11 March 2008

Nicholas Negroponte's 1984 TED Talk: 4 predictions for the future (3 of them correct)

Speaking at the first TED Conference in 1984, Nicholas Negroponte waxes prophetic on the converging fields of technology, entertainment and design. Years before anyone was using the word “convergence,” Negroponte was thinking about TV screens as the “electronic books of the future” and computers as the future of education. In excerpts from his 2-hour talk (this was before TED’s 18-minute time limit), he foreshadowed web interfaces, touchscreen kiosks, the multitouch interface of the iPhone, and his own One Laptop per Child project. Oh, and there’s also a fascinating project called Lip Service, which … well, let’s just say it’s still ahead of us.

Negroponte’s full 2-hour talk will be made available for download, but parts of it must be restored.

(Recorded at the first TED conference, February 1984 in Monterey, California. Duration: 25:23.)

Watch Nicholas Negroponte’s talk on TED.com, where you can download it, rate it, comment on it and find other talks and performances.

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