6 things familiar to everyone that seemed incredible 50 years ago

1. Smartphone

Several decades ago, people could sit for hours at their home phone, waiting for a call. And on the streets there were automatic machines with pipes where you had to throw coins. The ancestor of the modern smartphone "was born"In 1973. Engineer Martin Cooper created a prototype of a cell phone - Motorola DynaTAC. The handset weighed almost two kilograms, and it took 10 hours to charge the device.

Cellular communication to Russia came in 1991, and Nokia became the most popular mobile phone. Its cost with connection reached $ 4,000, and a minute of conversation cost $ 1. Truly a luxury item! After another decade, telephones and communications became cheaper and more widely available. For some time, pagers were popular - small boxes with a screen on which text was displayed. It was a one-way communication: a person received a message asking him to call back and immediately ran in search of a pay phone.

2. 3D printing

Things created with the help of this technology never cease to amaze even now. And half a century ago, it seemed like something fantastic. It all started at the start of the 80s, when the Japanese Hideo Kodama

developed the first rapid prototyping system using photopolymers. The real breakthrough came in 1983, when Charles Hull discovered the possibility of 3D printing from digital images: under the influence of UV rays, the photopolymer instantly solidified, acquiring the desired shape.

Technology developed and began to penetrate almost all spheres of human life. Today, many parts can be printed and production is greatly accelerated. And the 3D printer is also capable of creating models of buildings and structures, producing food, medicines, prostheses, implants and even human organs! The technology has become so affordable that today you can easily acquire a 3D printer and organize yourself an interesting hobby.

3. Online orders

Shopping used to be associated with going to the store or the market. Now you can order and pay for the goods while sitting on the couch. And they will deliver it to your apartment from anywhere in the world. The beginning of the development of e-commerce was it is supposed in 1960 with the advent of the airline booking system in America. A joint project between American Airlines and IBM helped automate the calculation of fares for reservations. This has greatly reduced the cost of services and increased passenger traffic.

Over the next decades, different countries have tried to establish online ordering systems. But, perhaps, the most successful and famous for today appeared in 1995 when Jeff Bezos launched the Amazon website. The online store started out selling books, but today you can buy anything there. The first Russian online stores were selling electronics in the 90s. They had to order by phone, the wait for the purchase was long, and cases of deception and fraud were encountered at every step. Today it is difficult to imagine an online purchase without the ability to order goods in a couple of clicks. And paid delivery or a long wait is completely bewildering.

At the same time, everyday purchases have also become more digital: first there was payment by cards, then with smart watches and phones. Now even gadgets are leaving payments - we confirm purchases using biometrics.

4. Video calls

Once upon a time we counted the signs in SMS and tried to fit everything into one message. Now at any time you can see the face of a loved one away or a colleague on the screen. The technology has been used in the last century as well - but mostly as an experiment. The first person to make a video call from Washington to New York in 1927, became United States Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover.

The prototype of modern video telephony appeared in 1932 thanks to the German inventor Georg Schubert. He created device configured from the display, camera, lights and a regular phone. Such devices were located in post offices and connected different cities in Germany. Then the Second World War prevented the development of technology. First commercial videophone presented in New York only in 1964. But this technology became widespread much later, and few people then could have imagined that only a smartphone would be enough for a video call.

5. Artificial Intelligence

A superbrain capable of beating a person at chess? Once upon a time such a plot was possible only in a science fiction film. What to say about delegating work tasks to machines - living intelligence coped with everything much better. But in 1997, the fantasies of scientists become reality: world chess champion Garry Kasparov was defeated by a computer. Artificial intelligence technologies have started to develop rapidly, and in the past few years there has been a real boom.

Today artificial intelligence makes our life much easier. Speech recognition technology makes the smartphone our secretary. Home appliances follow commands when they hear a voice, or turn on the heating in the house when the family arrives. Artificial intelligence is used in almost all areas - from medicine to defense. And his main feature is that he learns all the time and adapts to our habits.

6. Virtual reality and robots

50 years ago, the world was not divided into online and offline, and digital technologies and reality were not intertwined into one whole. Even during the release of The Matrix and The Terminator, it was difficult to imagine that our life would become a fusion of technology and physical objects. Today movie plots no longer seem unrealistic. We're used to hardworking robotic vacuum cleaners and buzzing drones. Humanoid robot Sophia, "born" in 2015, even got Saudi Arabian citizenship. Robots in different parts of the world deliver orders to people from their favorite restaurants.

Guests won't be surprised to see VR glasses in your home. The ability to literally be inside the game, fighting monsters, has become just one of the ways of leisure. And to play sports, you don't need to leave the apartment: put on a helmet, pick up special sensors - you are already training a powerful feed on the tennis court.