
<p style="">
We start with <a href="Orwellian depictions of the future" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">
Orwellian depictions of the future</a>
 read about in the 1950/60s. Working in the 1970s at companies such as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BT_Group" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">
British Telecom</a>
&nbsp;and the L<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lurgi" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">
urgie</a>
. We hear about <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telex" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">
telex</a>
, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mainframe_computer" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">
mainframes</a>
 with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic-tape_data_storage" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">
magnetic tape</a>
, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typewriter" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">
type-writers</a>
, and the upskilling of the workforce by the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labour_Exchanges_Act_1909" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">
labour-exchange</a>
. How did a cold and lack of a home telephone lead to businessmen arriving in a foreign land sans camels? Why were <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filing_cabinet" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">
filing cabinets</a>
 replaced by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relational_database" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">
databases</a>
 (or were they)? We hear about gaming from a home made version of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pong" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">
Pong</a>
 all the way to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alone_in_the_Dark" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">
Alone in the Dark</a>
. Then modern times: we hear about some favourite <a href="https://www.youtube.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">
youtube</a>
 streams and discover that living in the 2020s is (just about) possible without a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smartphone" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">
smartphone</a>
.</p>


