The document discusses the history of innovations in communications technology and predictions made about their potential. It notes how rockets, computers, phones, and the internet have developed over time. The document argues that high-speed broadband internet could enable new applications and transform industries like media, tourism, and healthcare by allowing data sharing and remote access to services. However, many innovations are difficult to predict, as shown by past skeptical quotes about technologies like radio and computers.

1. The unexplored country Public Sphere #1 – High Bandwidth for Australia Craig Thomler T: @craigthomler E: [email_address] W: http://egovau.blogspot.com 7 May 2009

2. "Professor Goddard does not know the relation between action and reaction and the need to have something better than a vacuum against which to react. He seems to lack the basic knowledge ladled out daily in high schools." 1921 New York Times editorial about Robert Goddard's revolutionary rocket work. 1232 First rockets in war 1981 First shuttle flight

3. 1876 First phone call 2008 iPhone released "This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us." Western Union internal memo, 1876

4. 1946 ENIAC computer 2006 XO laptop for kids “ I think there is a world market for maybe five computers.” Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943 “ Computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons.” Popular Mechanics, forecasting the relentless march of science, 1949

5. Crystal Ball 3D computer control device – MIT Electronic Systems Laboratory display console, 1963 The future?

7. Media – video/audio programs on demand

8. Tourism – photo-realistic virtual worlds

9. Medicine – specialists available anywhere

10. Computation – cloud computing

11. Communications – telepresence

13. Available for public/commercial mash-ups and integration into government & corporate systems

14. Fully integrated with standards-based geocoding (state/electorate/suburb/etc)

16. Innovation leading to new social insights and services

17. Improved environmental understanding and management

18. So who's right? “ Louis Pasteur's theory of germs is ridiculous fiction.” Pierre Pachet, Professor of Physiology at Toulouse, 1872 “ Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible.” Lord Kelvin, president, Royal Society, 1895 “ The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value. Who would pay for a message sent to nobody in particular?” David Sarnoff's associates in response to his urgings for investment in the radio, 1920s “ Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?” H. M. Warner, Warner Brothers, 1927 “ But what ... is it good for?” Engineer at IBM on the microchip, 1968 … only 17.6% predicted the faster connection speeds were “likely to generate new products and services”. Australian Industry Group survey of 526 Australian CEOs regarding high speed broadband – The Big Chair, 22 October 2008

19. So who's right? “ Virtually nothing has been invented yet. We're just starting...” Woody Norris, Inventor www.ted.com/index.php/talks/woody_norris_invents_amazing_things.html

20. Questions Craig Thomler T: @craigthomler E: [email_address] W: http://egovau.blogspot.com

22. Chinese rocket – www.nasa.gov

23. Space Shuttle – www.nasa.gov

24. Phone call – "Alexander Graham Bell Speaking on the Phone, 1892." 1892. Gilbert H. Grosvenor Collection, Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress.

25. IPhone – www.apple.com

26. ENIAC computer – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ENIAC

27. XO laptop – www.laptop.org

28. Crystal ball – Image courtesy of Computer History Museum. www.computerhistory.org

29. Fibre-optic cables – www.uniquefibresolutions.ca

30. Arrow slit – www.travel-images.com

31. Globe – www.ngdc.noaa.gov