You are in free guest mode.
Timed Practice
Revision List
Attempt History
Progress Tracking
Create a free account to unlock these tools
Practice Writing: Summarize Written Text
ID: #545
Technology Prediction B1
As far as prediction is concerned, remember that the chairman of IBM predicted in the fifties that the world would need a maximum of around half a dozen computers, that the British Department for Education seemed to think in the eighties that we would all need to be able to code in BASIC and that in the nineties Microsoft failed to foresee the rapid growth of the Internet. Who could have predicted that one major effect of the automobile would be to bankrupt small shops across the nation?
Could the early developers of the telephone have foreseen its development as a medium for person to person communication, rather than as a form of a broadcasting medium? We all, including the 'experts', seem to be peculiarly inept at predicting the likely development of our technologies, even as far as the next year.
We can, of course, try to extrapolate from the experience of previous technologies, as I do below by comparing the technology of the Internet with the development of other information and communication technologies and by examining the earlier development of radio and print. But how justified I might be in doing so remains an open question. You might conceivably find the history of the British and French videotex systems, Prestel and Minitel, instructive. However, I am not entirely convinced that they are very relevant, nor do I know where you can find information about them online, so, rather than take up space here, I've briefly described them in a separate article.
Could the early developers of the telephone have foreseen its development as a medium for person to person communication, rather than as a form of a broadcasting medium? We all, including the 'experts', seem to be peculiarly inept at predicting the likely development of our technologies, even as far as the next year.
We can, of course, try to extrapolate from the experience of previous technologies, as I do below by comparing the technology of the Internet with the development of other information and communication technologies and by examining the earlier development of radio and print. But how justified I might be in doing so remains an open question. You might conceivably find the history of the British and French videotex systems, Prestel and Minitel, instructive. However, I am not entirely convinced that they are very relevant, nor do I know where you can find information about them online, so, rather than take up space here, I've briefly described them in a separate article.
* Summarize in the box below (between 5 and 75 words)
A.I. Score
With a free account:
Retry and compare every attempt.
Sample Answer 1
We all, including the specialists, seem to be peculiarly inept at predicting the likely development of our technologies, even as far as the next year, and we can, of course, try to extrapolate from the experience of previous technologies, as I do below by comparing the technology of the Internet with the development of other information and communication technologies and by examining the earlier development of radio and print.
Sample Answer 2
The wrong technology predictions of the IBM chairman and British Department for Education and failures in prediction of Microsoft and in the rapid growth of the Internet, telephone in personal communication and the major effect of automobiles causing small shops' bankruptcy tell that we, including experts, are inept at predicting the development of technologies, but we can try to extrapolate from the experience of previous technologies, which are not very relevant or online.
Explanation
Special case:
1) Removed ''
2) Changed I (pronoun in second sentence)
We all, including the
'experts'specialists, seem to be peculiarly inept at predicting the likely development of our technologies, even as far as the next year, and we can, of course, try to extrapolate from the experience of previous technologies, as I do below by comparing the technology of the Internet with the development of other information and communication technologies and by examining the earlier development of radio and print. -> Both sentences talking about technologies
Be the first!
No community answers here yet — submit yours and help others learn.
Saving...