The future can be predicted pretty well, actually. In Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, Jules Verne predicted electric submarines and taser guns. He predicted newscasts, videoconfrencing, and skywriting in an article from 1889. He predicted both solar sails and space travel via lunar modules in From the Earth to the Moon.

HG Wells predicted nuclar weaponry in 1914 in his book The World Set Free. He predicted the moon landing in 1901, genetic engineering in 1896, lasers in 1898, and the Second World War in 1933.

It's easy to predict the future, becasue the world never actually changes too much. The only thing that ever changes is advancements in technology. Everything else is relatively constant.