Credit cards will contain memory and a processor to identify the card’s owner and protect its contents. They may even carry personal medical data (but that assumes medical record keeping is going to creep out of the Dark Ages).
Predictor: Bell, Gordon
Prediction, in context:In a 1995 article for Computerworld, Gordon Bell looks ahead: ”Will credit-card-size computers link to public I/O devices and carry a user’s personal databases? Sure, that’s possible; at the very least, credit cards will contain memory and a processor to identify the card’s owner and protect its contents. They may even carry personal medical data (but that assumes medical record keeping is going to creep out of the Dark Ages).”
Biography:Gordon Bell proposed a plan for a U.S. research and education network in a 1987 report to the Office of Science and Technology in response to a congressional request by Al Gore. He was a technology leader at Digital Equipment Corporation (where he led the development of the VAX computer) and with Microsoft. (Technology Developer/Administrator)
Date of prediction:
Topic of prediction: Information Infrastructure
Subtopic: Internet Appliances
Name of publication: Computerworld
Title, headline, chapter name: The View from Here: Unflagging Technology Activist Gordon Bell Previews a Future in Which Plugging in to a Worldwide Network is as Easy as Getting a Dial Tone
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe/document?_m=13531e2e97a46b9c44af8b4913d14576&_docnum=3&wchp=dGLbVtb-lSlAl&_md5=3abf7f5c887ef6c7d2467e2587d65a8f
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Bolger, John S.