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Friday, 14 December, 2001, 11:40 GMT
Telecommunications: What will the next 100 years bring? ![]() Every development in communications - radio, TV, mobile phones, satellites - can be traced back to the Morse code "s" - dot, dot, dot - received by the Italian inventor Marconi. There have been extraordinary achievements since this historic transmission 100 years ago. But what breakthroughs in telecommunications do you think will happen in the next 100 years? This debate is now closed. Read a selection of your comments below.
Your reaction
Jack, UK
We have just entered the new age of the 21st century, and witnessed the wonderful results that telecommunications have brought to us in the past century. I strongly believe that the future is bright and who knows, maybe we can enjoy comfort like those in Star Wars with robots serving us and the freedom of space travel.
How about affordable internet access?
Yahya, New Zealand
DNA-based computers will perform incredibly fast operations; electronic devices will try to imitate the efficiency of live organisms.
Back in the 1970's it was predicted that the upcoming information technology revolution would free society from the drudgery of work. We would all be able to work less and have more leisure time.... why is everybody laughing?
Andy W, UK
Unless something is done about the precious bandwidth that is being squandered on television broadcasts, terrestrial and satellite, I think that the future of wireless telecommunications is in serious jeopardy.
Microsoft will be but a distant memory, their business having become obsolete in much the same way as canals.
We will have had a major recession/depression, which will have been so severe as to realign people's values and make them appreciate how good life really is. We will have the technology for almost limitless power, but be unable to use it because of lobby groups. We will have the technology for vastly improved communication, but be unable to use it cheaply because of monopolies. Governments will be more irrelevant than today. The cost of a life will be so high in the developed world that the medical profession will have collapsed due to vast court settlements. The internet will be entirely regulated and paid for by commerce. Technology will be used to monitor our every move, George Orwell '1984' style, all in the name of "safety" and "anti-terrorism measures". Pretty grim outlook I'd say.
Martin Adams, UK
I think the best prediction of the future is in Terry Gilliam's film Brazil.
It will be possible to virtually travel to another location. For example, to call the folks you will simply put on a headset, lie back on the sofa and instantly appear, if the call is taken of course, in your parents' house.
Maybe in 100 years the approach to customer service might improve though I realise that's rather too fanciful.
Lego kits will be replaced by "build-your-own PC/mobile phone/CD player" kits. The effects of low-level electromagnetic radiation will become understood and the current generation of providers will be regarded like tobacco companies. Data transmission will be as fast as voice transmission now. Telephoning from the skies will become routine. A series of satellites will be set up throughout the solar system as part of mankind's exploration of space. The CIA will secretly implant bugging devices via surgery into whoever it thinks requires one. A mad terrorist will use telecommunications technology to put the US President in a coma. The Amish will continue to live their lives without telecommunications.
It is likely that telephones, computers, TVs and VCD/DVD players will continue to resemble one another more closely and eventually become one integrated unit - perhaps with 3-D glasses to wear instead of a screen. What should it be called? Anyway, this is already possible technologically, if only it hadn't been for the various rival companies that are trying to protect their own interests and market dominance.
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