Arthur C. Clarke, best known for writing 2001: A Space Odyssey, was able to not only able to predict what computers would be like today, but how they would affect individuals and society as a whole. What makes this even more impressive is the fact that he made these predictions in the 1970’s, almost 40 years ago.
Watch above as the great science-fiction author predicts not just desktop computing, but the bottomless instant access to information that we presently, amazingly take for granted. As far as information, the prediction in 1974 isn’t to do with technology (ARPANET had already been deployed for five years) so much as access to it: knowledge and sharing are for regular people. This promise of democratization is even now a comforting note of optimism as just about everything to do with information and computing tumbles deeper into cynicism.
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