America 500? What the U.S. will look like in another 250 years
Summary
This article looks at how Benjamin Franklin, one of the founders of the United States, imagined the country's future 250 and 1,000 years from his time. It also discusses modern experts’ views on what the U.S. might look like going forward, particularly in health and technology, and touches on recent debates about COVID-19 vaccine research under President Trump’s administration.Key Facts
- Benjamin Franklin wrote a letter in 1780 imagining advances 250 and 1,000 years into the future, including ideas like levitating trains and curing all diseases.
- Franklin expected people to live much longer, possibly hundreds of years.
- The U.S. is currently experiencing political division, but some experts say it is not worse than past times, like during President Nixon’s era.
- Modern medical science made rapid progress with the development of the COVID-19 vaccine in 2020, using a new mRNA technology.
- Amy Webb, a futurist, highlighted the speed and technology used to create the COVID vaccine as a major step in medicine.
- Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. canceled about $500 million in mRNA vaccine research grants in 2025, claiming risks outweighed benefits—a view not supported by most scientists.
- The article reflects on the importance of learning from history when thinking about the future of the U.S.
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