Writing in 1944, George Orwell predicted life in 2019

No, we're not talking about 1984. George Orwell (real name Eric Blair) wrote that in 1948, while he was living on the remote and desolate isle of Jura, in the Hebrides. About four years earlier, before he fled London for the solitude of Jura, he wrote an essay called "Pleasure Spots", in which he foresaw, with uncanny accuracy, what life would be like in the 21st century. Here's part of it -- the five principles governing how we live today.

1. One is never alone.
2. One never does anything for oneself.
3. One is never within sight of wild vegetation or natural objects of any kind.
4. Light and temperature are always artificially regulated.
5. One is never out of the sound of artificial music.

To this last principle, Mr Orwell added, "The function of the music is to prevent thought and conversation, and to shut out any natural sound, such as the song of the birds or the whistling of the wind, that might otherwise intrude." How prescient. How sad.

Quoted by Thurston Clarke in Searching for Crusoe (Ballantine Books, 2001).