John Jacob Astor wrote a book about the year 2000, “A Journey to Other Worlds.” In it he described how technology had saved humanity. Steamboilers powered by the sun provided abundant power. The ocean tides generated electricity. Battery powered airplanes flew through the sky. Astor envisioned a “Terrestrial Axis Straightening Company” whose task was to reposition the globe so that the earth’s climate would be universally spring. He described this period of earth history as “the most wonderful the world has yet seen.” Spaceships were off to colonize Jupiter. John Jacob Astor died on the Titanic.

Source unknown