Science Fiction Predictions Hugo Gernsback Part 2

About the predictions of major sci-fi writer Hugo Gernsback and his book Ultimate World includes a number of his successful science and technology predictions.

PREDICTIONS FROM SCIENCE FICTION

Predictor: HUGO GERNSBACK

Book: ULTIMATE WORLD

Published in 1971, but written in 1959.

Successful Predictions:

* Automatically air-conditioned sports arenas.

* TV images broadcast via satellite by 1970.

* First Moon landing by 1975.

* Solar energy cells.

* Spy satellites.

* Videotaping equipment available on TV sets by 1990.

Future Predictions:

* Temperature-controlled couches (1996).

* The cosmiflyer, a 6-in. cosmic power generator strapped to one's back, is used for short-distance aerial transit.

* Self-contained atomic power plants in each home.

* Lunar bases in the Moon's interior.

* Perfume aphrodisiacs that work.

* Passenger service to the Moon.

* First sexual intercourse in outer space.

* Electronic glass pane air-conditioning units.

* Energy force fields.

* Transmission of physical objects over long distances.

* Viewers that can see through walls.

* Invasion by aliens from outer space.

* Solid objects can be resonated by cosmic wave transmitters so that they become, in effect, verbal transmitters themselves; during emergencies, the walls of a house, and the objects contained therein, reverberate with the emergency-broadcast signals. In this way, every citizen is immediately aware of a situation requiring his attention.

* Gravitational propulsion systems.

* Radiation bombs that can kill millions, but leave property intact (now under development by the U.S. government, according to news reports).

* Synthesis of the 112th element.

* World population approaching 6 billion.

* Synthetic substitutes for newsprint; the impressions on the pages of newspapers are made while the sheets are still wet.

* Amplifiers that will pick up sounds in a house 20 mi. away.

* The alien invaders of Earth can induce hypnosis telepathically, at a distance.

* Ultrasound, modulated with X rays, can blot out harmful memories from a person's brain.

* Total absorption of radar waves (a radar cloaking device).

* Atomic spaceship propulsion.

* Regeneration of human limbs from cancerous cells.

* Weather control.

* Controlled lightning used as a weapon.

* Sound bombs.

* Watches that register the time from signals broadcast by TV stations.

* Computers translate 10 languages simultaneously.

* TV images are projected 6 ft. in front of the set, giving the impression that the speaker is really standing in the empty space before the viewer.

* Manned spaceflight to Jupiter.

* Telepathy (mind reading and communication).

* The ability to increase human intelligence with brain implants.

* Mining of lunar resources.

* Radioactive radio waves.

* Space patrols to clear away abandoned space junk.

* Tampering with human genes to produce hereditary improvements in the race.

* Atomic flash-ray lamps to photograph minute internal parts of the body.

* Use of X rays in outer space as a power resource.

* Atomic-powered lights.

* Ultrahigh-frequency electronic baths to remove dirt and other foreign particles from the human body.