalks in most states.

[@tomgraves6463]

Im ok with that

[@puppies.and.pumpkin]

In some parts of Connecticut, it's illegal to walk backwards after sunset.

[@MentalFloss]

Would love to know the story behind that law getting written...

[@thefoxoflaurels3437]

Got 80 years left y’know

[@shirosenshiesq]

Predictions for the 2010s: Mental Floss will go from being a respected magazine to a Facebook page/KZbin channel combo that works primarily as a shill for credit card companies and Amazon deals, repeating old articles on a weekly basis.

[@couplescounseling6256]

I'm sure people standing on the moving sidewalks seem annoying but please remember that some people are disabled and walking could be hard for them. They are most likely standing there to rest for a minute while still being able to get to where they need to go. I have a disability that causes random moments of weakness in my legs so when I have to walk long distances it helps to be able to just stand for a minute while the sidewalk helps me walk. I can't even count the number I've times I've literally been shoved out of the way even though I stay on only one side of the walkway. Disabled people exist and sometimes there's a reason for things like that.

[@MentalFloss]

That's a good point, and one we didn't consider when writing/filming. Good reminder that empathy is a good place to operate out of, rather than snarkiness (even though snarkiness can be so fun!)

[@splace51]

Where's my Rosie, Flying Car, Foodaracka machine, and other things the Jetson's had in their 21st century

[@seanbaugh3239]

*#1 Weird Prediction for the 21st Century :* Bass heavy flatulence will replace the handshake and be used as a greeting or to finalize an agreement. 🤝🚫 : 1/1/2001😁😖🍑💨🎶🎷💩🤗 *The More You Know🌈🌟* *"NUFF SAID"*

[@njlosek]

Here are two from Ohio: In Ohio it's illegal to kill a housefly within 160 feet of a church without a license. And You cannot eat a doughnut and walk backwards on a city street in Marion, Ohio.

[@MentalFloss]

Haha there are a surprising number of laws that prohibit walking backwards in some fashion!

[@oldschoolm8]

Kinda proves that for every “visionary” prediction from a notable figure in the past, there were plenty of silly ones too.......We tend to edit those parts out!

[@MentalFloss]

We had one staff member who was adamant that we not include Nostradamus on the grounds that he simply made too many predictions. "Even a broken clock..." kinda thing.

[@oldschoolm8]

Mental Floss, as if you throw so many ideas at a wall, something will stick! I’ve always kind of thought that of Nostradamus. It gets pretty absurd and conspiracy theory-ish when he “predicted” events like 9/11.....c’mon, seriously?!

[@Zeldaschampion]

I agree with Tesla. Alcohol is an elixir of life.

[@genequist3859]

Love how she just dismisses the predictions when we're only a fifth of the way through the century.

[@LolaCrazy2221]

Allthough you came close when you mentoined personal planes in the video you didn't mention anybody in the past predicting flying cars in the future. Intresting.

[@gennybaratta2460]

Paris once had a law that woman couldn’t wear pants

[@MentalFloss]

Ha! We're specifically looking for outlandish laws that are still on the books, but otherwise that's a pretty good (and by good, I mean bad) one!

[@CateB9]

“... depending on which scientific studies you believe.” I can’t get past this, my mind is spiraling about which scientific studies should or shouldn’t be believed. How can I know which to believe and which not unless scientists tell me which are true and which are false.

[@michaelmills5972]

You missed Heinlein's "rolling roads".

[@MentalFloss]

Another great one! Honestly the whole video could've been Heinlein predictions (or at least ideas, even if they weren't truly predictions), but we wanted to get a number of different prognosticators in there.

[@Martsigras]

The Irish for Whiskey is "uisce beatha" which means elixer of life

[@MentalFloss]

Oo maybe a mini-episode on "alcohol etymologies"!

[@Martsigras]

@@MentalFloss if you're looking for a guest host... just sayin

[@CalvinLimuel]

guys the intro music is way quieter than the content

[@LaikaLycanthrope]

Well, futurists thought beef and other meats would be a thing of the past because the demands of an exploding human population would mean that pasture would have apartment blocks built on them instead, so of course humans would have to grow lichen on the roofs for to eat.

[@d_e_a_n]

The world will end in 1914 The world will end in 1925 The world will end in 1975 Thanks for the laugh Jehovah’s witnesses.

[@d_e_a_n]

Chenee Thompson At least their predictions seem spot on.

[@d_e_a_n]

Chenee Thompson You mean the extreme shunning of people (including family) who dissociate, or the child abuse policies?

[@d_e_a_n]

Chenee Thompson All sales people seem nice. Mormons are incredibly nice. They have mid week sales meetings essentially. They are trailed to sell a product. It’s a publishing company. The people that knock on your door are actually called publishers! They sort of have turned more into a real estate company, having their buildings built with free labour and then a few years ago signing all these over to watchtower (and cancelling their debt while telling them to keep for dining the same amount indefinitely) and now selling tons and tons of them as they merge congregations. It’s a masterful plan.

[@RIXRADvidz]

@@seanbaugh3239 no, my luck, it will end a month after I die. I miss everything

[@lesgraham6602]

Your so right the witness are such a pain in the back side.

[@marcoklaue]

Portugalete, a city on Spain's northern coast, has moving sidewalks.

[@TheFinktron]

Don’t forget the silly idea shown by Dick Tracy that people would have picture phone wristwatches. Oh, got to go, my iWatch has a call coming in.

[@Apophis324]

Strange laws you say? Would our Dutch butter law count? It's the sole reason we are not allowed call it peanut butter, though I did see a recipe for 'butter' made of apple skins, that would totally break the butter law.

[@MentalFloss]

Is it true that you call it peanut cheese (or, you know, the equivalent in Dutch)?

[@Apophis324]

This is certainly true. It's not real butter after all :3

[@MentalFloss]

@@Apophis324 I know, logically, that peanut cheese makes just as much sense as peanut butter, but it still just *feels* so wrong.

[@Apophis324]

Haha, I don't really think of it much anymore, but I'd say butter is more fitting, in a sense, maybe.. Now that I think of it, maybe MentalFloss has already reported about this law before...

[@mvd_begins]

Ms.McCarthy, you are an awesome Mental Floss List Deliverer (sorry, I don't know the right term for ya)

[@evandavis5223]

I think of something very different when I hear watersports, but that's because I'm a terrible person.

[@Elmojomo]

you too?

[@RIXRADvidz]

anybody remember Ark 2 ?? a group of young scientists and their sentient chimp, go around helping to recover civilization after ecological disaster destroys Man's World.

[@pat6429]

Can we please change the lighting on Erin? It's very distracting that I can see up her nose.

[@EnderMcCloud]

For the next episode of Strange Crimes You May Be Committing: When riding your bike you must keep at least one hand on the handlebars at all times. Any person cannot carry beer or any alcohol in a container larger than 2 liters. In Provo, it is prohibited to through snowballs. Sodomy. Sex out of marriage. Adultery. And I swear I once read that it is illegal to have sex in any position other than missionary, but I can't find it now...that is outside of Virginia and North Carolina.

[@masansr]

People having a personal flying transport for weekends in 2030s isn't that impossible. Autogyros cost about the same as a new car already (unless you build it yourself) and are very hard to crash, thay just haven't caught on yet.

[@leytonjay]

Three types of clothes; casual, work and formal. That's exactly what I've got now, though I frequently just wear a t-shirt to work and dressing gown and lounge pants at home, even in the afternoon in winter. Comfortable bed-type clothing to wear all day at home is a big thing in the UK. Some people walk or even drive to the local shop in slippers and dressing gowns which I think is slovenly and taking it too far. Get dressed for fuck's sake. I saw a woman dressed like that in a really horrible pub once. I assumed she was the landlord's wife but she left, crossed the road and went into her house.

[@donnatrudeau889]

I would speculate that simplified spelling is taking care of itself, from what I have seen, and I include myself in this statement, fewer people read for pleasure than ever before. I learned most of my spelling from books, not text books but fiction and biography...computers are contributing to making this occupation obsolete.

[@DeliveryMcGee]

Boston-DC-Baltimore kinda is Megacity One in all but name.

[@ChevyZ28K10]

Why haven’t we be funding the underwater adventures like this?! I would love to take a magic school bus ride from a whale

[@shrinebox]

*Nicolas-Edme Restif de la Bretonne (1734-1806), a French writer best known for his pornographic works, wrote a (non-sexual) fantasy about a flying man named Victorin. It was illustrated with engravings depicting Victorin's adventures, and one picture in particular shows Victorin wearing a "flight suit" very similar to those in the early 20th century French illustrations you show in prediction #13.* For reference: www.pinterest.com/pin/491947959265588628/

[@Blastercadre]

In certain places in America the police can seize and prosecute your property even though they don't have enough evidence to charge you with a crime.

[@MikeDawson1]

FYI the compression on this video is pretty bad

[@mycocorleone4771]

holy shit. i forgot this was a channel 😮

[@dadoctah]

If you replace the letter C with Ks and Ss, how would you spell the word "church"?

[@MentalFloss]

Khurkh? (I don't think we found details on how Watkins in particular thought the letters would be replaced, but I believe I remember something from someone coming up where C would = "Ch" and K would = C.

[@klairdelun456]

I'd want to ride a lobster to work

[@afragilebird6209]

Premarital sex is technically illegal in the state of Utah

[@EmmaSpAce111]

Retro-futurism I get smacked in the face by the fallout franchise

[@ymagier3d]

Up to 2007 in France it was illigal by law for woman to wear pants

[@TheAdamDundas]

In Michigan it is illegal for a woman to cut her hair without her husband's permission.

[@mystfaex8794]

Imax?

[@tomgraves6463]

10:26 Aaaaaaaand the flat earth movement began claiming evidence. So yea.... prediction of some sort. (Insert symbol of puzzled expression and shrugging shoulders) 😕

[@MentalFloss]

The fact that the "shrug emoji" doesn't exist on KZbin gives me frequent "premoji" (www.thecut.com/2020/02/78-new-complex-emotions.html)

[@DavidFMayerPhD]

BosNYWash DID happen. It IS a huge city, not legally, but actually. Take a plane or train on that route and you will see what I mean. NO DARK REGIONS whatsoever.

[@MentalFloss]

We debated to what extent it qualifies as a mega-city, but I think 2 things kept us from using any stronger language to suggest it had somehow achieved true supercity status. 1) The cities aren't really meaningfully connected in any kind of way that translates to daily life. I.e., is there a single person who commutes from Boston to Baltimore? Maybe if we had super-high-speed rail, but even the Acela Express makes it almost a full day journey from Boston->DC. and 2) Our director is from an area between NYC & Boston that is decidedly *not* urban, or even suburban, really. But this one definitely belongs in the "still could turn out correct" column for me, personally.

[@iheresss]

Korea and Japan produce the beet's size peaches.