prosthetic knowledge

1980’s AT&T Training Video 

At the 5 minute mark of this video, network engineer Rob Webner was accurately prescient on the future of network services, including working at home, pay-per-view entertainment, online gaming. This was at a time the internet we know today wasn’t invented, and here the concept of electrical network technology was titled ‘The Local Exchange’

Weber was the inventor of the technology that led to, among other things, 800 toll-free numbers. While that is what he was most known for, his facility with understanding the network led him to theorize about what applications would become popular. In this film he focuses on gaming—interactive video games over the phone lines—and other forms of entertainment. He’s pretty spot-on in his predictions. Weber had over 60 patents from his work at Bell Labs and later at AT&T Labs, where he was Research Director.