People are lousy at predicting the future of work. Here’s proof

Remember when they told us that phones would never replace messenger boys? That by the year 2000, we’d retire at 45, have robot hairdressers and commute by helicopter? (OK, maybe you don’t: those four gems are from 1879, 1888, circa 1900 and 1930.) Going all the way back ancient Greece, this handy BBC timeline shows just how bad humans are at gauging technology’s impact on their jobs.