uniladtech homepage
  • News
    • Tech News
    • AI
  • Gadgets
    • Apple
    • iPhone
  • Gaming
    • Playstation
    • Xbox
  • Science
    • News
    • Space
  • Streaming
    • Netflix
  • Vehicles
    • Car News
  • Social Media
    • WhatsApp
    • YouTube
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • LADbible
  • UNILAD
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Archive
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
TikTok
Snapchat
WhatsApp
Submit Your Content
Video from 1989 predicted what home technology would be like in 2020 and they got one thing extremely wrong

Home> News> Tech News

Published 12:21 10 Apr 2024 GMT+1

Video from 1989 predicted what home technology would be like in 2020 and they got one thing extremely wrong

The BBC’s Tomorrow’s World predicted what 2020 would be like in 1989.

Kerri-Ann Roper

Kerri-Ann Roper

google discoverFollow us on Google Discover
Featured Image Credit: BBC’s Tomorrow’s World
Tech News

Advert

Advert

Advert

It's always fun looking back at what we thought the future would be like in years gone by - and a video posted to Reddit this week has demonstrated that in perfect style.

It's a clip from a BBC programme called Tomorrow's World, filmed in 1989 and enlisting some industry experts to make their best guesses about what technology would be ubiquitous in a few decade's time.

Their guesses about what 2020 would look like are actually fairly impressive in many cases.


In particular, the programme argued that we'd all be living in smart homes, with hidden technology that cuts down on clutter to instead rely on built-in tech.

Advert

A sequence where they showed how lights could come on or off automatically, or learn your favourite brightness, all controlled by your voice or gestures, is pretty close to what can now be managed with lighting systems like Philips Hue.

Similarly, asking with your voice to hear music from a certain artist or composer, as one host does, is completely possible using smart speakers and a multiroom setup from the likes of Sonos so that you have sound in every room.

One lengthy section shows how polarised glass could be used for privacy screens whenever you want to keep private, while remaining transparent in other uses, something that hasn't become widespread by any means.

Indeed, the predictions about how windows could alternate between being transparent, opaque or even used as screens are pretty bold, and remain a little far-fetched. That said, the very first transparent TVs have started to hit the market in recent months, so perhaps this could eventually happen.

Tomorrow's World on the BBC predicted the tech of today.
BBC.

A brief prediction that stands out as the most incorrect of them all, though, sees the host briefly show how powered walls could be used to let you power appliances from anywhere on the wall with a sort of power-patch attachment instead of a plug.

This obviously hasn't come to pass, or anything like it, and seems like a pretty mad idea, with commenters on the Reddit post ripping it to shreds: "Electrocution, don't like it", one person wrote.

The closing segment is another pretty accurate one, talking about how burning fossil fuels will have become stigmatised by 2020 (although how much you think that's come true might be a matter of perspective).

Thus, it predicts that energy management will be important, something that is true given how many appliances now boast about efficiency and power draw in their advertisements.

A heating system that can heat individual rooms and learn your routines, meanwhile, is practically pedestrian these days, even if you haven't built a fully smart home.

So, it's an amusing enough watch, but in many ways, the experts enlisted by the BBC in 1989 did a pretty phenomenal job with their predictions - powered walls aside.


Choose your content:

14 hours ago
15 hours ago
  • Anna Moneymaker / Staff / Getty
    14 hours ago

    Sam Altman confirms 'world-shaking cyberattack' this year is 'totally possible' in alarming new interview

    The attacks will come in two frightening forms

    News
  • Anadolu / Contributor via Getty
    14 hours ago

    Congressman says aliens are real and have made contact with humans in jaw-dropping interview

    He insists we're not in 'danger'

    News
  • MarioGuti/Getty Images
    14 hours ago

    CIA reportedly deployed top secret 'Ghost Murmur' to locate US pilot hidden in Iranian mountain

    President Trump has now announced a two week ceasefire with Iran

    News
  • Justin Sullivan / Staff / Getty
    15 hours ago

    Elizabeth Holmes warns everyone to 'delete everything' urgently in dystopian message from prison

    The Theranos founder suggests that even your medical records are up for grabs

    News
  • Woman fears she'll never work again after boss used keystroke technology to track her working from home
  • Bizarre video from 1960s predicted tech in the year 2000 and it's eerily accurate
  • 'Dystopian' AI anti-theft surveillance video has got people freaked out
  • iPhone owners must check settings for 'wrong three numbers' that warn they must upgrade