Most people would like to have a ‘heads up’ about future trends and events. If you could predict
accurately what a particular stock price is going to be or the date and
location of the next tornado strike, you might be in demand as an advice giver.
We often watch someone’s behavior or dysfunctional systems
and make a prediction of likely outcomes.
“She is going to get
fired from her job.”
“He is going to end up
with a heart attack.”
“Organized religion
will soon disappear.”
“Global warming will
put us all thirty feet under water.”
When it doesn’t unfold the way we predicted, we may find
ourselves rephrasing our words to save face. In the seventies, we were being
told about the coming Ice Age when the climate would cool dramatically.
Did you ever hear about rocket mail?
Arthur Summerfield was
U.S. Postmaster General under President Dwight D. Eisenhower. He is perhaps
best known for a prediction he made in 1959. “Before man reaches the moon,” he
said, “your mail will be delivered within hours from New York to Australia by
guided missiles. We stand on the threshold of rocket mail.” For anyone waiting
for that special package from Amazon, this must sound like a tantalizing
proposition — and it was briefly under development.
In the same year Summerfield made his bold prediction, the U.S. Post Office tested “Missile Mail” for the first and last time. A rocket was launched from the submarine Barbero off the coast of Florida to a naval base in Mayport. The entire trip lasted 22 minutes, and the two mail containers it carried were delivered successfully. Sadly, the program was never implemented.[i]
In the same year Summerfield made his bold prediction, the U.S. Post Office tested “Missile Mail” for the first and last time. A rocket was launched from the submarine Barbero off the coast of Florida to a naval base in Mayport. The entire trip lasted 22 minutes, and the two mail containers it carried were delivered successfully. Sadly, the program was never implemented.[i]
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