In 1987, the BBC aired a video on television. It predicted future technologies, and except for a strong love for paper, they were spot on.
What technology does the video predict? It’s a colorful mix that BBC presenter Howard Stableford introduced in a video in 1987. The range includes high-tech clothing, smart biosensors, and a 3D glasses. However, they dramatically underestimated one thing about the future and consistently evolved a purely German phenomenon, a printer/fax machine of the future.
Unlike many other things, the BBC did not foresee spy glasses, but some students nonetheless crafted them. We present the project that aims to highlight the dangers of technology in article form. You can watch the related video directly:
Future Tech from the Perspective of 1987
In the course of the video, the following ideas for the technology of tomorrow are presented:
- A heat-retaining suit
- Holograms as wearable memories
- Smart cards to replace paper documents
- Fingerprints used to open doors
- A wristwatch that connects to the owner’s computer via satellite
- A printer in a suitcase to print information on the go and to stay reachable.
- A biosensor under the tongue with a transmitter that signals a tie to change color in case of emerging illness.
- A 3D glasses to watch television quietly and privately while on the go
Not everything exists in exactly this form, but the core ideas can be found today in many gadgets. We have the biosensor under the tongue in a rudimentary form as a bracelet or watch with data display, making the tie as a signaling device unnecessary. Mobile phones are increasingly replacing ID documents, and metal keys are also dispensable thanks to electronic approaches.
And in one aspect, we are all probably glad that screens in all their variety have largely displaced them: Fax machines. Although the portable hybrid of printer and fax in a suitcase is certainly charming, touchscreens on mobile phones are probably a far more efficient form of portable data display and also of communication via text over the internet.
Artificial intelligence can do a lot as a future technology; it also helps with cheating in state examinations. What a candidate for a university career allegedly tried during an admission test will probably accompany him for a lifetime: Because his cheating attempt with a camera, mobile phone, and AI failed, but the police seem quite impressed.
