Future Shucks

Predictions of developments in decades yet to come
Work well at times but normally just end up looking dumb,
Especially predictions that assign specific years.
The deadlines come and go, and then our credence disappears.
Just think of all the fiction that has said that by today,
Our cars would fly and some of us would go to Mars to stay.
Of course, it’s not all hopeful; think of 1984.
(And even if you deem it true, we’ve had to wait some more.)
The other possibility is thinking much too small.
Did anyone foresee the modern Internet at all?
We have to take all “futures” with a grain or two of salt,
As otherwise, we’d likely bring the genre to a halt.