Editing 1311: 2014

{{comic
| number    = 1311
| date      = January 1, 2014
| title     = 2014
| image     = 2014.png
| titletext = Some future reader, who may see the term, without knowing the history of it, may imagine that it had reference to some antiquated bridge of the immortal Poet, thrown across the silver Avon, to facilitate his escape after some marauding excursion in a neighbouring park; and in some Gentleman&#39;s Magazine of the next century, it is not impossible, but that future antiquaries may occupy page after page in discussing so interesting a matter. We think it right, therefore, to put it on record in the Oriental Herald that the &#39;Shakesperian Rope Bridges&#39; are of much less classic origin; that Mr Colin Shakespear, who, besides his dignity as Postmaster, now signs himself &#39;Superintendent General of Shakesperian Rope Bridges&#39;, is a person of much less genius than the Bard of Avon. --The Oriental Herald, 1825
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Needs information on how much has come true, also information in general. This is also the longest title text?|1311: 2014}}
The comic includes many predictions from the 1800s and early 1900s. Many of them are for the twenty-first century in general, and only three specifically mention 2014 (two of them as in "a century from now").

*It's desirable '''every thing printed should be preserved,''' for we '''cannot now tell how useful it may become''' two centuries hence.
:A good idea. Now, with Google Books, this can be done in an easier manner.

*I predict that a century hence the '''Canadian people''' will be '''the noblest specimens of humanity on the face of the earth''' (1863)
:Notably, there is a common joke nowadays that Canadians are always calm, mellow, polite peoples, even when insulting others.
:The rest of the quote goes as follows: ''all that was good in the Celt, the Saxon, the Gaul and other races, combining to form neither English, Irish, nor Welsh, but Canadians, who would take their place among the churches of Christendom and the nations of the earth.
:This religious prediction probably wasn't believed even by its author. It's only a harangue.''

*In the twenty-first century '''mankind will subsist entirely upon jellies.'''
:Concentrates, which are gelatine like, form a large part of our food sources. 
:Absurd if taken literally, but if he's talking about processed foods in general then he's not too far from the mark.

*The twenty-first century baby is destined to be rocked and cradled by electricity, warmed and coddled by electricity, perhaps fathered and mothered by electricity. '''Probably the only thing he will be left to do unaided will be to make love.'''
:Probably an exaggeration even in its time
:But still valid to some degree, as many electronics are used in rearing children today. From incubators, warming blankets, walkie-talkies, etc to the TV.
:On the same coin, however, these are merely tools of assistance; the process of child-''rearing'' is still a human task by and large.
:Of course, with Viagra, Cialis, vibrators, and other kinkier toys, we don't even have to make love unaided.

*To-day, in the city of New York, sixty-six different tongues are spoken. '''A century hence, there will probably be only one.''' (1907)
:False. The number of languages spoken in New York City is believed to be greater than 100; some estimate as many as 800 languages are spoken there. The U.S. Census Bureau reports that in the greater New York metropolitan area, almost 7 million people speak a language other than English at home, including over 3.5 million who speak Spanish, 2 million who speak other Indo-European languages, 1 million who speak Asian or Pacific Island languages, and 300,000 who speak other languages.

*I often think '''what interesting history we are making for the student of the twenty-first century.''' (William Carey Jones, 1908)
:Referring to {{w|World War I}}. In 1908, {{w|Bosnian crisis|Austria-Hungary annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina}}. This led to the {{w|Assassination_of_Archduke_Franz_Ferdinand_of_Austria|Sarajevo Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria}} in 1914 that is considered the starting event of the World War.

*China may be a '''great shoe market''' a decade or a century from now. (1914)
:While it is true in 2013/14, the context behind it was false, as the premise originally was that the business in the western world could export shoes to China, when currently, most of the shoes are actually manufactured in China itself and exported to western world.
:Ironically though, the profits from the shoe selling go to overseas companies.

*'''We cannot settle the problem,''' and I venture the prophecy that perhaps '''a century from now this same question may be brought before some future society and discussed very much as it is tonight.''' (1914, on abortion)
:True - it is still heavily debated.

*By the twenty-first century I believe '''we shall all be telepaths.''' ''(A character in Aldous Huxley's novel "Antic Hay"''
:Since the quote talks about natural telepathy (like the one apparently birds have) we must conclude that this prediction has not been fulfilled. For example the Wikipedia article on {{w|Telepathy}} states: ''Scientific consensus does not view telepathy as a real phenomenon.''
:More context for this prediction:
:‘And it’s my firm belief,’ said Gumbril Senior, adding notes to his epic, ‘that they [the birds] make use of some sort of telepathy, some kind of direct mind-to-mind communication between themselves.  You can’t watch them without coming to that conclusion.’ [...] ‘It’s a faculty,’ Gumbril Senior went on, ‘we all possess, I believe.  All we animals.’  [...] ‘Why don’t we use it more? You may well ask.  For the simple reason, my dear young lady, that half our existence is spent dealing with things that have no mind – things with which it is impossible to hold telepathetic communication.  Hence the development of the five senses.  I have eyes that preserve me from running into the lamppost, ears that warn me I’m in the neighbourhood of Niagara.  And having made these instruments very efficient, I use them in holding converse with other beings having a mind.  I let my telepathetic faculty lie idle, preferring to employ an elaborate and cumbrous arrangement of symbols in order to make my thought known to you through your senses.  In certain individuals, however, the faculty is naturally so well-developed – like the musical, or the mathematical, or the chess-playing faculties in other people – that they cannot help entering into direct communication with other minds

*The physician of the twenty-first century… may even criticize the language of the times, and may find that '''some of our words have become as offensive to him as the term “lunatic” has become offensive to us.'''
:Just look at the word "gay"; in his time it's completely harmless, even a positive word, while today it's a moderate slur.
:While the word "lunatic" isn't considered offensive anymore, but merely derogatory, it would never be used in a clinical sense.  At the time this was written, more specific terms such as "schizophrenic" were preferred, but now the noun use of that term (i.e., referring to the patient as "a schizophrenic") is itself deprecated in favor of more humanizing terms like "a patient with schizophrenia."
:He correctly predicts the trajectory of terms like "{{w|mentally retarded}}", itself adopted by his day to replace earlier terms for the intellectually disabled, such as "moron" and "imbecile", which had become pejorative. Soon enough the word "retard" joined them in that regard, and it now has largely been abandoned as a medical term.

*Historians of the twenty-first century will look back with well-placed scorn on the '''shallow-minded days''' of the early twentieth century '''when football games and petting parties were considered the most important elements of a college education.'''
:While media still encourages such images, colleges start to be much more career oriented.  Also, due to incidents involving sex-themed frosh weeks, there was actually a greater emphasis to condemn sexual activities among college students

*'''In the year A.D. 2014''' journalists will be writing on the centenary of the great war - '''that is, if there has not been a greater war.'''
:July 28, 2014 marks 100 years since the beginning of {{w|World War I}} (popularly called "The Great War" at the time), thus journalists will definitely write articles of this war. More than 9&nbsp;million combatants were killed.  However, unfortunately, there was a greater war, {{w|World War II}}, which killed around 25 million soldiers and an even greater number of civilians.  Due to the larger scope, easily identifiable heroes and villains, and other factors, the second war occupies a much greater place in our collective memory.

The title text refers to a certain British officer, Mr. Colin Shakespeare, who experimented and promoted the use of rope suspension bridges in India, apparently for the ease of colonization and military operations.[http://books.google.com/books?id=aZRPAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA367] The reference to "River Avon" is about the river of {{w|River Avon (Warwickshire)|Avon in Warwickshire}}, Stratford upon Avon being the town where Shakespeare (the playwright) was born and where he lived until his early twenties. The author is aware of the potential confusion that might result after decades or centuries have washed away the context, a topic xkcd has previously covered in [[771: Period Speech]].  As such, the author makes a point separate the two Shakespeares.

==Transcript==
:'''Notes from the past'''
:It's desirable '''every thing printed should be preserved,''' for we '''cannot now tell how useful it may become''' two centuries hence.
::Christopher Baldwin
:::1834

:I predict that a century hence the '''Canadian people''' will be '''the noblest specimens of humanity on the face of the earth'''
::Rev. John Bredin
:::1863

:In the twenty-first century '''mankind will subsist entirely upon jellies.'''
::''The Booklover''
:::1903

:The twenty-first century baby is destined to be rocked and cradled by electricity, warmed and coddled by electricity, perhaps fathered and mothered by electricity. '''Probably the only thing he will be left to do unaided will be to make love.'''
::Mrs. John Lane, ''The fortnightly''
:::1905

:To-day, in the city of New York, sixty-six different tongues are spoken. '''A century hence, there will probably be only one.'''
::''The American Historical Magazine''
:::1907

:I often think '''what interesting history we are making for the student of the twenty-first century.'''
::Willian Carey Jones
:::1908

:China may be a '''great shoe market''' a decade or a century from now.
::''Boot and Shoe Recorder''
:::1914

:'''We cannot settle the problem,''' and I venture the prophecy that perhaps '''a century from now this same question may be brought before some future society and discussed very much as it is tonight.'''
::Dr. Barton C. Hirst on the subject of '''abortion'''
:::1914

:By the twenty-first century I believe '''we shall all be telepaths.'''
::Gumbriel, character in ''Antic Hay''
:::1923

:The physician of the twenty-first century… may even criticize the language of the times, and may find that '''some of our words have become as offensive to him as the term “lunatic” has become offensive to us.'''
::Dr. C. Macae Campbell
:::1924

:Historians of the twenty-first century will look back with well-placed scorn on the '''shallow-minded days''' of the early twentieth century '''when football games and petting parties were considered the most important elements of a college education.'''
::Mary Eileen Ahern, ''Library Bureau''
:::1926

:'''In the year A.D. 2014''' journalists will be writing on the centenary of the great war - '''that is, if there has not been a greater war.'''
::F.J.M, ''The Journalist''
:::1934

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Language]]
[[Category:Politics]]