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Archibald Low’s Predictions, Ridiculed in 1925, Resurface a Century Later with Surprising Accuracy — From Cell Phones to Tidal Energy
In 1925, English engineer Archibald Montgomery Low published the book The Future, in which he dared to imagine the world a hundred years ahead. His ideas, deemed exaggerated at the time, now surprise with their accuracy. A century later, many of Low’s predictions prove to be real, as if he had actually peered into the future.
Recently rediscovered by researchers from the genealogy portal Findmypast, the predictions came to light through a special collection created with historical newspapers.
The content was published by the newspaper The Guardian, which highlighted the material last Sunday (29). The collection compiles Low’s thoughts on what the year 2025 would be like, according to him, based on the advancements in science and technology of the time.
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A public school student creates an “electric defensive” that uses only water, salt, and energy to protect crops without industrial pesticides, wins the Young Scientists Award 2025, and transforms an invisible chemical process into a solution for small farmers.
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Xiaomi goes beyond cell phones and launches an electric kettle with 316Ti titanium steel, 1,800 W of power, and technology that keeps water hot for 24 hours, does not rust, prevents a metallic taste, and costs around R$ 101 in China.
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Ideas Ahead of Their Time
In the past, the engineer’s ideas were treated as “horrors” by newspapers like the London Daily News. Today, many of them are part of everyday life.
Low spoke of radios triggered by radio waves, moving sidewalks, escalators, and devices resembling “personal radios,” which closely resemble today’s cell phones.
Among the most impressive predictions is the forecast of a “television machine” that would replace illustrated newspapers as the main source of news and entertainment.
He also anticipated global broadcasts accessible with a simple touch and the use of secret cameras and microphones in criminal investigations.
Moreover, he predicted the use of wind and tidal energy. He also spoke of machines for difficult and unpleasant tasks, something that worried him regarding the potential impacts on people’s physical and moral health. A curious vision of the mechanization of society, already present in his mind a century ago.
The Engineer Who Dreamed of the Future
Recognized as the “father of radio navigation systems,” Archibald Low designed the first powered drone aircraft and played an important role in the development of television.
His studies included airplanes, torpedo boats, and guided rockets, all utilized by the British government during World War I.
Among the old clippings, the prediction of a “radio-alarm clock” capable of waking workers with precision stands out. At the time, this sounded absurd. Workers still relied on the knocker upper, a kind of human alarm clock who tapped on windows with long poles.
Even though he got the concept of the electronic alarm clock right, the time he suggested — “probably at nine-thirty” — was an offbeat guess. Still, his imagination seemed boundless.
Bold Predictions and Social Critique
Low even proposed illuminating streets with luminescent plants in 1926 and replacing cavalry with electrically charged water jets in 1923. He also predicted the common use of pants by women in 1924 and the possibility of determining a baby’s sex before birth, two years later.
Despite many innovative ideas, Low also expressed controversial views. In 1929, the Daily Express reported indignantly on statements where the engineer claimed that women would only achieve intellectual equality with men after acquiring male physical characteristics. An opinion that faced strong rejection even in his time.
Reflections on Tomorrow
According to Jen Baldwin, a researcher at Findmypast, Low’s work is a testament to how it is possible to foresee the impacts of technology even when it is still taking its first steps.
“It makes you stop and think about how the advancements we see around us today will be experienced by our own descendants,” she stated.
Although some predictions missed the mark or failed in social sensitivity, Archibald Montgomery Low’s legacy shows that imagining the future is also a way to influence the present.
Now, a hundred years later, we must wonder which ideas from today will seem brilliant — or absurd — when the world reaches 2125.
With information from Revista Galileu.
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