In 1954 Harold S. Osborne, a former Chief Engineer for AT&T made the following prediction:
"Lets say that in the ultimate, whenever a baby is born anywhere in the world he [sic.] is given at birth a number that will be his telephone number for life. As soon as he can talk, he is given a watch-like device with 10 little buttons on one side and a screen on the other. Thus equipped, at any time when he wishes to talk with anyone in the world, he will pull out the device and punch on the keys the number of his friend. Then, turning the device over, he will hear the voice of his friend and see his face on the screen, in color and in three dimensions. If he does not see him and hear him, he will know that the friend is dead"
Conly, R. L. 1954. "New miracles of the telephone age." National Geographic:87 - 119.
Two points:
1) this idea that somehow always-on, socially required telepresence is a good thing seems very much tied to the era when that was still technically impossible
2) baby's first cell phone is, in fact, approaching us swiftly, at the speed of marketing
Via Richard Seyler-Ling, in telecom-cities
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