The internet, as imagined in 1965
A fascinating insight into how the world might look in the future, from the 1960s, comes courtesy of veteran science editor Nigel Calder.
As editor of the New Scientist in 1964 Calder commissioned a hundred scientists to imagine the world 20 years hence. What 'major technological revolutions' might we see? Number one was "the revolution in information", inspired by the British computing pioneer Maurice Wilkes, who turns 97 next month.
For the BBC three years later, the two mocked up what they called the World Box a networked computer, nicely illustrated here. It's uncanny now to look at the resulting consequences from digital networks the boffins predicted. These included ubiquitous communnications and information services, government surveilliance, "world wide instantaneous reporting", and "No more newspapers as we know them?".