Sorry to say, but the reality is much lamer.

Given just how fast technology improved in the 20th century, it’s no surprise that people of the time had high hopes about what was to come. By 1969, we had landed on the moon — by 2020, maybe we’ll be living on it! And with how much technology is improving, maybe work will become a thing of the past!

That’s a fine idea, but what actually happened is that, while things definitely improved, those improvements were soon absorbed into the labor market. We’re not living on the moon; instead, we’re dealing with stagnant wages that haven’t kept pace with productivity — and robot vacuums that still get stuck on the edge of your rug every time you try to clean (seriously, how have we not figured that part out yet?).

Still, it’s nice to look in the past and see just how hopeful people were about the future. For example, these kids seem pretty jazzed about the distant year 2000, even if basically nothing they said came to pass.