In 1987, on a school trip to the German countryside, my maths teacher made a prediction. Dr Müller had worked at IBM before turning to teaching in our industrial city, Essen. One day, he mused, fast data connections would let him live in a place like this without giving anything up.
I was 12 and had just unpacked my first computer, an Amiga 500 with 512 kilobytes of memory. I found Dr Müller’s idea so fascinating, I still remember that conversation.
I have watched the same scene repeat itself ever since: someone predicts the future, a few listeners start imagining it, but most just shrug their shoulders, either out of disbelief or disinterest.
To read the article on the NZ Herald website, click here.