“Robots will do everything” – how 2,000 children saw the 1960s

Do children have intuition? A video from 1966 makes us think. The video shows kids in the 1960s predicting what life will be like in the year 2000.

The funny thing is that all their predictions are correct in this day and age.

A clip of the video – which was originally broadcast on 28 December 1966, as part of the BBC’s World of Tomorrow program – was shared on Twitter, where it has received more than 1.4 million views and more than 40,000 likes.

“All the machines everywhere, they’ll do everything for you.”

The 40-second clip begins with a boy saying: “People will be seen more as statistics than real people.” Then one girl spoke her mind and said, “I don’t think it’ll be that great. I think all the machines everywhere will do everything for you. You know, you’ll be as bored as I am when I do that, and I don’t think it’ll be that great.”

The topics that dominated their statements were the atomic bomb, overpopulation and the rise of robots, while some minors showed a glimmer of optimism, sending a message about a world free of inequality.

Do they remind you of anything?

The world may not live until the year 2000, according to students, because a “crazy person” may have taken control of atomic bombs and used them.

Another issue that seemed to particularly concern them was overpopulation. They estimated that in the future there would not be enough space for detached houses, and people would live in cramped apartments with few material goods, because they would not suit them. Others expected undersea homes to be built to meet needs.

At the same time, humans will have special problems finding a job because technology and robots will take over all jobs. With the advent of artificial intelligence, this reality does not seem so far-fetched at all.