Yes, it's possible. But so what? A person in the early 20th century could have constructed a similar boogeyman scenario involving those new-fangled flying contraptions: watch out! Someone can take a plane across the country to kill you in mere hours! Yea, and?
His entire point is that you wouldn't be surprised if this happened, which is exactly what you're saying. The point he's making is about how fast the world is changing along with our perceptions of what's normal and what's impossible.
It's true. Even the smartest person from the 1980s would struggle to understand much of what Tom is saying, let alone believe it. Consider:
4Chan, flashmob, YouTube, rickroll, subscribers (in relation to a person), Twitter, "logged off", Chat Roulette, "surfing", GPS (sort of), 3G, remix (in relation to video), "Web stream", links - mostly terms with no meaning even 10 years ago.
The whole world turns upside down in ten years - quite. Having just made that list, I now see why some older people struggle. I can imagine being similarly perplexed in another 50 years.
That's ridiculous. A smart person from the 1980s wouldn't understand your list because it's all brand names and neologisms. If you actually defined the words you're using, they'd have no problem understanding the ideas of a BBS, recording a video of yourself that other people can watch, sending people text messages, GPS, etc. etc.
I agree with you in one regard, but I was extending the GP poster's observation:
The point he's making is about how fast the world is changing along with our perceptions of what's normal and what's impossible.
You could describe to Mr 1980 that there's an international, permanently running computer system that a quarter of the world uses each day and that you can upload videos to (and get feedback on) using a tiny credit card sized device with no wires at all.. but I'd suggest Mr 1980 would find this as far-fetched and unbelievable as I'd find someone talking about playing racket sports in the atmosphere of Jupiter. (Now I know better than to write this off as impossible by 2040..)
I think there are two levels of understanding. As you suggest, there's understanding the terminology, and you're right that there are a lot of neologisms in there. But I'm more impressed by the understanding and acceptance of the concepts involved. Even if you turn all of those terms into something Mr 1980 will understand, would he get it?
I was old enough then, of course almost everybody would get it then, easily! Even my granddad wouldn't have problems imagining. Think: since 1866 (it was 144 years ago!) there's uninterrupted communication using binary electric signals between US and Europe:
But why make this point in the context of someone being killed? It would be just as crazy and impressive if it happened without someone dying. Its crazy-ness and impressive-ness has nothing to do with murder, so why give it that context? Purely for shock value?
Yes, it's possible. But so what? A person in the early 20th century could have constructed a similar boogeyman scenario involving those new-fangled flying contraptions: watch out! Someone can take a plane across the country to kill you in mere hours! Yea, and?