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1993 - Vision of the Future watch!

youtube.com — AT&T had a pretty good idea of what was coming, but they didn't suspect that other companies would be bringing it to us. Then again, they also thought phone booths were here to stay.

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  • doniguan, on 10/12/2007, -2/+56Its pretty interesting seeing ATT's vision of the future, even though they didn't develop the technologies. I'd like to see what the 2006 vision of the future is.
    • coolian, on 10/12/2007, -14/+5That's insight for you.
    • bitcloud, on 10/12/2007, -4/+139Have you ever watched a movie you wanted to watch, when you wanted to watch it, and then been sued by fox?
      You will...

      Have you ever had your phone tapped while you tuck your daughter in from a distance...
      You will...

      and the company that will bring it to you is AT&T
    • palmer, on 10/12/2007, -10/+811. Video quality will be so degraded by compression that oldsters will invite their young, ignorant relatives over to watch LaserDiscs... and the youngsters will gaze in wonder at details on the screen, like grass that looks like grass rather than a layer of green paper pulp.

      2. If you so much as quote a lyric from a copyrighted song, it'll be picked up by hidden mics throughout our cities and your paycheck will be docked a royalty. Humming the tune will result in heavy fines or jail time.

      3. Voting machines will simply vote for you. You won't even have to show up. Kinda like Ohio today.

      4. The Chevy Camaro will have been discontinued, redesigned, and reintroduced four more times, and yet somehow be as cheesy as ever.

      5. The United States will have sunk into the rising ocean; a combined result of global warming and the weight of its ever-fatter citizens (and non-citizens) driving their ever-fatter cars to haul around their ever-fatter sense of importance and entitlement.
    • NoNameHere, on 10/12/2007, -6/+39Someone going by the handle "hdust" said it best on YouTube's comments:
      "
      This really isn't that amazing that these came true. This is not like a commercial predicting things 20 years into the future. When these commercials were made, every single thing in the commercial was already WELL under development. They really weren't "predicting" anything. They were just letting the general public know what was going on with R&D at AT&T as well as lots of other companies.
      "
    • MannyHills, on 10/12/2007, -20/+6I believe this user, hdust, on youtube summed it up well:

      This really isn't that amazing that these came true. This is not like a commercial predicting things 20 years into the future. When these commercials were made, every single thing in the commercial was already WELL under development. They really weren't "predicting" anything. They were just letting the general public know what was going on with R&D at AT&T as well as lots of other companies.

      edit: damn, beat to the exact same comment
    • DruggMirror, on 10/12/2007, -5/+1Okay so where is the commercial predicting 20 years into the future?
    • CiXeL, on 10/12/2007, -2/+10i remember those commercials. it reminds me of a time when i felt really REALLY optimistic about the future.
      although we have many of those features nowadays i wish theyd add the pretty interfaces along with them.
    • mfratt, on 10/12/2007, -4/+15The vision(s) for the future:

      Orwell's 1984
      V For Vendetta
      Ayn Rand's novella Anthem
      The warnings of our founding fathers (e.g, "Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety" - Ben Franklin. 1759.)

      Not quite as optimistic, eh?
    • Jozer99, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5It is vaguely shiny, and has a "Beta" sign next to it. Its also probably made by google.
    • washcapsfan37, on 10/12/2007, -9/+3@palmer

      Yeah, and the only thing fatter than all of those are the the egos of the non-Americans sneering at us with jealousy.
    • damonlab, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I do not recall seeing these original commercials, but the time period seems about right. I think they probably aired in late 1993.

      AT&T had a cable franchise in parts of Michigan during that time period. A company that I used to work for was able to get a 10MB cable connection from AT&T in East Lansing, MI in early 1995. They signed up as part of a test market and were able to retain that connection... even after the test market period ended and every other new subscriber could not get the same deal. They even retained it after @home was sold off to Comcast. They still have it to this day even though Comcast is not yet serving their neighbors 10MB speeds.

      Now that I think about it... that sucks. The company I worked for had faster cable Internet speeds 11 years ago than I have now.
    • damonlab, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Too late to edit my last comment... that cable connection was, and still is... symmetrical.

      I think they are even still paying the same price they signed up with... $185/mo.
  • partsguy74, on 10/12/2007, -3/+22AT&T is still one of the major backbones of this country.

    And I think that was Jenna Elfman... I could be wrong.
    • NinjaBongoMan, on 10/12/2007, -32/+8Which country is this country?
    • digger_twit, on 10/12/2007, -29/+7(Please Bury Comment)
    • lucaq, on 10/12/2007, -7/+14@ NinjaBongoMan

      "this" country, is the country where AT&T was founded (USA), quit being such an international elitist
    • ezweave, on 10/12/2007, -2/+9Yeah I think you're right... gotta love the Tom Selleck voiceovers too.... Magnum for the win!
    • libsluvbukkake, on 10/12/2007, -2/+11AT&T stands for "american telephone and telegraph."

      "This country" therefore is implied to be America.
    • iamsojelin, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1that's totally a double whammy of dharma
  • maklershed, on 10/12/2007, -3/+30My predictions from 1993:

    That Kramer guy is gonna be big
    Jay Leno will host The Tonight Show for 2 years tops
    Al Gore's new fangled invention will be a hit
    • chicken101, on 10/12/2007, -2/+22Radiohead is going to be a one hit wonder.
    • nandorocker, on 10/12/2007, -1/+15Grunge is here to stay!
    • sonicspike, on 10/12/2007, -12/+2--and Apple Computer will sell them for 99 cents a pop.
    • cpritchard, on 10/12/2007, -8/+1So Radiohead is a one hit wonder because their songs don't fit on the radio between Britney Spears and (insert dime a dozen hip hop artist here)? I for one love their music before and after OK Computer.
    • fauxXenophanes, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Nirvana's focus seems... scatter-shot.

  • Solafa, on 10/12/2007, -12/+3Knowing whats coming in 10-15 years is not something very interesting i would like to see what the brightest minds think 2100 would look like knowing how fast technology devolves now.

    • Suchmann, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10Yeah. That's great and everything....

      BUT the beauty of this is that we can say "Ha, ha! You were wrong!" regardless of how mindblowingly close the predictions might have been.

      You see?
    • zephc, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8The world of 2100 will be unrecognizable.
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technological_singularity
    • UltimaNut, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1"Knowing whats coming in 10-15 years is not something very interesting i would like to see what the brightest minds think 2100 would look like knowing how fast technology devolves now."

      I predict ...you will be dead.
  • sparrow88, on 10/12/2007, -2/+74Have you ever had access to the largest pornography collection known to man...
  • FunkyWitDaSysTm, on 10/12/2007, -2/+11i knew even then that the infrastructure required to bring about these changes couldn't come from one company. but they had some great ideas.

    in the birth of the Information Superhighway, AT&T's commercials provided, for the first time for many people, a glimpse into our future, an idea of what was possible in this new realm of limitless possibilities. they provided, for many, a source of inspiration, motivating many to grow up and make these imaginings a reality.

    thanks, at&t for managing to capture the essence of humanity with some of the most powerful commercials ever made.

    we do.
  • soll, on 10/12/2007, -0/+11I actually remember seeing some of these commercials on tv when they first aired. Granted I thought the coolest invention from the commercial was the video phone booth, and severely underestimated the power of torrents in the future.
  • kermithefrog, on 10/12/2007, -16/+3the future is wikipedia, and hopefully for television, it is shows like LOST
    • dancpsu, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3More like "Dancing with the Stars". Anything that gets viewership and doesn't cost much is the future of TV.
    • stalinvlad, on 10/12/2007, -4/+2LOST?
      A never ending bilge of 2D characters in toddlers nightmares?
      Soulless, sanitised in a word *****....
      This is your future of TV?
      Where are the death races the rollerballs?? I want blood, REAL BLOOD
  • digitalArtform, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Shows you how slow this stuff is to market. We could see it coming miles away. Like hi def now
  • webist, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10OK, until the Blue Man Group updated their show two years ago, they made fun of these commercials.
  • Derelict267, on 10/12/2007, -8/+3General Electrics>AT&T
  • SuperSimon56, on 10/12/2007, -3/+5Aaahhh, the voice of Tom Sellick is so comforting and reassuring in times of predictions.
  • dubled, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Is that Tom Selleck's voice on those ads?

    Supersimon answered my question it looks like. Although I spelled his name correct :)
  • justconnor, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4cool video. most of it was fairly spot on accurate... and 1993 was a pretty long time ago.
    • rnelsonee, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Hey! I remember those ads :) (and was in high school at the time).
  • Lumiras, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4Interesting. It's pretty odd to see these wild predictions that AT&T was making back then are even more advanced now than they predicted back in 1993. It's also rather funny that AT&T had virtually nothing to do with these innovations aside from the Internet backbones

    But, I remember watching these commercials back then and thinking "yeah, we'll be doing that in, like, 50 years"
    • FunkyWitDaSysTm, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4wait a minute... you bring up a really good point. sure, they as a company didn't MAKE these innovations (although they did complete a lot of the initial research into these technologies). however, being that they provide a huge portion of the internet backbone, they actually ARE bringing much of it to us, even if they didn't invent it.

      just a thought.
    • fbsderr0r, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1yea, but there isnt much at&t hasnt had their hands in at one time or another...
    • toddhenkel, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Working at AT&T at that time, we were very confident we could deliver on those wild predictions.

      But the gamble on buying all the cable companies, a strategy to replace LD revenue we knew would drop from $.32/minute to free, proved far too expensive. The budget cuts to free up cash for those deals was devastating. We also walked away from many other projects such as metro fiber rings, interactive TV, etc. AT&T really was aiming to do exactly what was in those commercials.

      And the sell off of those assets and others such as NCR left AT&T an empty shell.
  • paganizonda, on 10/12/2007, -8/+3where's the ipod?
    • ohgr, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Well AT&T didn't think of that one.. nor did they come up with the MP3, or Napster.

      We did.

      Well except for the iPod. Sorry I forgot Apple wins that one.
    • paganizonda, on 10/12/2007, -3/+0Bankruptcy, all brought to you buy AT&T
    • drizek, on 10/12/2007, -8/+3Apple didnt invent the "ipod". I belive it was rio that made the first HDD mp3 player.
    • Stirk, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7Actually, apple DID invent the "ipod".
  • Jugalator, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Hmm, I believe AT&T (or was it British Telecom or something) published a report on predictions of our future as well, and it was covered on Slashdot and elsewhere as news. That is, year ~2000 and onwards. I wonder if anyone here happen to know its location or happens to have it on their drive? It was interesting and thorough, covering fields from science to social science etc, and I regret not downloading it.
  • BrewmasterC, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Also, part of AT&T's vision was that they would provide all of these services themselves and get the revenue streams. Instead they are just a common carrier. Poor AT&T :)
  • scronline, on 10/12/2007, -4/+0That's because AT&T doesn't do R&D. They just try to force what they currently have. You know, like DSL and trying to make sure "competitors" can't compete price wise. Or making sure..... bah the list is just too long. They stopped doing any kind of R&D years ago, and of course that didn't change with SBC changing it's name. SBC doesn't know what R&D is. Their strong suit is using their market share, nothing more.
    • godindav, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7Ever heard of Lucent? Bell Labs?
    • FunkyWitDaSysTm, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2they used to do R&D, especially at this time. they conducted much of the initial research into these technologies, only to abandon them after poor sales of early products like the video phone (which was really cool, actually).
    • toddhenkel, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2You are speaking of R&D today. Back then, AT&T was a huge innovator and pure research engine.
  • ohgr, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5I was thinking about this sort of thing the other day. Back in 93, I was lucky to have an Apple IIE Machine.
    I never got my first PC til about 1996. And that was also the year the Internet was introduced to me. I remember thinking how crazy it was the first time I entered a chatroom, and talked to someone from England. Now I don't talk to anyone online, because I've learned the whole world is filled with assholes.

    But yeah I remember these commercials too. It is quite amazing how closely accurate AT&T was. But the video phone never really took off did it? They had the video conferencing thing right though. And onDemand television. God I remember the first time I saw that. I nearly jizzed in my jeans lol.,

    Eh well, here's to the next 10 years. What more can we do with this thing?

    • FunkyWitDaSysTm, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4the video phone, imho, failed because of the price. they were ~$1000 initally, and unless the person you were calling shelled out a grand for one, too, you were SOL.
  • garettdoyle, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2I have to admit, AT&T did a decent job at predicting. I have been working full-time from my home office since 2001. I do conference calls from all over the country at all kind of weird locations (airports, hotel lobbies, taxis, etc.). They seemed to be on target with the smart phone and pda idea. But them did not put much emphasis on mobile phones.
    • CiXeL, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3well remember at one time the idea of everyone having mobile phones was a joke. see the movie clueless for what im talking about. theres a scene where she runs into her friend in the hallway and theyre both on cellphones and back then IT WAS A JOKE. nowadays i think ive done that about a half million times.
  • jubbjubb, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2I liked the widescreen laptops and plasma tvs.
  • xiralc, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Transformers the Movie, predicted what life would be like in the year 2005.

    I am still trying to find Autobot City and get me one of those cool exosuits that Daniel wore!

    ..also gigantic transformer machines that are both cars and robots (some are tanks, space ship and trains, those are the coolest).
  • gemineye, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4Someone needs to dub Yodas' voice for the "You Will"...lol
  • Pebcak, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Does anyone else remember the Qwest commercial a while back that had a jukebox in a diner which played "every performance by every artist of every piece of music ever recorded"? Ahh, the pre-80-gig iPod days....
  • Marfanity, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8Too many CRTs to be the future.
    • lilrabbit129, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Yeah I noticed that too. Though at the time, it was a safe bet, since LCD technology was much too expensive or wasn't mature enough.

      From a technology standpoint all that is possible with current technology, but its the trends, marketing and costs that have influenced which came true.
  • cardman82, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2A professor told about how a bunch of companies were asked to predict the future. I want to think that this was done in the 50's or early 60's. The company that turned out to have the most correct predictions, after 30 years, was out of business. This predicted everything but the innovation in their field. The company produced slide rules. All the companies predicted the pocket calculator except for the slide rule company.
  • plana, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2Ever have your phone tapped? Yes.
    Ever have those phone conversations sent to NSA? Yes.
    What was the company that provided this for 'service' to make a few extra bucks? AT&T.
  • 703_KN33, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I saw Super SF2's DeeJay in that commercial haha!
  • TheDowntownKing, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4Has it ever been made known that AT&T can predict the future?


    It will.
  • yoshitx, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Hmm...seeing you baby on the phone.

    Apple...iPhone....iChatAV.......
  • bouche, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2holy crap. This stirred up a memory of actually watching these vids with Tom Selleck narrating them.

    I remember thinking that most of that stuff wasn't far away. Most of it really isn't here yet as you would expect.

    Voice Recognition, Video on Demand, Tucking in your baby, video conferencing with a teacher... I just don't know why they didn't predict World of Warcraft!?
  • Zreitan, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I like the idea of buying tickets and seeing where you're sitting from
  • 501337, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I'd like to see some predictions from the 70s

    Have you wanted to know who was calling you before you even pick up the phone?

    You will
  • fatboynic, on 10/12/2007, -2/+0Tom Selleck???
  • HeaveN, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0Cingular bought all of AT&T, so AT&T is really Cingular, but Cingular is keeping the AT&T name because AT&T is a better known company name.
    • toddhenkel, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1SBC bought AT&T. Cingular was a joint venture in wireless. Cingular bought AT&T Wireless - which was spun off from Ma Bell in a terrible IPO spring of 2000.
  • empfeix, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0The 407 in the GTA is a fully automated toll road, no stopping to pay. Too bad its not owned by AT&T but foreign investors who have the price so high its ridiculous.
  • LoopyChew, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Have you ever eaten electric corn?

    *chompBZZZZTAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUGH!*

    You will.
  • domusvita, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2"Have you ever...HIGGINS! THAT'S MY SAXOPHONE!!!!"
  • chubbymidget, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1
    "Have you ever.... heard of Tom Selleck"

    What's a "FAX"?...

    Lady tucking her baby in looked like Jenna Elfman.
  • endgames, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I must have watched way too much TV in 1993, because I remember all of those.
  • mapkinase, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1This looks fake looking at the pretty modern laptops.
  •  

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