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That 1987 article claiming email would destroy the postal service by 1995
I was cleaning out my dad's attic last month in Columbus and found a stack of old PC Magazine issues. One piece from 1987 said email would make physical mail obsolete within 8 years, and here we are in 2025 with my mailbox still full of junk catalogs and my bills still arriving in paper envelopes. The funny part is they also predicted video calls would replace business travel completely, but I just flew to Chicago for a 45 minute meeting that could've been an email chain. It got me thinking about how these confident predictions always ignore human habits and logistics infrastructure. Does anyone else have a favorite tech prediction that totally missed the mark on timing or reality?
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felix_thomas731mo ago
My grandfather swore by the Sears catalog back in the day, and he used to say people would never trust a screen to show them a good pair of work boots. That 1987 article missed that sorting machines and rural routes are what actually drive delivery costs, not the letter itself. I still get my fishing license renewal by mail every year because the state website crashes like clockwork. Predictions always forget that people don't change their habits unless the new thing is ten times easier, not just slightly faster.
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