Back in 1966, the BBC undertook an intriguing project, asking a group of children to envision what the year 2000 might look like.
This group, consisting of students from Marlborough College, Roedean, and Chippenham schools in the UK, was encouraged to share their thoughts and concerns about the future.
Some of the children foresaw a world dominated by robots, with people holding funerals for their mechanical companions, while others imagined commanding armies of artificial intelligence from a lunar base.
One child speculated about the invention of a ‘cabbage pill,’ whereas another anticipated a world where atomic bombs would be used indiscriminately, causing the Earth to become inhabitable.
The notion of nuclear destruction was a recurring theme, with one child predicting that a ‘madman’ might eventually acquire an atomic bomb and destroy the world.
Fortunately, these dire predictions have not materialized. However, some of the children’s forecasts were uncannily accurate.
One child envisioned a future where livestock would be “kept in batteries” rather than grazing freely, stating, “Sheep and cows and livestock, they will be kept in batteries, they won’t be allowed to graze on pastures, they’ll be kept in buildings all together.”
According to 2023 statistics, 99 percent of livestock in the US were raised in factory farms in 2022.
For those who find the idea of factory farming appalling, there is a bit of hope.
In recent years, Humane World for Animals reported that 40 percent of egg-laying hens in the United States are now living cage-free.
Another child remarked, “I don’t think it’s going to be so nice, all machines everywhere, everyone doing everything for you, you’ll get all bored, I don’t think it will be so nice.”
Indeed, technological advancements have surged since 1966, with the rise of streaming services, cloud computing, and the development of the lithium-ion battery in the 1980s powering our smartphones and portable electronic devices.
However, according to a report by Save the Children UK, today’s youth are 62 percent less likely to engage in outdoor play, such as climbing trees, compared to their grandparents.
What may be more concerning is that, according to The Guardian, 42 percent of US children own smartphones by age ten, and this number jumps to 91 percent by age 14.
New research published this year by The Telegraph highlights a direct correlation between increased smartphone usage and reduced outdoor playtime.
One boy told the BBC: “I don’t think there is going to be atomic warfare, but I think there is going to be all this automation, people are going to be out of work and a great population, and I think something has to be done about it.
“If I wasn’t a biologist, that’s what I’d like to do, to do something about the population problem, try and temper it somehow, I don’t know how.”
According to data from the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), the rapid advancement of AI could threaten approximately eight million jobs.
Moreover, LSE notes that nearly 47 percent of current jobs could potentially be automated by AI technology in the future.
The concerns about population growth raised by the children are worth noting. Since 1966, the US population has increased significantly.
In that year, it was estimated that 196,560,338 people resided in the country. This figure has grown to approximately 347,275,807 people today, marking a substantial rise.
However, the global population growth rate is showing signs of slowing down.
According to UN News, women, on average, are now having one child less than they did around 1990. Additionally, the global fertility rate has dropped to less than half of what it was in 1963 (5.3).
One girl predicted that due to space constraints, people wouldn’t live in traditional two-up-two-down houses in the 2000s.
Instead, she foresaw people living in apartment blocks, “piled on top of one another.”
Statistics indicate that in New York City, 9.2 percent of homes are detached single units, while 48.4 percent of buildings consist of 20 or more units.
Therefore, at least in the context of New York City, the girl’s prediction holds true—more individuals reside in apartments than in houses.
While this trend isn’t universal for every city globally, the accuracy of the prediction remains noteworthy.