Way back in 1993, AT&T predictions about the future formed the basis of an ad campaign called You Will. Almost everything it showed subsequently came true over the course of 25 years.
AT&T’s predictions included eBooks, GPS navigation, on-demand video streaming and the ability to make and receive phone calls from your watch. And now it thinks it knows what we can expect over the next 25 years …
Of course, the company wasn’t the first to predict any of those things. Wristwatch phone calls, for example, were a staple of SF stories even back in the 1940s, and the idea was popularised in the Dick Tracy comic strip in 1946. Western Electric even made a working prototype in 1952.
But it’s still fun to look at what the company sees happening between now and 2043.
CNET summarises the latest AT&T predictions. For example, we already have a wristwatch that can detect heart problems – where might that go next?
The smart home and robot predictions seem to err on the cautious side.
A screen as ever-changing painting, for example, is already a thing – in everything from 43-inch to 65-inch sizes.
“I have this house where I don’t have to talk to,” she said. “It just knows” […]
Robots are already in our homes in the form of vacuum cleaners and cute mechanical dogs, but Andrew McAfee, MIT research scientist, envisions more sophisticated robots helping senior citizens with dementia or children with autism.
“One of the great things is they don’t get impatient with human beings,” he said.
The idea that no-one will own a car in 25 years, that we’ll all just summon an autonomous car when we need one, is also very mainstream. But the video does raise an intriguing idea for the future of movies: multiple viewpoints.
That’s something which already exists in some sports broadcasting, allowing viewers to choose their camera angle.
“If I don’t like the seat I’m in, I get up and go somewhere else,” he said. “Imagine doing that in a movie.”
Check out the full video of this year’s AT&T predictions – with clips from the original – below.
