How Close Were These Old Predictions About the Internet?

CommanderFrank

CommanderFrank

Cat Can't Scratch It
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Traveling back to the 60’s and up to the early 2000’s, predictions have been made about how our interaction with the Internet would be in the future. Some were a little overly optimistic while several were almost right on the money. A good look back at what used to be.

Watch the presenters of NBC’s Today show get all confused with the Internet and the @ symbol. This segment wasn’t aired, but it’s a funny little insight into the early days of the web, when many of us weren’t too bothered or just plain confused about this silly new fad.
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Arthur C. Clark nailed his prediction of what the Internet would become basically. I'd say a few other scifi authors also got it mostly right.

But really unless you could see into the future in the literal sense you couldn't have possibly taken in the impact it would have.
 
SpeedyVV said:
Isomov was bang on. Children are learning more these days.
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It's the sorts of things that they're able to learn that are a little worrisome. I mean, do we really want children to know that the Earth is a sphere and that it orbits the Sun rather than vice versa? These are horrible, big ideas that people shouldn't know until they're at least 40 years old and can handle such odd conceptual thinking.
 
SkribbelKat said:
It's the sorts of things that they're able to learn that are a little worrisome. I mean, do we really want children to know that the Earth is a sphere and that it orbits the Sun rather than vice versa? These are horrible, big ideas that people shouldn't know until they're at least 40 years old and can handle such odd conceptual thinking.
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You wanna join me and my Amish hood tonight?
We're gonna party like it's 1699!!! :D


Also, +1 on the Asimov video, was a really great conversation, especially for its time.
 
Red Falcon said:
You wanna join me and my Amish hood tonight?
We're gonna party like it's 1699!!! :D
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Oooh 1699! That was a bad year for Mister Jonathan Swift. He ended up out of work after Sir William Temple's death then. I imagine that it was a dour time for him.
 
I thought the internet was a fad back in 1998 I think and that it wouldnt last too long. I also thought texting was a stupid fad and wouldnt last more than a few months.

Basically you should NEVER EVER listen to me for advice on investing in future products.
 
MacLeod said:
I thought the internet was a fad back in 1998 I think and that it wouldnt last too long. I also thought texting was a stupid fad and wouldnt last more than a few months.

Basically you should NEVER EVER listen to me for advice on investing in future products.
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OR you suck ass at predicting the future ;)
 
I remember back around 1996 or so I got a computer capable of surfing the web. Was a 166mhz with 16mb ram and a 28.8 modem. Even though I had a nice computer, the library had better ones with faster internet access, so I often would go there as well. I was a big fan of Yahoo. One time around 1999 while at the library some ~60 year old man came up to me and said I should use Google. The rest is history :)
 
The first thing I thought when I saw the 1969 video was, "Prior Art! One click shopping!" It's amazing that that can be patented.
 
MacLeod said:
I thought the internet was a fad back in 1998 I think and that it wouldnt last too long. I also thought texting was a stupid fad and wouldnt last more than a few months.

Basically you should NEVER EVER listen to me for advice on investing in future products.
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I never thought txting or twittering would be a big deal.
 
450 said:
I never thought txting or twittering would be a big deal.
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Twitter is the hipster version of texting.
Seriously, I've never met anyone outside of techie-hipsters to use Twitter, at least not on a minutely-basis. :eek:
 
The people on NBC sound stupid as hell then just as they do now. Arthur C Clarke on the other hand predicted it perfectly like an absolute boss.
 
PornoSatan said:
I remember back around 1996 or so I got a computer capable of surfing the web. Was a 166mhz with 16mb ram and a 28.8 modem. Even though I had a nice computer, the library had better ones with faster internet access, so I often would go there as well. I was a big fan of Yahoo. One time around 1999 while at the library some ~60 year old man came up to me and said I should use Google. The rest is history :)
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You had a computer with 16MB back in 1996? That must have cost a pretty penny...or two. Wasn't it still like $100/MB?
 
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