The future of the Internet, as predicted in 1995 (YouTube)
A cute, humorous and largely accurate 1995 video made by a class of Helena, Montana, 5th graders attempts to predict what the Internet will be used for by the time they get to college (roughly 2003). And you know what? They pretty much got everything right.
Yes, even in 1995, 5th graders knew that the modern-day Internet was destined to be dominated by cats.
"Hey, why should I be on the Internet?" asks one of the Ray Bjork Elementary School students in the video.
"Well, by the time I'm in college, the Internet will be our telephone, television, shopping center, and workplace."
"And it's already got more stuff on it than you could possibly imagine."
"In less than an hour, you can visit the planet Jupiter, take a tour of the Sistine Chapel, do research on the rainforest, get soccer scores for a team in Italy, chat with a friend in Australia and I even found a recipe for cat food cupcakes."
And the students didn't have to wait until 2012 for their validation. According to the YouTube page to which the video was uploaded, the Montana Media Group production won a local ADDY Award in 1996 for Best PSA.
"It is as much a part of the future as we are," one of the students declares at the video's conclusion. "Shouldn't everybody be on the Internet?"
[Hat tip: ReadWriteWeb]