Back in 2005 we published Issues 1 and 2 of the CS4FN (Computer Science For Fun) magazine and there were two short articles in the 2nd issue – “Future proof” about the change from physical copies of music and films (such as CDs and DVDs) to listening and watching on streaming services and “What do you think is most likely to disappear next?” where we wondered which other technologies might still be around in the future.
Future Proof
Bill Gates believes CDs and DVDs have had it. It won’t be long before the whole back catalogue of music fits on a device in your pocket:
“It’s going even faster than we expected…Five years from now people will say ‘What’s a CD? Why did you have to go to the case and open something up and you couldn’t sequence it your own playlist way?’ That will be a thing of the past. Even videos in the future will either be on a disk in your pocket or over the Internet, and far more convenient for you.”
Bill Gates, Chairman and Chief Software Architect, Microsoft, speaking in 2005.
It’s certainly true that most music and films can be streamed but they may not feel as permanently available as physical copies. On the release of his film Oppenheimer film director Christopher Nolan said1 “There is a danger these days that if things only exist in the streaming version, they do get taken down”. Netflix UK recently told me that Star Trek: The Next Generation would disappear from its listings on the January 8th 2026. I’m sure it will return in the future, but perhaps I need to buy the box set of DVDs to catch up with all the adventures.
Though it does also depend on having the right technology to play a physical copy of the thing – would you know how someone could play a DVD, CD, VHS (video tape) or cassette (audio tape)? Records on vinyl have certainly been making a comeback too…
Our second short article was even shorter and asked readers to vote (in 2005)…
What do you think is most likely to disappear next?
(Or which of the following items might survive into the future?)
- Fixed phones (land lines)
- Cables
- Written signatures
- Loose change
- Wrist-watches
- Paper
- Physical shops
- Calculators
- Radios
Possibly 21 years since 2005 is not quite far enough into a future where all of these have disappeared but you can certainly see that the way these things are used has changed significantly.
Imagine it’s now 21 years in the future (or 42 years since 2005)… pick one item that you think is no longer in use. Click the blue button containing the item that you think won’t be around in 2047.
What other technology/ies are you using today that someone born now might not recognise in 21 years time?
– By Jo Brodie, Paul Curzon and Peter McOwan, Queen Mary University of London
Further reading
- Oppenheimer and the resurgence of Blu-ray and DVDs: How to stop your films and music from disappearing (3 January 2024) BBC Culture, by Clare Thorp [EXTERNAL] ↩︎
Subscribe to be notified whenever we publish a new post to the CS4FN blog.
cs4fn 