Predictions of Future Past
July 24, 2010Posted by Kanga.
This has nothing to do with “living the travel channel.” It’s just what I’ve been thinking about lately.
A long time ago (1992) when I was in graduate school learning to become a librarian, we were shown a short video that predicted the future of information.
First let me set the scene:
- This was pre-graphical Internet browsers. (Mosaic was another amazing demonstration at the time, but there was no Internet Explorer, Firefox, or whatever.)
- We were using Pine for email.
- We were posting things to “bulletin boards” and usenet. (I remember spending hours reading the leaked script to the Star Trek Generation movie and being disappointed.)
- There were no images, no videos, no animations, no search engines.
The video we were presented with showed a business man getting up in the morning and having a relaxing cup of coffee while his computer generated “information butler” (my terminology) told him verbally about news reports he might find relevant, gave him the stock report on his investments, told him his schedule for the day, and responded to the man’s verbal feedback. All those things that personal assistants do for the rich and powerful. The message for us apparently was that we had just signed up for a profession that would soon cease to exist. I looked on YouTube for this video, but that is like looking for a needle in a very big haystack with my eyes closed.
Happily, 18 years later, the death of the librarian profession has not been realized. We still don’t have artificial intelligence and we still need people to organize, channel and disseminate information. (We still need people to figure out why the computer system isn’t giving us what we want when we want it.)
There are things like RSS feeds that we are supposed to use to glean information we want from the overwhelming mess called the internet, but only a few use them (the info savvy). Even I haven’t taken the time to set this up for myself (mainly because I expect to be deluged with more info that I can possibly handle). I’m a secondary consumer, I suppose. I rely on my Twitter friends who are using their RSS feeds to find out what is happening in the world. They then share the link via Twitter and if their comments catch my eye and I think I might be interested in the information, I follow the link and read for myself. I’ve found some really important information that way.
In a way, the Internet is seriously inbred. For example, someone out there writes something interesting. Someone reads it and channels it in my direction. I find it interesting and useful for others, so I put it in a wiki or a blog for further distribution. Search engines index my wiki enabling others to find it and before long my wiki is linked to someone else’s wiki or website. Etc., etc., etc.
In the spirit of inbred Internet, here is a link I think you might find interesting. The Internet in 1969 via the Huffington Post
Living the Travel Channel 
I pinned a “computer of the future” on the doors of the computer labs at school a couple of years ago. It was “right” but way off. That’s what I think of this video. Correct technically, but how to imagine iPhones that do that instead of 3 monitors and a separate machine for each “need”. I’ll place the picture I’m talking about on my facebook if you’d like a copy. On the obsolete librarian issue, my belief (and hope) is even with the advent of personal readers there will never be a replacement for holding paper in hand. Books shouldn’t die and we need to fight to the end!!!!!!
Still think the best ‘prophets’ of the future were the creators of Star Trek. And Librarians will always be necessary..who else will read fun books to kids in programs and make people giggle?
The key to the realization of Star Trek gadgets (communicators, motion sensor doors, etc.) is in the geeks who watched when they were kids and then set about becoming the scientists who figured out how to make those things in real life. They haven’t made a hand held MRI, yet. Personally, I’m waiting anxiously for the transporter.
I agree that geeks watching geeks helped create a circle (sounds like a plot from Star Trek) You’re braver than I––I don’t want my atoms scattered just to get around quickly (although the 60 or so hours I spent moving about the country in the last month might convince me eventually)