In different ways, people have been trying to predict the future since, well, there have been people.  At first, it was things like "should I plant now, or will a flood come?"  Later, it grew into entire industries, some based on things as simple as which numbers will come up when you roll a pair of dice.

Back in 1968, James R. Berry wrote an article for Mechanix Illustrated giving his idea of what life would be like 40 years later - in November, 2008.  Some of the predictions seem pretty interesting today - like "driving" to a business meeting 300 miles away in a computer-controlled car that travels at 250 mph, or the "intelligence pill" that increases "the production of enzymes controlling production of chemicals known to control learning and memory."  My wife assures me that I could use those.

Actually, it turns out that some of his predictions aren't that far off:  things like home computers, TV shopping, the development of a cashless society, and a time when "the world's information is available to you almost instantaneously."  But while he does mention the use of "TV phones," he largely seems to have missed the dramatic change in imaging that has been driven by digital technology - technology that allows you to have camera with you at almost any time, to take a picture of almost anything.

Think about how we capture and use images today, and how that is different from even just a few years ago.  See something interesting?  Pull out your camera - or your phone -and take a picture.  Then e-mail it to your friends for them to see.  Or post it to the Kodak Gallery.  Or to YouTube.  Or to your own private web site. 

Have it printed on paper, or a coffee mug, or a mousepad.  Use it as the wall paper on your computer.  Put it in a photo album.  Or in a Photo Book.

And that's just for personal imaging.  In commercial applications today, computers routinely use cameras to "see" products on an assembly line, either to guide the manufacturing process or for quality control inspection.  Scientists put digital cameras on microscopes to discover new structures in cells - or on satellites to monitor the weather on other planets.  And security - whether at a bank, an airport, or in your home - is completely different today with the ability to easily monitor multiple locations at the same time. 

Actually, it's possible that Berry would have written his article differently if he wrote it just one year later - because 1969 was the year that Willard Boyle and George Smith first invented CCD image sensor technology at AT&T Bell Labs.  CCDs are the basis for many types of modern imaging, ranging from digital cameras, camcorders, barcode readers, fax machines, and more.  This was the real start of the imaging revolution - providing easy access to image capture directly in a digital form.  Today, CCD and CMOS image sensors - like the ones made by Kodak - are the "eyes" of all kinds of digital cameras, letting people capture and share images anytime, anywhere.

Predicting the future can be a tricky job (just ask a meteorologist), so Berry actually did a pretty impressive job when he peered into his crystal ball back in 1968.  But the world today is different than it was in 1968 - and it will be different again forty years from now.  Any bets on what 2048 will look like? 

As for me, I'm still holding out for Holophotography - but I'm not holding my breath.

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