I was 12 living in what used to be USSR. But I watched enough American Movies to remember baggy jeans were the height of fashion and the internet was an oddball that a mere 14% of Americans dared to dance with. And understanding its future impact?
As likely as teaching a cat quantum physics {I'm not a cat person}
🕰️Fast-forward to today, and we're teetering on the edge of another seismic shift - AI. Try convincing your 90s self about that one.
📺30 years ago, Bill Gates chatted with David Letterman about this fascinating novelty called "The Internet". A toy for the few, yet Gates had a vision that went beyond the norm:
1️⃣ Communication: Gates saw emails and instant messaging as part of our daily routines.
2️⃣ Information access: He perceived the internet as an immense reservoir of information open to all.
3️⃣ Online shopping: He anticipated the future of e-commerce.
4️⃣ Telecommuting: He foresaw a workforce working from the comfort of their homes.
5️⃣ Education: He envisaged a world where self-learning and online degrees were the norm.
6️⃣ Entertainment: He projected the internet being used for streaming movies, music, and other forms of media.
These visions, while clear to Gates and a small percentage of others, were far from obvious to the general public. People already had existing means to perform these tasks. Why fix what wasn't broken?
🎙️Letterman asked Gates if he'd heard of radio when Gates suggested that you could listen to baseball games on the internet. The audience burst into laughter, not grasping the profound change that was on the horizon.
🤖And here we stand with AI today. It's as if we're back in 1995, looking at this fascinating novelty.
Actually, it would be you Looking, cause in 1995 I was just 12 years old, and WWW wasn't on the horizon in just Collapsed USSR. I learned about the Internet when we moved to Toronto in 1999. My parents bought the computer which I personally used to chat with my friends over mIRC in 2000 and that was mind-blowing, especially the sounds of dial-up.
What was your poison? mIRC or ICQ?
Unfortunately, I don't remember my first email, but it was definitely Yahoo :) You?
#education #communication #future #ai
#AIRevolution #AdaptingToChange #FutureIsNow