From rotary phone to smartphone: 150 years of revolution.

Introduction: The Revolution in Your Pocket 

Think about the last time you sent a text, made a video call, or checked social media. Now imagine waiting weeks for a handwritten letter to arrive, that was reality just 150 years ago. 

The journey from Alexander Graham Bell’s first telephone to today’s AI-powered smartphones is one of humanity’s most incredible technological stories. It’s not just about gadgets, it’s about how we communicate, work, love, and understand the world. 

In this article, we’ll explore: 

• The Birth of Voice Communication. How the telephone went from lab experiment to household necessity 

• The Mobile Revolution. From brick phones to the sleek devices we can’t live without 

• The Internet in Your Pocket. How smartphones changed everything (including our brains) 

• AI assistants, AR glasses, and tech we can’t even imagine yet 

Plus, we’ll answer burning questions like:

• Why did rotary phones have letters under numbers? 

• How much did the first cell phone cost (hint: more than a used car)? 

• Are we really addicted to our smartphones? (Spoiler: Science says yes.)

Let’s rewind to 1876 and discover how we got here, and where we’re going next.

Part 1: The Telephone Era (1876–1980s). Mr. Watson, Come Here! 

The Day Everything Changed: March 10, 1876. In a Boston lab, Alexander Graham Bell spoke the first words ever transmitted by telephone: “Mr. Watson, come here. I want to see you”. 

His assistant, Thomas Watson, heard it clearly from another room. That 10-second call changed human history. 

Fun Fact: Bell actually ripped off parts of his design from rival inventor Elisha Gray. The patent race was so close that Gray filed his paperwork just hours after Bell!

Rotary Phones: The Original Social Network (1890s–1980s) 

By the 1920s, telephones were spreading fast, but they worked nothing like today’s phones. 

How They Worked:

• Each number required rotating a dial (try explaining that to a Gen Z kid!) 

• Calls went through human operators (usually women) who physically connected wires 

• The classic ring-ring sound? That was an actual bell inside the phone 

By the Numbers: 

Year | Phones in U.S. | Cost of a 3-Minute NYC-to-Chicago Call 

1900 | 600,000 | $11 ($350 in today’s money!)

 1950 | 30 million | $2.70 ($30 today)

Why Did Rotary Phones Have Letters? 

Those ABC/2, DEF/3 labels weren’t just for decoration. Early phone exchanges used names like BUTterfield 8 instead of numbers. The letters helped operators connect calls faster. 

Part 2: The Mobile Revolution (1983–2007). From Bricks to Flip Phones 

• 1983: The First Cell Phone Hits the Market. The Motorola DynaTAC 8000X was: 

• 2.5 pounds (like carrying a brick) 

• $3,995 ($10,000+ today!) 

• 30 minutes of talk time (then a 10-hour recharge) 

Who Actually Bought It?

• Wall Street traders (who needed real-time stock updates) 

• Drug dealers (seriously, it was in Scarface and Wall Street) 

• The ultra-rich (because who else could afford it?) 

The 1990s: Phones Get Smaller (And Cooler)

1996 Motorola StarTAC 

• The first flip phone

• Worn on belts like a status symbol 

• Vibrate mode was revolutionary (finally, stealth calls!) 

2000 Nokia 3310 

• Sold 126 million units

• Indestructible (survived drops, water, even a few bullets) 

• Snake, the game that defined a generation 

Market Explosion:

• 1990: 12 million mobile users worldwide 

• 2000: 1 billion users 

• 2007: 3.3 billion (half the planet!) 

Part 3: The Smartphone Takeover (2007–Present). There’s an App for That 

anuary 9, 2007: The iPhone Debuts 

Steve Jobs unveiled a widescreen iPod, a phone, and an internet communicator, all in one. Critics laughed at the $499 price tag. Then people lined up for days to buy it. 

Why It Changed Everything: 

• Touchscreen (no keyboards = bigger screens) 

• App Store (2008). Today: 2+ million apps 

• Mobile internet that actually worked 

Economic Earthquake:

• Apple’s 2023 revenue: $394 billion (52% from iPhones) 

• Global smartphone market: $484 billion/year 

The Dark Side of Always Being Connected 

Smartphone Addiction:

• Average user checks phone 58 times/day

• 89% of people feel phantom vibrations  

E-Waste Crisis: 

• 50 million tons of e-waste yearly

• Only 17% gets recycled

The Future of Communication

1. AI Assistants Get Scary Good

• ChatGPT-powered phones that anticipate your needs

• AI call screening (Google already does this)

2. Augmented Reality (AR) Glasses

• Apple Vision Pro (2024) $3,500 spatial computer

• Meta’s Ray-Ban Smart Glasses Record/share instantly

3. 6G & Satellite Internet

• 6G (2030?) 1 terabyte per second speeds

• Starlink Global internet from space

Are We Better Off?

We went from waiting weeks for letters to instant global connections. But at what cost?

Pros:

Never lose touch with loved ones

Entire libraries in our pockets

Medical alerts, GPS, emergency help

Cons:

Attention spans shrinking (TikTok rewiring brains)

Privacy disappearing

Digital divide leaving millions behind

Question! Are smartphones the best thing ever, or a necessary evil?

The Birth of the Telephone (1876–1920s): How a Simple Hello Changed the World Forever 

The Day History Spoke: Alexander Graham Bell’s First Phone Call.

March 10, 1876. In a cluttered Boston workshop, Alexander Graham Bell shouted into a strange metal device: 

Mr. Watson, come here, I want to see you!

His assistant, Thomas Watson heard these words through a wire and humanity suddenly got a whole lot smaller. 

Why This Was Revolutionary: 

• elegraphs were slow (Morse code vs. real voice). 

• Businesses could now negotiate live, no more waiting days for replies. 

• Emotion entered communication for the first time (hearing a loved one’s voice from miles away). 

Fun Fact: Bell wanted people to answer phones with “Ahoy!”, but Thomas Edison pushed for “Hello“, and it stuck.

Rotary Phones: The TikTok of the 1920s (If TikTok Weighed 5 Pounds)

How These Clunky Dials Worked: 

Spin the Wheel: Each number sent electrical pulses (dial 9 = 9 pulses). 

Operator Assistance: Early calls required a human switchboard operator (usually a woman) to physically plug wires into jacks. 

Wait… and Wait: Long-distance calls could take 15+ minutes to connect and cost $12/minute in today’s money! 

The Brands That Built Your Grandma’s Phone:

Company       Claim to Fame                          conic Model  

Western Electric Made phones bomb-proof (literally)        Model 500 (1950s tank)  

Bell System Monopolized U.S. telecom for 100+ years   Candlestick Phone (1910s)

Job Boom: By 1920, 250,000+ operators (mostly young women) worked in the U.S., until automation wiped out the role. 

The Economic Earthquake: How Phones Made Money Move Faster 

• Businesses: Wall Street traders could react in seconds, not days. 

• Crime: Bank robbers now had to outrun phone alerts (bye-bye, Wild West escapes). 

• Families: A 3-minute NYC-to-Chicago call cost $300+ in today’s dollars, so you really made it count. 

Monopoly Alert: AT&T (Bell’s company) controlled 90% of U.S. phones until the government broke it up in 1984. 

Nostalgia Time: Forgotten Quirks of Early Telephones 

• Party Lines: 10+ homes shared one line (and yes, neighbors eavesdropped). 

• No Area Codes: Calls were local unless you begged an operator for long-distance. 

• Phone Booths: The original social media hangout spot for teens. 

But Wait. What About Cell Phones? 

That’s a 1980s revolution. First, we had to survive cords, busy signals, and yelling into receivers. 

Why This Matters Today 

That clunky rotary phone on your vintage Pinterest board? It was the iPhone of its day, disruptive, expensive, and utterly life-changing. 

Reflect:

Could you live without smartphones if 1920s call delays came back?

The Touch-Tone Revolution: How Push-Buttons Changed Our World Forever

Remember that satisfying click-click-click of rotary phones? In just one generation, we went from spinning dials to pushing buttons, and it changed everything about how we communicate. Let’s dive into this forgotten tech revolution that quietly shaped our modern world.

The Birth of a Button Revolution (1963)

When the Western Electric 1500 debuted in 1963, it wasn’t just a new phone, it was a technological leap forward. That first touch-tone phone:

• Cost $20/month to rent (about $200 today)

• Featured those now-iconic 12 buttons (0-9, *, #)

• Used dual-tone multi-frequency (DTMF) technology that would become the backbone of modern telecom

Why This Was Bigger Than Just Faster Dialing

While we remember touch-tone for eliminating the rotary wheel’s slow spin, its real impact was far greater:

1. The Dawn of Self-Service

• First voicemail systems (goodbye, human operators)

• Phone banking emerged (Press 1 for account balance)

• Airlines implemented automated flight info

2. Those Mysterious and # Keys

Originally called octothorpe and star, engineers included them without specific purposes. Today they’re essential for:

• Password security (# to confirm)

• Call center navigation (* to return to main menu)

• Special codes (*67 to block caller ID)

3. Cultural Shifts

• Prank calls got easier (Jenny’s 867-5309 became legendary)

• Phone trees created our love-hate relationship with automation

• Those distinct tones inspired early electronic music

By the Numbers: A Stunning Adoption Curve

• 1963: Only businesses and wealthy homes could afford them

• 1970: 10% of U.S. households converted

• 1980: 80% penetration (rotary phones became grandma tech)

• 1990: Touch-tone was standard, paving way for digital networks

The Hidden Tech That Changed Everything

Those beeps when you pressed buttons? Each was actually two specific frequencies:

• 1 = 697 Hz + 1209 Hz

• 9 = 852 Hz + 1477 Hz

This DTMF system became the foundation for:

• Early computer modems

• Pay-at-the-pump gas stations

• Security systems and garage door openers

Nostalgia Meets Modern Tech

While smartphones dominate today, touch-tone’s legacy lives on:

• Every time you press # to skip a voicemail prompt

• When you enter your PIN at an ATM

• In those retro ringtones that mimic classic phone tones

From Buttons to Voice. What’s Next?

As we say Hey Siri instead of pressing buttons, the touch-tone revolution reminds us how quickly technology can reshape daily life. The next time you hear that familiar beep-boop, remember – you’re interacting with a piece of history that changed how the world communicates.

What’s your favorite touch-tone memory? The first time you called a radio station?

The Mobile Phone Revolution (1980s–2000s): From Status Symbol to Pocket Essential

The Birth of Mobile Phones: When Phones Weighed as Much as a Brick

Imagine carrying a 2.5-pound phone that cost $10,000 in today’s money, and could only last 30 minutes on a charge. That was the reality in 1983 when Motorola launched the DynaTAC 8000X, the world’s first commercial mobile phone. 

Who Actually Bought These Bricks? 

• Wall Street hotshots. Flashing one was like saying, I make big money. 

• Hollywood elites. Seen in movies like Wall Street (Greed is good). 

• Drug lords. Because, well, they could afford it. 

By 1990, only 300,000 people owned one, fewer than the number of iPhones sold every hour today.

The ’90s Flip Phone Craze: When Hello Moto Ruled the World 

Motorola StarTAC (1996). The Original Flex

• The first flip phone, so sleek it felt like sci-fi. 

• A status symbol, (if you had one, you were cool). 

• Battery life? Still terrible, but at least it fit in your pocket. 

Nokia 3310 (2000). The Unkillable Legend 

• 126 million sold, more than the population of Japan. 

• Famous for: 

• Indestructibility (could survive a 10-foot drop). 

• Snake (the game that defined a generation). 

• Custom ringtones (finally, your phone could play Für Elise). 

By 2000, 1 billion people had mobile phones, and Nokia owned 40% of the market. 

The Cultural Earthquake: How Mobiles Changed Everything 

1. Texting (SMS) Became a New Language 

• LOL. Laughed so hard you typed three whole letters. 

• BRB. Because you couldn’t just disappear mid-convo. 

• T9 Predictive Text. A miracle if it guessed right, a disaster if it didn’t (Hey mom, I’m ducking home soon). 

2. The Dawn of Mobile Internet (Sort Of) 

• WAP browsing. Loading a single webpage took 5 minutes. 

• First camera phones (2002). Blurry, 0.3MP selfies that lived forever. 

3. The Rise of the It Phone 

• Motorola Razr (2004). The ultimate flip phone flex. 

• BlackBerry (2006). If you weren’t BBM-ing, were you even important? 

The Fall of the Giants (And the Rise of the iPhone) 

By the late 2000s: 

• Nokia’s empire crumbled (RIP Symbian OS). 

• BlackBerry got too comfortable (and then… poof). 

• Apple’s iPhone (2007) made keyboards obsolete. 

That $10,000 DynaTAC is now a museum piece, while today’s $1,000 iPhone fits in your palm and does… well, everything. 

From bricks to foldable screens, mobile tech keeps evolving. But one thing’s certain: We’ll never forget the golden age of Snake, T9, and flip-phone swagger.

What was your first mobile? A Nokia? A Razr?

The Smartphone Era (2007–Present): How One Device Took Over the World

2007: The Day Everything Changed

On January 9, 2007, Steve Jobs stood on stage and unveiled three devices in one: 

• An iPod (for music) 

• A phone (for calls) 

• An internet communicator (for emails and web) 

The crowd went wild. Tech critics scoffed (Who needs a touchscreen?). And within a decade, the iPhone reshaped human behavior. 

Why the iPhone Was Revolutionary

No more keyboards, Just touch, swipe, zoom. 

• The App Store (2008). Started with 500 apps; now 2+ million. 

• Real internet. No more mobile-friendly WAP sites. 

• The Retina Display. Made pixels invisible to the human eye. 

The first iPhone couldn’t: 

• Copy/paste text 

• Record video 

• Run third-party apps (until 2008) 

Yet people lined up for days to buy one. 

The Smartphone Economy: A $500 Billion Juggernaut

Apple’s Dominance

• 2023 Revenue: $394 billion (52% from iPhones alone). 

• Most Valuable Company: Worth more than Switzerland’s GDP. 

Global Market Explosion 

• Annual smartphone sales: $484 billion (bigger than most countries’ economies).

Best-Selling Phones Ever: 

  1. Nokia 1100 (250M). The indestructible dumbphone. 

  2. iPhone 6/6 Plus (220M). The first big-screen iPhone. 

  3. Samsung Galaxy S4 (80M). Peak Android in 2013. 

Did You Know? The first Android phone (HTC Dream, 2008) had: 

• A slide-out keyboard (because touchscreens weren’t trusted yet). 

• A trackball (yes, like an old computer mouse). 

The Smartphone Wars: Apple vs. Samsung vs. Everyone Else 

2024 Market Share 

• Apple (28%). The luxury choice. 

• Samsung (20%). The Android king. 

• Xiaomi, Oppo, Huawei. Fighting for the rest. 

Key Battles: 

Apple’s Walled Garden. Tight control over hardware & software. 

Samsung’s Throw Everything at the Wall. Foldables, styluses, 100x zoom cameras. 

China’s Rise. Huawei’s 5G chips and Xiaomi’s budget flagships. 

Who’s Winning? Depends where you live: 

U.S.: iPhone rules (55% market share). 

India: Android dominates (95%). 

How Smartphones Rewrote Society 

1. The Death Of… 

• Digital cameras (Why carry one when your phone has three lenses?) 

• MP3 players (iPod who?) 

• Alarm clocks (RIP bedside radios) 

2. The Rise Of… 

• Instagram/Snapchat. Everyone became a photographer. 

• Spotify/YouTube. Music went from albums to streams. 

• Mobile payments. Your phone is now your wallet. 

3. The Dark Side 

• Sleep disruption (Blue light + endless scrolling). 

• Nomophobia (Fear of being without your phone). 

• Surveillance economy (Your data is the real product). 

What’s Next? Foldables, AI, and… Brain Implants? 

• Foldable Phones. Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip vs. Motorola’s Razr reboot. 

• AI Phones. Google’s Gemini, Apple’s Siri 2.0. 

• The Post-Smartphone Era. AR glasses? Neural interfaces? 

One Thing’s Certain: In 15 years, today’s iPhones will look as ancient as the Motorola DynaTAC brick. 

Your Turn: What’s Your Smartphone Story? 

• First smartphone? (BlackBerry? iPhone 3G?) 

• Still miss physical keyboards? 

• Team Apple or Team Android?

How Smartphones Changed Society: The Digital Double-Edged Sword

The Smartphone Takeover: A World in Your Pocket

In just 15 years, smartphones went from luxury gadgets to essential body parts. They’ve rewired how we live, love, work, and even think. But was it all for the better? Let’s break it down. 

THE GOOD: What Smartphones Gave Us

1. Instant Connection (No More Waiting) 

• Remember calling a friend’s house and hoping they’re home? Now, WhatsApp, iMessage, or a FaceTime call connects you instantly, globally, for free. 

• Zoom meetings saved businesses during lockdowns. 

2. Social Media: The Global Water Cooler 

• Facebook (2004), Instagram (2010), TikTok (2016) turned everyone into content creators. 

• But also… doomscrolling, FOMO, and “Why is my ex’s life better than mine?” 

3. Mobile Banking & Payments 

• Venmo, Apple Pay, Bitcoin wallets made cash obsolete. 

• No more ATMs, just tap and go. 

4. GPS Killed the Paper Map 

• Google Maps saved marriages (no more arguing over directions). 

• Uber/Lyft made taxis a tap away. 

The first iPhone didn’t even have GPS, it used cell tower triangulation (and often got you lost). 

THE BAD: What Smartphones Took From Us 

1. Screen Addiction (We’re All Hooked) 

• Average daily use: 3+ hours .

• 90% of people check their phones within 15 minutes of waking up (Deloitte). 

• Phantom vibration syndrome. Feeling your phone buzz… when it didn’t. 

2. Privacy? What Privacy? 

• Your phone knows: Where you live, work, sleep, and what you ate for lunch. 

• Facial recognition, location tracking, mic access. “Hey Siri” is always listening. 

3. E-Waste Apocalypse

• 50 million tons of e-waste yearly (UN). 

• Most smartphones last just 2-3 years before becoming landfill. 

Shocking Stat: Only 17% of e-waste is recycled. The rest? Toxic trash in Ghana, India, and China. 

The Ugly Side of Convenience

1. The Death of Boredom (And Creativity)

• No more staring out the window. Now we scroll. 

• Attention spans dropped from 12 seconds (2000) to 8 seconds (goldfish: 9 seconds). 

2. Social Skills? Never Heard of Her. 

• Gen Z prefers texting over calls (too awkward). 

• Restaurants now have phone stacks (first to touch their phone pays the bill). 

3. Work-Life Balance? LOL. 

• Emails at midnight. Slack pings on vacation. 

• Quiet quitting is a direct response to 24/7 digital leash. 

Can We Fix This?

1. Digital Detox Trends

• Grayscale mode (makes your phone less addictive). 

• Dumbphones (like the Light Phone) are making a comeback. 

2. Privacy Laws Fight Back 

• GDPR (EU), CCPA (California). Forcing apps to ask permission. 

• Apple’s App Tracking Transparency. A small win against data brokers. 

3. Sustainable Tech?

• Fairphone (modular, repairable phones). 

• Apple’s Self-Service Repair (but it’s still too hard). 

Was It Worth It? 

Smartphones gave us the world’s knowledge in our pockets, but at the cost of our attention, privacy, and sometimes sanity. 

Can we keep the good without the bad? Or are we too far gone? 

Your Turn:

Do you have screen time limits?

Last time you went a day without your phone? 

Would you switch to a dumbphone?

Environmental Impact: The Dark Side of Our Tech Addiction

E-Waste: The Invisible Mountain of Gadgets We Throw Away

Every year, we dump enough electronics to circle the equator, twice. Here’s the ugly truth: 

• 53 million metric tons of e-waste in 2023 (equal to 350 cruise ships). 

• Only 17% gets recycled, the rest poisons soil and water with lead, mercury, and arsenic. 

• Smartphones are the worst offenders: Replaced every 2-3 years, yet packed with rare earth metals. 

Shocking Example: In Agbogbloshie, Ghana, kids burn old phones for copper, breathing toxic fumes. 

The Carbon Cost of Upgrading 

That shiny new phone? It’s dirtier than you think: 

• Manufacturing 1 smartphone = 85 kg CO2 (like driving 200 miles in a gas car). 

• iPhone 14 Pro Max? 82 kg CO2, mostly from mining and assembly. 

• Apple’s promise: Carbon neutral by 2030. But can they really clean up 250M iPhones/year? 

Fun (Depressing) Fact: If smartphones were a country, their CO2 emissions would beat Sweden’s. 

Can Tech Ever Be Green? 

A few companies are trying: 

• Fairphone. Modular, repairable phones (screwdriver included). 

• Apple’s Daisy robot. Dismantles 200 iPhones/hour for recycling. 

• Samsung’s Galaxy Upcycling. Turns old phones into smart home devices. 

But… 

• Most recycling is just shipping waste to poor countries. 

• Planned obsolescence still rules, batteries die, software slows, and repairs cost more than upgrades. 

What Can YOU Do? 

• Keep your phone 4+ years (not 2). 

• Repair, don’t replace (check iFixit guides). 

• Recycle properly (not in your home bin, find an e-waste drop-off). 

• Buy refurbished (a used iPhone cuts CO2 by 75%). 

Tech companies won’t change unless we demand it. Next time you’re tempted by that free upgrade, ask: Is my convenience worth a kid in Ghana breathing poison?

What’s Next? The Future of Communication

AI Assistants: Your Phone Will Talk Like a Human 

Forget Siri’s robotic answers. AI is about to become your 24/7 companion: 

• ChatGPT-powered calls: Real-time voice conversations where your phone negotiates bills, books reservations, or even argues with your mom for you. 

• Google’s Call Screen on steroids: AI that detects scams before you pick up, or translates languages mid-call. 

• Creepy-cool: Samsung’s AI live translate turns foreign convos into real-time subtitles in your AirPods. 

By 2030, 50% of your calls won’t be with humans, just AIs talking to each other.

Augmented Reality (AR) Glasses: Goodbye Screens, Hello Holograms 

Your iPhone could soon feel as ancient as a rotary phone: 

• Apple Vision Pro (2024): Take calls as a floating 3D avatar, pinch the air to scroll, or watch movies on a virtual IMAX screen. 

• Meta’s Ray-Ban Smart Glasses: Record what you see, live-stream to friends, or summon AI with a glance. 

• The catch: You’ll look like a cyborg at Starbucks… until everyone’s doing it. 

By 2035, AR glasses could replace smartphones for 1B+ people. 

6G & Satellite Internet: The End of Dead Zones 

Forget 5G, 6G is coming (and it’s insane): 

• 1 TB/second speeds (download 100 movies in a blink). 

• Elon’s Starlink 2.0: Global satellite internet so fast, your mountain cabin gets better Wi-Fi than NYC. 

• Tiny detail: It might fry birds with radiation, oops. 

Biggest winner? Remote workers. Biggest loser? Your privacy. 

Brain Chips, Holograms & Digital Immortality 

• Neuralink (Elon again): Texting with your mind by 2035? 

• Hologram calls: Project yourself into meetings like Star Wars. 

• Digital clones: After you die, an AI version of you chats with grandkids. 

Ethical nightmare? Absolutely. Inevitable? Probably. 

The Next Decade Will Redefine “Connection 

We went from smoke signals to iPhones in 5,000 years… and AI overlords in 30. 

Will tech bring us closer, or make real interaction obsolete?

• Would you let AI take your calls? 

• Will you buy AR glasses, or cling to your phone?

The Next 150 Years. Beyond Phones, Into the Unknown 

From Alexander Graham Bell’s first crackling call in 1876 to AI whispering in your ear today, communication tech has rewritten human civilization. But the next century? It’ll make smartphones look like stone tools.

The Future Is Weirder Than Sci-Fi

1. Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs). Text With Your Thoughts 

• Neuralink’s first human trials are already underway. Imagine: 

• Thinking a text… and it sends. 

  – Learning French by downloading it overnight (The Matrix style). 

• Paralyzed patients walking again via brain controlled exoskeletons. 

• Big question: Will we merge with machines… or lose our humanity? 

2. Holographic Calls. Help Me, Obi-Wan Becomes Reality 

• Projections in thin air (no glasses needed). 

• Business meetings where colleagues appear life-sized in your living room. 

• Funeral twist: Chat with AI recreations of deceased loved ones. 

3. Web3 & Decentralized Internet. The End of Big Tech Control? 

• No more Facebook/TikTok algorithms, you own your data. 

• Paid in crypto for watching ads (or blocking them entirely). 

• Catch: Hackers could steal your memories if BCIs connect to it.

The Next Leap Isn’t Tech, it’s Human Evolution 

We’re not just building better gadgets anymore. We’re redesigning: 

• How we think (BCIs). 

• How we see (AR/VR). 

• How we trust (Web3). 

Will it unite us, or create a digital caste system?

How about you:

What’s your favorite communication device ever? (Rotary phone? iPhone 4? Nokia 3310?) 

Would you implant a brain chip? Why/why not? 

What’s your wildest prediction for 2074?