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Forget flying cars. When scientists and sociologists in 1923 offered predictions for what life might look like in a hundred years, their visions were more along the lines of curly-haired men, four-hour workdays, 300-year-old people and "watch-size radio telephones." 

That's according to Paul Fairie, a researcher and instructor at the University of Calgary who compiled newspaper clippings of various experts' 2023 forecasts in a now-viral 

They include projections about population growth and life expectancy, trends in personal hygiene, advances in industries from travel to healthcare and even some meta-musings on the future of journalism itself. 

"In reading a forecast of 2023 when many varieties of aircraft are flying thru the heavens, we do not begin the day by reading the world's news, but by listening to it for the newspaper has gone out of business more than half a century before," wrote 

 (which was neither identified nor entirely off-base).

Fairie told NPR over email that he's always loved looking at old newspapers, first for an elementary school project (on microfiche), then as a political science Ph.D. student and now in his free time. 

"Since last summer I've been sharing themed collections of clippings on Twitter, and I thought it might be fun to look at what people were thinking about 2023, but 100 years ago," he wrote. "Digging through archives is a fun hobby — it's weirdly relaxing to read about what people were thinking decades ago." 

He also thinks it's revealing that many of these century-old predictions were about things people worried about at the time and that remain a source of concern for some today. 

For instance, predictions about men curling their hair appear to stem from "a general worry about anything that challenges gender norms," while talk of a four-hour workday is seemingly part of a larger conversation about the promise of automation. 

Some predictions proved way more prescient than others (consider it a sliding scale between smartwatches and telepathy). Fairie says his big takeaway is "just to be modest about the certainty of predictions a century out." 

"If there's one thing I've learned from putting this together," he writes, "it's that I have absolutely no idea what a century from now will be like." 

Here's a selection of the — understandably rose-tinted — 2023 predictions he found, and how they panned out. 

Several seers described a world full of healthier and more beautiful people (though only one explicitly linked those two ideas). 

 the eradication of cancer, as well as tuberculosis, infantile paralysis (also known as polio), locomotor ataxia and leprosy. 

 "Fewer Doctors and Present Diseases Unknown; All People Beautiful." 

"Beauty contests will be unnecessary as there will be so many beautiful people that it will be almost impossible to select winners," they continued. "The same will apply to baby contests." 

Some focused on the personal grooming and style trends that made up the standard of beauty itself. 

, reportedly versed in masculine and feminine trends, declared "curls for men by 2023." A similar prediction appeared in the 

, which also forecast that women will "probably" be shaving their heads. 

"Also the maidens may pronounce it the height of style in personal primping to blacken their teeth," it added. "Won't we be pretty?" 

Some newspapers predicted that the average person would live longer in 2023, though the exact amount varies based on whom you ask. 

, though certain individuals could make it to 150 or even 200. Another 

"Quite a change," the article reads. "We of today have been living that long about once a month." 

For context, the expected lifespan of someone born in the U.S. decreased last year to 76.4 years — the shortest it's been 

In another optimistic outlook, mathematician and electrical engineer 

 predicted that people would spend even less time working ("No More Hard Work By 2023!" 

Steinmetz believed "the time is coming when there will be no long drudgery and that people will toil not more than four hours a day, owing to the work of electricity," the paper declared, adding that in his vision "every city will be a 'spotless town.' " 

And where exactly would all these people be spending their (long and leisurely) lives? 

Several publications posited that technological and industrial advances would make more parts of North America more habitable, estimating 

 population at 300 million and Canada at 

Yes and no: The latest estimates from Worldometer put the U.S. population at 

Naturally, there were also advances to dream about in science, technology, transportation, communications and other fields. 

First, the products: One writer proposed that 

," which they compared to teapot cozies for one's internal organs. Another posited that utensils and dwellings will be made largely of "

 predicted that by 2023 "gasoline as a motive power will have been replaced by radio, and that the skies will be filled with myriad craft sailing over well-defined routes," which the 

Elsewhere, the opening of a new "Polar airline" was cheered for making it possible to fly from Chicago to Hamburg — via the North Pole — in just 18 hours (as opposed to the 

There was also considerable excitement about the prospect of wireless and paperless communications. 

 in which Pittsburgh and London take orders "on talking films" from merchants in Peking, and "1,000-mile-an-hour freighters" deliver goods before sunset. 

"Watch-size radio telephones will keep everybody in communication with the ends of the earth," they added, hitting the nail on the head. 

 — the British scientist and author who 

 and the first drone, among other things — wrote that "the war of 2023 will naturally be a wireless war," thanks to "wireless telephony, sight, heat, power and writing." 

"Professor Low concludes that it is quite possible that when civilisation has advanced another century, mental telepathy will exist in embryo, and will form a very useful method of communication." 

Low, an esteemed "futurologist" of his era, made many other — and more accurate — predictions about the 21st century.

They include the rise of smartphones and dictation, contemporary department stores, the internet and, arguably, British TV phenomenon 

History

Rachel Treisman

Author

A researcher collected century-old newspaper clippings with predictions in fields ranging from public health to beauty to transportation. Some have proven more accurate than others. 

Here's what 2023 has in store, as predicted by experts in 1923

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