I enjoy articles that explore history, providing context to reflect upon our modern lives. This Ben Evans essay titled Asking the wrong questions does just that and it is a great read.
He talks about a long-range forecasting study done in 1964 and then compares it to what has actually transpired today. I must say, I was quite impressed with how accurate some of the predictions were.
Evans says, "To me the interesting thing is how often the order is wrong. What we now know to be the hard problems were going to be solved decades before what we now know were the easy ones."
For example, many expected we'd have flying cars and humanoid household robots by the 1990s. No one expected pocket computers (smartphones) to be so early.
Forecasting is tough, and even when you are right, making the correct investments based on those forecasts poses another challenge. It is still fun to look back at these bold predictions to see if we have managed to exceed expectations.