What would you have predicted about life in the year 2000 if you’d been living in 1900? Which invention would you have called a passing fad? And which of today’s fears might make people laugh a hundred years from now? Join Adam, a politics and history expert, for a lively look at some of history’s worst predictions and biggest overreactions. From fears that electricity would kill us all to the panic over the Y2K computer bug and the confident claims that Donald Trump couldn’t win in 2016, we’ll revisit what people thought would happen and why it seemed so convincing at the time.

Some of these predictions are hilarious in hindsight. Others raise a trickier question: if a disaster never happens, was the warning wrong, or did people take it seriously enough to prevent it? We’ll compare the evidence people had with the assumptions they made, then turn the same questions on today’s predictions about AI and an increasingly digital world. Which fears deserve our attention? Which promises sound a little too certain? No history, politics or tech background is needed. Come ready to laugh at a few spectacular misses and leave a little more comfortable with the fact that nobody has the future figured out.

如果你活在1900年，你会怎么预测2000年的生活？哪项发明你会说只是一阵风？今天我们的哪些恐惧，可能会让一百年后的人笑出来？跟着 Adam 来轻松看看历史上一些最烂的预测和最大的过度反应吧。他是政治和历史专家。从害怕电会把我们全弄死，到千年虫引发的恐慌，再到那些很有把握地说 Donald Trump 2016年不可能赢的断言，我们会回头看看当时人们以为会发生什么，以及为什么那会儿听起来那么有说服力。

有些预测事后看特别好笑。另一些则引出一个更难的问题：如果一场灾难一直没发生，是那个警告错了，还是人们当时足够当回事，才把它防住了？我们会比较人们当时手里的证据和他们做出的假设，然后把同样的问题丢给今天关于 AI 和越来越数字化的世界的那些预测。哪些恐惧值得我们注意？哪些承诺听起来有点太确定了？不需要任何历史、政治或科技背景。准备好来为几个离谱的翻车笑一笑，走的时候也能更坦然地接受一件事：没有人真的把未来搞明白了。