"Self-Checkouts" at Stores (Episode: "Bart Gets an 'F'", 1990)

The Simpsons has earned quite the reputation for seemingly predicting the future. It’s actually a bit of a meme at this point, with fans pointing out how many things in the real world appear to have been "predicted" by the show, sometimes years in advance. While some of these predictions are purely coincidental or the result of broad satire, others do seem oddly prescient.

The "Self-Checkouts" at Stores (Episode: "Bart Gets an 'F'", 1990)

• What happened: In this episode, there’s a joke about automation taking over jobs, including a self-checkout system in a grocery store.
• Reality: Self-checkout machines became widely used in retail stores starting in the early 2000s. They’ve grown even more popular in the 2010s, allowing customers to scan and pay for their items without the need for a human cashier.