Thinking Forward by Thinking Back

Shaffer, D. W. (2001). Thinking Forward by Thinking Back. Communication Arts, 42(8), 134-136. Available at Commarts.com

Long before there were virtual reality goggles, as a child I looked through the eyepiece of a GAF View-Master®. You remember: plastic stereoscopic projectors that held a disk of tiny photographs which turned with a lever, moving from one three-dimensional scene to another of the Grand Canyon or the adventures of Winnie the Pooh. The other day I was thinking about View-Masters because I study technology, asking questions like: Which technologies are worthy of closer examination? Which technologies make a difference? Which technologies will we still use’”and still care about’”in a decade or a century?