A History of the Future

Jules Verne was one of the "experts" making predictions.

Verne, who was considered the father of science fiction, wrote
more than 20 novels in the late 1800s. In his books, From the
Earth to the Moon (1865) and Around the Moon (1870), he
make predictions about the way a modern space program
would work. He correctly foretold the shape of the space
capsule, described weightlessness in space, and even
imagined the capsule's splashdown at sea.

In other books, Verne created imaginary vehicles like

the Nautilus, an ancestor of the modern day submarine, and the Albatross, a huge
helicopter which needed 75 propellers to get off the ground. Unfortunately, Vernes most
imaginative vehicle has not yet been perfected: An airship that could instantly change into
a tiny submarine or the world's fastest car.

Visions of the future also made their way onto movie screens. Fritz Lang directed one of
the most famous movies about tomorrow's world, Metropolis, filmed in 1926. The movie
featured a city that was run by a giant "heart machine"moviedom's first computer villain.
This "heart machine" forced people to work in cruel underground factories. At the film's
end, the people destroy the machine and are free again.

In 1936, H.G. Wells wrote the film Things To Come, took viewers through 100 years of
prophecies. Wells made a mistake predicting the date of the first moon landing. He thought
it would be in 2036; While Wells focused mainly on our planets trusted companion, the
moon, his prediction actually seems to more accurate for the year that humans will first
land on Mars! Elon Musk, the face of SpaceX company, predicts his company will have
humans on the Red Planet by 2025. While this prediction might seem hopeful, Musk is
taking it one step farther. He is revealing his architectural plans for the complete
colonization of the planet in the fall of 2016.

Read and answer.

1. What did Jules Verne do in the late 1800s?

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2. What was Albatross?
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3. Did Wells predict the date of the first moon landing correctly?
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4. What was the name of the most famous movie about tomorrows world?
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5. Did people of the past predict future only in books?
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6. Who made predictions about future?
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