17 Crazy Illustrations That Show How People Imagined the Future 100 Years Ago
Art
03/15/2019

The future has fascinated people in all periods of history. This is why we always dream of creating a time-travel machine. But we don’t have one now so all we can do is use our imagination. The artists of the past also tried to imagine what the world would look like in the future. They managed to foresee some of the changes, but some have clearly missed the mark.
We at Bright Side can’t travel to the future but we traveled to the past to see how the artists of that time imagined the future.
A sound letter — in the past, people already realized how many of us would love sending audio messages.
A woman having her hair done by multiple robots
Boots for traveling around the city fast. Today, we use scooters and hoverboards!
Our ancestors thought we would use radium to heat our homes.
This is probably the prototype of a skyscraper.
A sky bus in Bordeaux, France
An electric Paris train in Beijing
This picture, “Mountain air cure” shows an airship flying over the mountains with people who have health troubles. No, we still haven’t created such a thing...
Maybe one day we’ll see fish-riding in the Olympic games. But definitely not in this century!
“Listening to a newspaper” is probably the idea for a radio!
It’s great that the hunters of today don’t have such things.
We already have robot vacuum cleaners!
There are a lot of automated things in construction sites, but not quite to this extent.
This is an unusual house on wheels!
The artist created wings for this postman but didn’t know people would stop sending paper letters one day.
Underwater fishing is a strange way to spend your free time so we don’t do it.
A robot that makes clothes specifically for every person. Well, considering how many sizes there are nowadays, the idea is not so far from reality.
Which of these pictures seemed the most incredible? Tell us your thoughts down below!
Preview photo credit Villemard / commons.wikimedia
Comments
Get notifications
I'm glad we don't go fishing underwater! ?
Reply
Related Reads
12 Moments That Prove Kindness Doesn’t Need to Be Loud to Matter

People
04/17/2026
12 Moments That Teach Us to Keep Kindness and Compassion, Even If the World Turns Cold

People
03/25/2026
12 Moments That Seemed Completely Hopeless, Until Happiness and Love Found Their Way

People
04/16/2026
10 Moments That Show Quiet Kindness Is the Only Answer the World Waits For

People
03/25/2026
13 Stories That Prove One Act of Compassion Rewrites an Entire Life

People
03/30/2026
15 Home Renovation Nightmares Nobody Saw Coming and Nobody Could Stop

Home
05/03/2026
10 Kind Millionaires Who Revealed the Quiet Secret to Their Money

Curiosities
03/27/2026
My Sister Tried to Guilt Trip Me Into Free Babysitting, My Backlash Left Her Speechless

Family & kids
03/17/2026
15 Stories That Teach Us Empathy and Kindness Are Things Nobody Can Ever Buy

People
04/10/2026
12 Airport Stories That Prove Laughter and Surprises Make the Best Travel Companions

Curiosities
04/29/2026
13 Moments That Show Kindness and Empathy Bring Love Into Hard Days

People
03/29/2026
I Absolutely Refuse to Pay on My Boyfriend’s Mom Birthday Dinner, They’re Not My Family

Family & kids
03/28/2026
















