[thaumasiotes]

> And hop on a zoom 30 minutes later to chat. This would be unimaginable 50 years ago.

It was pretty easy to imagine 50 years ago. For example, Star Trek started airing 60 years ago. The Jetsons started airing a few years before that.

[interloxia]

The video call sequence in 2001 from 1968 comes to mind too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWwo6JpMceg

[kevin_thibedeau]

Picturephones were developed in the 30s and demoed at the '64 world's fair.

[999900000999]

And it would be basically free and accessible to anyone? Two 50$ cell phones can Zoom using library WiFi across the globe

[neaden]

I think the conflict is on the term unimaginable. People back then definitely imagined the equivalent of Zoom and it being free even if they didn't know technically how it could happen.

[999900000999]

Remember when long distance calling was really expensive.

It was for serious business, not small talk. If you somehow knew Zoom would happen you could have created Zoom and you’d be very rich.

TBF, unimaginable is a strong word. Impractical would be better.

[Izkata]

It was on the way there even before Star Trek: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_videotelephony#AT&T...

The next one down is a home system on a subscription, though just after Star Trek and expensive at the time.

[WalterBright]

Back in the 80s, Zortech was located in London while I lived in the Seattle area. International phone calls were too expensive, so we would communicate by fax. Late at night, sending a fax cost about a dollar a page. (No email then.)

An unanticipated result is I have a record of our conversations, which would have all been lost if it was phone calls.