There's no shortage of vintage footage on the Internet showing how naive we were decades ago about the potential of home computers. But the video below - as hammy and politically incorrect as it is - stands out, as the scenario it portrays is not drastically far from where we are today.
This video has been linked on a number of well known sites, but as yet, we’ve been unable to uncover the original source of the footage. If it's a spoof, it's very well done; right down to the lack of keyboards (which did not become mainstream until the 1970s) and uneven audio quality.
Supposedly from 1969, the footage gives an interesting glimpse into early predictions about online shopping (or 'fingertip shopping', as the narrator calls it). It imagines a world in which people view and buy clothes electronically using personal consoles in their own home. The consoles can also be used to view areas of your house, foreshadowing today's IP surveillance cameras.
A stylus pen (AKA 'electronic correspondence machine') also features in the video, which allows for "instant written correspondence between individuals anywhere in the world."
While the core concept of online shopping is impressively accurate, the 60s-era sexism on display is a little harder to swallow.
Click on the video to watch:
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