I was browsing Ray Kurzweil’s site and found a posting of predictions for the 21st century that the late science-fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke made back in 2001. Clarke, of course, gave us HAL, the rebellious computer from the 1968 novel, 2001: A Space Odyssey. Clarke made one mistake with his list: He gave specific dates when events would occur. That renders most of his predictions from the first decade of the century incorrect. But it might just mean that he is 20 or 50 or 80 years premature. Some of his predictions:

2009: A city in a third world country is devastated by an atomic bomb explosion.

2009: All nuclear weapons are destroyed.

2010: Despite protests against “big brother,” ubiquitous monitoring eliminates many forms of criminal activity.

2013: Prince Harry flies in space.

2019: There is a meteorite impact on Earth.

2020: Artificial Intelligence reaches human levels. There are now two intelligent species on Earth, one biological, and one nonbiological.

2021: The first human landing on Mars is achieved. There is an unpleasant surprise.

2023: Dinosaurs are cloned from fragments of DNA. A dinosaur zoo opens in Florida.

2040: The concept of human “work” is phased out.

2095: A true “space drive” is developed. The first humans are sent out to nearby star systems already visited by robots.

2100: History begins.