1974: Arthur C. Clarke predicts the Internet and PC

Clarke's Three Laws of Prediction:


1.When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong.

2.The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.

3.Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

More on the predictions of Arthur C Clarke: from as early as 1964, not 1974:

http://singularityhub.com/2010/09/01/retro-futurism-arthur-c-clarkes-predictions-from-1964-video/
 
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Was it really such a leap of the imagination in 1974? :confused:

Packet switched networks had been coming in in the years leading up to it. I don't think it would be beyond the realm of probability that industry experts would be able to see the possible scope for it in the future?
 
A true visionary. I feel he underestimates the importance of maintaining actual physical interaction though - video conferencing is still not quite as good as face to face meetings for example.

All of that said though, for a prediction made in 1974, it's uncannily accurate.
 
I missed the part where he predicted PCs or the internet...

He said the child would have a dumb terminal not a PC.

He said business men would work from different places, networks already existed, anyone could imagine that they could get bigger and the internet is not just a "bigger network".
 
orderoftheflame said:
Was it really such a leap of the imagination in 1974? :confused:
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Yes it was. It wasn't until the early 80's that people begin to acquire home computers. And then it wasn't until the late 90's, after the World wide Web was invented in 1990, that the internet became mainstream for domestic use. Since then the internet has change almost beyond recognition.

To say this was all a matter of simple prediction in 1974 is simply idiotic.

Nate
 
Now if Arthur C. Clarke had predicted petrol prices this would have been interesting. OP what do you think?
 
Jokester said:
The internet already effectively existed by 1974.
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At domestic level?

With Personal computers?

People are confusing the internet with the WWW


I didn't have internet access with My ZX spectrum plus as the internet did not exist for me along with millions of others.

Thats because the internet as we know had not yet been invented.
 
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