Tomorrow's World - Office of the Future 16 April 1969 - BBC

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James Burke experiences the automated office of the future. In this compilation of reports from a longer programme, James Burke (pictured above) becomes an executive in a futuristic office where the role of a secretary has been usurped by an automated robot. Derek Cooper also reports on a new process for manufacturing micro-electronic crystal lights and visits a South Dakota laboratory deep underground where scientists are collecting information about the sun.
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[@MilitantAntiTheist]

And just like the real offices of the future, they're all using outdated electronic equipment.

[@picobyte]

My cellphone agrees..And makes way less noice.

[@Keithbarber]

Cutting edge on monday obsolete by Wednesday's

[@johnwiiu7005]

Don't you dare criticising the trusty fax machine! /s

[@Ibhorrorauthor]

🤣🤣🤣🤣so true!

[@YujiUedaFan]

Man: And quietly Machine: BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

[@CrudeDragon24]

Ueda Yuuji Fan 😂

[@Luke_P]

"I needn't ever get out of this chair' And that's how it all started.

[@Krawurxus]

I've been sitting sitting here open-mouthed, watching people from 50 years ago wire the pixels on the first 7x5 digital LED displays by hand. This was as fascinating as I imagine watching the first humans make fire would be.

[@Muonium1]

For the physics interested individual in the 21st century *this clip is an absolute gem of history*. I will even go so far as to say that it may be one of the most important "popular technology" related videos of the last century. Not only does it open with what has to be one of the first tv appearances of the living legend James Burke himself (of Connections fame), but moves on to show in loving detail how Ray Davis Jr. collected his "little bottles of nothing" as his wife called them, which would earn him the 2003 Nobel in physics for the discovery of neutrino flavor oscillation (the sun's core temperature isn't a million degrees cooler than theory predicted after all, but rather a third of the neutrinos are 'disappearing' on their way to us from the sun). And on top of all of that, at the end we see what has to be the very first light emitting diode numeric display ever created using hand crafted red GaAsP diodes built at "wafer scale" directly on little slabs of hand cut GaAs. A technology that now, 50 years later in the form of gallium nitride, is the dominant lighting technology set to take over all other forms of lighting throughout the world. Absolutely incredible.

[@scialomy]

I didn't recognized him, I've only seen 2003 pictures of him. Thanks!

[@dontaskme7004]

There is a great clip of the 'tape navigation system' for cars on KZbin

[@jayh9529]

Checkout final days channel

[@HalfdeadRider]

I know very little about this stuff, watching the video I was confused as to how they knew this stuff and why they were doing what they were. At the end when I saw the LED display it blew my mind, more than them using neutrinos from the sun and how the heck they knew they were there a mile underground. And that they could tell the temperature of the centre of the sun from them lol, even though it turns out it was not accurate.

[@smokeymcgee7585]

I bet you are a real hoot at parties

[@mundotaku_org]

So, they imagine Skype as a whole piece of furniture.

[@magrathean0]

it's easy to mock from fifty years in the future ;)

[@Krawurxus]

To be fair, this WAS before the inception of modern all-purpose computers relying on software so of course they imagined a dedicated machine for every task, and only that one task.

[@WLHS]

Robert Heinleins steno desk....star of several of his sci-fi books it even became his girl Friday.

[@NeilCWCampbell]

No they concepted Skype as the smallest proof of concept they could?

[@sologals361]

Thank the lord that was not the office of the future.

[@Flipdrivel]

Except it absolutely was the office of the future (then). It's just not the office of the present (today). Nothing dates like the future.

[@ruadeil_zabelin]

This is amazing. He wasn't wrong at all... LCD's and similar panels are so common these days it's hard to imagine a world without them.

[@IAmSoMuchBetterThanYou]

That was quite a bizarre and surreal first five minutes

[@louiseogden1296]

Iiiit relaxes me. Iiiit...

[@weeneldo]

Its quite amazing to think that in 1967, they had only made 4 of those displays, but by 1974 they had the technology to rebuild a man's body with bionic implants for only 6 million dollars, including giving him an eye that could zoom in and legs that could run at 60mph. Amazing.

[@ShahidKhan-ke8fe]

anyone can run at 60mph, you just have to run regularly and play it back very slowly.

[@michael_mouse]

... that's not true I'm afraid to say

[@donerskine7935]

The leg could only hop at 60mph, to run you needed 2 of them. Back then, anyway, now everything is minituarised. Even legs. I miss 1967. I hope it comes back.

[@kr0nic666]

It took until 30 seconds before the end before i knew what the fuck they were making

[@Nexfero]

Gallium Arsenide is what LEDs are made out of they are literally making LEDs 13:05

[@minicoopertn]

When I started watching I could not tell if I was watching Tomorrows World or an episode of The Twilight Zone.

[@marionkennedy9651]

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂👍

[@irixperson]

World's first ASMR video.

[@handsoffmycactus2958]

It's not, it's creepy

[@StellaSteve80]

those 60's office babes are much hotter then the modern ones.

[@michaelmale138]

creep

[@safirahmed]

Some workplaces with lots of technology tended to be hotter and less energy efficient in the 1960s and 1970s.

[@OffGridInvestor]

Exactly

[@AlekMunroe01]

Imagine taking a telephone and a tiny camera like that where ever you go!

[@roggerfrogger2]

I can't believe that's the origin of LCD displays! Amazing! Back when Britain used to invent stuff and everyone had a combover

[@n1vg]

I can't believe they're doing all of that stuff *by hand*! Also I'm pretty sure those are dynamic scattering mode displays, which really sucked compared to later TN LCDs. High drive voltage, low contrast, high power consumption, and short operating life. I doubt any working displays survive. Twisted nematic LCDs were invented about a year later and they're everything DSM was not - low voltage, low power, high contrast, high reliability. DSM got dropped pretty quick.

[@squarecircle5522]

@@n1vg yes but éventually the empire dried up and all the worlds resources the uk had exploited for 800 years to better themselves began to decline.

[@funkyneil2000]

@@squarecircle5522 How do you work out 800 years?

[@ianlaker9161]

Especially Bobby Charlton.

[@krashd]

@@squarecircle5522 The UK is only 315 years old. 1707-202x

[@oxcart4172]

Amazing how things are better than those people could have ever imagined

[@fredhoupt4078]

really ancient technological history. Fascinating at how far we've come in such a short time. And the future? We can't even imagine.

[@lmeza1983]

you are being really optimistic, I dont care about faster computers or smaller devices. For me the future is how will people will behave and what kind of world problems they will face.

[@firestorm7977]

Well I’m from 2020. The future is great.

[@ChatGPT1111]

@@firestorm7977 well I'm from 2022. The very near future sux more than you can possibly imagine.

[@Envergure]

AWESOME! I never imagined they could make semiconductor wafers by hand! 70 years before this show aired, the LED was discovered by accident, and nobody really cared because apparently they couldn't think of any use for a small yellow light.

[@therealchayd]

Search youtube for Jeri Ellsworth, she has hand built some transistors and chips and shows the whole process (it's rather involved, but still within the reach of a dedicated hobbyist)

[@cnegrea]

@@therealchayd yeah, but she uses semiconductor grade wafers

[@SnowHarp]

Amazing to see this and to realize that computers were not really envisaged as being on every desk in the future. The first thing he touches on his desk is a pen and paper. They also did not foresee LCD panels. Obviously not watching Star Trek which came out at about this time.

[@Juliem1976]

Try telling anyone these days that technology leaves them alone

[@dervxerox]

It's uncanny how accurate the prediction was. My office is just like that.

[@dieseldragon6756]

But doesn’t the noise of the Alexa-controlled hostess trolley disturb your workflow? 🙃

[@jackkraken3888]

James Burke, my man, I love how vision of the future is no only paperless but also lacks human contact which seems pretty accurate in some ways to our current reality.

[@cat333pokemon]

High-ho, high-ho, it's off to work we go! Hey, I can't be the only person who caught that at the beginning.

[@chrisgavin]

Really eye-opening mixture of conjecture/science/engineering. How many people, (especially youngsters) would have watched this on prime time TV (there wasn't much else to watch), then been inspired to find out more. Some of these viewers would go on to study then work, developing more amazing things. The BBC is in a unique position to create and broadcast a lot more content like this today... where the hell is it? We need a whole lot more high quality science/engineering content like this. I like how this mixes broad themes and really specific detailed content too. It's proper broadcasting and most viewers would take away from this something they didn't know about before.

[@1slandB0y77]

Sadly , the BEEB is more interesting in identity politics and pushing what narrative supports "the message" these days than actually helping people in any way. Oh, how the mighty have fallen...

[@MeaHeaR]

They watching Kardasshiers

[@krashd]

You mean other than Click, Horizons, Leading Edge, Science Cafe, What's Next? and Rough Science? What is there other than those six shows?

[@robleary3353]

Loved this show as a young child!. Would watch in awe....🙂

[@ManInTheBigHat]

James Burke is a genius. Love it.

[@mickyhovis]

a colleague rushed into my office and asked to use my dictaphone I said use your finger like everybody else

[@dontaskme7004]

"They're worth around £100 each, and at that price need to be handled with great care..." At that time a standard terraced house in London was around £5000

[@gram.]

At this time, a standard terraced house in London is around £500,000

[@mkay6089]

OMG that music... My childhood. memories.

[@scumwizard5857]

JUST ME AND MY EXECUTIVE PRISM

[@freeman10000]

What do I have to do in my life to get an "Executive Prism?" I do actually own a prism, it was made in China, comes in a red box and makes pretty rainbows but it is obviously manufactured for the prole prism afficianado. I need the more dynamic and resourceful prism of the executive.

[@dizzydekil]

my grampa said he was always went home from his office (he works at a bank) at 3 PM.... my brother now works at a bank, and sometimes he doesn't even go back home for 3 days......

[@Trance88]

I'm still not 100% what these new "crystal lights" are. I assume they're Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs)?? Pretty wild that this is just the beginning of what is now the most common source of electric light and display technology.

[@Muonium1]

that is in fact exactly what they are. they're making gallium arsenide phosphide diodes, so even though this is in black and white we know their color must have been red.

[@michaelhills8516]

light electrodes dont know the full name halogen lights led wristwatches.etc

[@typingcat]

How come he is the only man in the building and all others are girls, like Japanese animations?

[@bigblue6917]

That was a typing pool. Something which did not make it to the future. And the secretary got replaced by a virtual assistant who live miles away and probably works from home.

[@MsPinkwolf]

because it was the 60s

[@chrisjudd743]

All these years and I still haven’t had a BJ 39 arrive at my desk!

[@JohnSmith-rw2yn]

love the 7:00 Mark. pouring liquids, removing his tin foil, gases in the air. no protection, no gloves, no mask, no goggles. Either he was reckless or we have gone health and safety mad lol

[@Mecharnie_Dobbs]

And 11:57 he turns on the acetylene torch BEFORE he puts on his goggles.

[@Muonium1]

It's just liquid nitrogen. So trust as someone who uses it often: IT'S THE LATTER.

[@briancherry1]

I can't bloody wait for the future!

[@DoctorX17]

It's crazy to think that something like those displays were insanely expensive to produce in a professional environment, and now they can be made in a home lab...

[@GreyHulk2156]

"The great thing about machines is that they do what they're told... They're obedient." HA HA HA! He has clearly never been to the _actual_ future (our present) where machines are far from obedient and forever breaking down.

[@kezadrone]

Machines do as they're told, I'd like to see them deal with my computer always acting up.

[@nandanm3826]

Great and good information. Thank you for sharing.🙏

[@theweathercat2002]

This is unique BBC programme

[@JakePurches-Base2music]

The beginnings of the practical LED display. Amazing.

[@garethoneill5676]

Now it all fits on a phone

[@winstonsmith84]

48 years later and I'm watching this on an LCD screen with 3,686,400 windows

[@Hussdagreat]

You mean an OLED screen with 3,686,400 ppi

[@michaeldemetriou1399]

Sir Isaac Newton "If I see further it is because I am standing on the shoulders of giants" So many ideas and discoveries have come before us.

[@medievalist]

Up with the office that doesn't have a phone! I hate talking on the phone at work - I'd much rather be emailed.

[@Ubique2927]

medievalist .. Email was so yesterday. Messenger is in. Isn't it?

[@medievalist]

I wish! Nick Turner

[@PurplePinkRed]

medievalist I agree. Emails are great. Don't want to hear the bullshit.

[@ColinJonesPonder]

It's funny how the real future is often more futuristic than predicted.

[@dieseldragon6756]

Woah, that clip about the Gallium Crystal Lights could do with more exposure and a vid in it’s own right! Nowadays we call them „LEDs”, and they’ve become a handy and essential part of everyday life! 😁 (And the foresight of the presenter is commendable! Had Concorde survived the post-9/11 dip in air travel, it would almost certainly have an all-LED (Or „Glass”) cockpit! 💡🛫😁) Mind you: I would *never* ever have suspected that LEDs (Or at least single chip LED arrays) were a British invention! Bravo! 💡🇬🇧😇

[@typhoon-7]

Only thing they got wrong was the office of the future is sitting on your kitchen table and you'll spend much of the time saying "you're on mute".

[@enoz.j3506]

The L.E.D part was most interesting,great to watch.

[@therealbluedragon]

In the future, everything will be viewed through mirrored tubes.

[@zenekkamaz3197]

For last 50 years we made more discoveries and new tecnologies than in last 2000 years. Look at 1969 and now what marvelous times we live in

[@vladm7246]

Plot twist - he's the serial killer.

[@jaworskij]

Yup, this bloke does sound like he's got some mental health issues, doesn't he?

[@dudewhosaysarrh]

@BGDPPL That was one of the first numeric LED displays, waay too big for a watch. The first digital watches with LED displays were intruduced in the seventies, they were expensive, heavy and the batteries didn't last long. Towards the end of the seventies, they came up with liquid chrystal displays, which were much more energy efficient.

[@DustinDawind]

With a laptop, cell phone, and a Verizon Wifi hotspot my office is wherever I am at the time.

[@DustinDawind]

3 years later this is still true. It's just that my office is now at home 99% of the time.

[@TVperson1]

Heh, these days that display is the speedometer on the dashboard of a car.

[@jsl151850b]

1) Meh. 2) They were able to detect individual atoms of Argon?? 3) All those people HANDLING the semiconductor! No wonder it was so expensive! We in the 21st century assume automation perform those processes.

[@geoffgeoff143]

If they tried making tomorrow's world today by the time it got to air it would be yesterday's world.

[@krashd]

Yep, the closest thing we have is Click which talks about what is just around the next corner where Tomorrow's World often spoke about things in 20 years time. Tomorrow's World wouldn't work now but Click is as strong today as it was in 2000.

[@waynejohnstone3685]

Pretty cool mining scene, I live in Sudbury Ontario and work indirectly in the mining business. That ppe wouldn’t get you underground these days! We also have the snolab (Sudbury neutrino observatory) - I believe it uses heavy water for detection though. Anyway, these old videos are fascinating - what an amazing time to be alive!

[@Muonium1]

D2O being replaced with linear alkylbenzene scintillator fluid for SNO+ operation

[@krashd]

Ontario, eh? Are you a hick, a skid or a hockey player? Or a schmelly?

[@simonb2109]

If i worked with some of them tasties that automated executive does i would refuse to work from home.

[@vividman100]

That motorised cabinet is nothing short of ingenious.

[@johnp139]

Stupid

[@ArachmadiPutra]

I love this thing, because they're beyond today 😂😂

[@robertzeurunkl8401]

1:44 - LOL.. Today, we'd simply take a pic of it on our cell phone and text it anywhere in the world within ten seconds.

[@robertzeurunkl8401]

Do you notice how everything is connected by cords? I guess they didn't quite foresee "wireless" in 1969. lol

[@robertzeurunkl8401]

Amazing how ingenious all this technology is despite it's crudeness at the time. I mean, we're talking about a simple LED light display. They were throwing around numbers like "100 quid" for a single billet. Months of prep time. Chemical baths. High temp curing. All to create something that comes in devices we would now use once and throw away. Amazing.

[@ff_crafter]

Wow it's that hard to make a LED 😮

[@johnnyboy3949]

What the actual fuck have I just watched?

[@GiuseppeGaetanoSabatelli]

"They just... leave you alone." lol, wow they were shortsighted. Ever since the dawn of the internet, they have pestered us with advertisements.

[@metafis2490]

Very few people predicted the effect of the internet and WWW on our daily lives. I can only think of Arthur.C.Clarke making such a prediction.

[@spritemon98]

This is more complicated than it needs to be

[@DelilahThePig]

13:10 They were thinking OLED displays before LCD! I wonder why it has taken so long and why fluorescent displays have been the preferred choice for the uses described?

[@Ancient12Tree]

tells about one of the most famous experiments in physics - the neutrino . 15 atoms in 3 months . 1-2 atoms per week !

[@xander7b]

"No distractions !" guess they didn't imagine anything about Internet Distractions

[@NotMe35971]

I see. This is the office where Dalek used to work, before he went mad and decided to exterminate everyone. I wonder if reason was a declined pay raise or stupidity of his boss?

[@importantjohn]

None of my furniture moves on its own. Progress my arse.

[@luckystar9205]

It was amazing inventory and thanks to those who were actually working and discovering

[@ckat609]

Amazing

[@ManInTheBigHat]

And this is why it takes 35 years to make an iphone.

[@bigblue6917]

Somethings they did get right. In the 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey while on the space station on of the characters is using a tablet.

[@nicks4934]

Lovin’ those kinky boots 😂

[@st.apollonius5758]

Just before my 1st birthday:)

[@dangerousdingo8846]

Some where around the room the monitor fell off the robotic tray.

[@antoniomaglione4101]

Incredible how they made artisanal production of LED chips in 1969. Watching it on an OLED screen with one thousand time more LEDs on the panel. What irony.

[@locouk]

And they're still in there working out the iPhone 7.

[@Keithbarber]

And in 2021 iPhone 700

[@iidd13iii]

love how health and safety didn't get in the way back then

[@petertrei]

The first LED watch was around 1970. I first saw it in a James Bond film.

[@huntingtigers]

Checkout 1:17 seconds - BJ-39 !!! you gotta be kidding who called it that ?

[@MrDaiseymay]

I once bought a book that listed all the major predictions for the future, from the previous 150 years. Only 8% were anywhere near accurate. Some were hysterically funny. REMEMBER--it was the boss of IBM--who,in 1946 said, there will only be a need for one large computer.

[@Game_Hero]

what was the name of the book, I want it!

[@4nna5]

I'd love to hear what that book was too!

[@MotherSoren]

This voice is just G O D - L I K E

[@friltsarTG]

The narration for the opening office bit sounds like a neurotic shut-in about to lose it and head off on a murder spree any second now.

[@indigohammer5732]

Intelligent broadcasting for a different age.

[@Bossphobia]

Stanley sat at his desk drinking coffee.

[@OldRacingGames]

This is obviously the office for the Ministry Of Silly Walks!

[@oldfartinthenight9201]

All that tech for 1969 and they have a scrunched up aluminium foil lid!

[@simonthomas5367]

BJ 39!! Anything I want? Brilliant.

[@willsshepherd2976]

The same robotic desk is still in development I saw it last week

[@joshmnky]

BJ39?... I guess they thought BJ69 was pushing it?

[@krashd]

I like how they gave the automatic receptionist a top speed of almost-stationary in order to mimic how long it can take for your receptionist to finish having her shit, washing her hands and walking back to the office.

[@UKAbandonedMineExplores]

He eventually died through loanleyness.

[@michaelhills8516]

reminds me of Carol Burnett show the ding bat Secretary.with a robot burnadeen can you come in here.