Predicting the future...

Way back in 1987, Apple Computer Co. produced this concept video basically predicting what computers could do in the future. Now 22+ years later, looking back at these predictions, it amazes me how much of what is on the video actually exists, and yet -- how short today's tech abilities still fall short of what the entire video demonstrates...




Yes, we have much of the hardware, but we do NOT have the software for this, especially not the Artificial Intelligence software depicted. Even the most advanced speech recognition systems aren't sophisticated enough to interpret normal conversational human speech -- understanding everything someone says and evaluating what it really means based on things like context, prior knowledge, and experience.


We do have wireless connections and home networks and wireless printers, pretty far-fetched concepts back in 1987, and the idea that everyone you know would be connected online was pure science fiction. Seeing the person you were talking to ala iChat or something similar now exists, as does searching for articles in a University database from your own home.

Also amazing to me is the lecture topic chosen for this simulation back then -- Amazon rain forest deforestation -- still not solved and still a big issue 22 years later.

Anyway, in a few weeks, it is rumored/expected that Apple will announce its long-awaited iTablet/iSlate/or whatever i-Name they will have for it. It may well look similar to what was depicted in the above video concept, and it may well put us on the road to having the device depicted.

And the new tablet will be a huge step up from my first Apple computer -- an Apple IIe that I purchased for the family in March of 1984, with its (then) whopping 128K of memory and large double floppy disk drives!