The Full NY Times writeup of Isaac Asimov’s predictions for 2014

The NY Times had a detailed writeup of what Isaac Asimov wrote for the 1964 World’s Fair of what he expected for 2014.

There is a shorter edited version which has been making the rounds on the internet which mostly skips what Asimov got wrong.

Asimov got robotics and 3D movies right among many other things.
He expected nuclear fission to supply 50% of world power but it has been stuck at about 20%. However, it was not stuck for technical reasons.
He expected isotope batteries to displace the need for power cords.

He expected robotic cars to be at the demonstration level.

Much effort will be put into the designing of vehicles with “Robot-brains”*vehicles that can be set for particular destinations and that will then proceed there without interference by the slow reflexes of a human driver. I suspect one of the major attractions of the 2014 fair will be rides on small roboticized cars which will maneuver in crowds at the two-foot level, neatly and automatically avoiding each other

He expected air cushions to be used for vehicles.

Jets of compressed air will also lift land vehicles off the highways, which, among other things, will minimize paving problems. Smooth earth or level lawns will do as well as pavements. Bridges will also be of less importance, since cars will be capable of crossing water on their jets, though local ordinances will discourage the practice.

He expected moon colonies and colonization of the continental shelf. He also expected population pressure would force increasing penetration of desert and polar areas.

There has been a lot of sprawl but there is more growth of cities and in cities. This is what will still happen in the future. There will be more urbanization and more densification.

Asimov said – Although technology will still keep up with population through 2014, it will be only through a supreme effort and with but partial success.

Technology fairly easily kept up with population growth. The problems that have occurred for feeding people have been because of politics, corruption and conflict. It has not been because of overall inability to feed people. Technology will easily be able to handling the demands of population growth and more importantly the increased demand from more people having higher per capita income.

If you liked this article, please give it a quick review on ycombinator or StumbleUpon. Thanks