B.C. futurist a free spirit

Frank Ogden, the free-spirited futurist known as Dr. Tomorrow who was one of the first people to predict that Internet would come to dominate our lives, has died.

The world-renowned Vancouverite with an eclectic resume, including pilot, corporate consultant, broadcaster, LSD therapist, teacher and author of 22 books, died on Dec. 29.

He was 92. A close friend of science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke, a fellow futurist, Ogden predicted a future of teleports, limited labour unions, the growth of self-employment, and body implants that would turn people into cyborgs.

He travelled widely throughout his long life, giving lectures on all things high-tech and experimenting with different cultures, including studying voodoo in Haiti.

The nonconformist felt just at home on the neon-lit streets of Tokyo or the Sahara desert as he did in Vancouver. When he wasn't roaming the planet, Ogden worked from home on his wired houseboat in Vancouver's Coal Harbour, and was a pioneer in streaming live video Internet broadcasts.

From his floating electronic cottage, Ogden conducted the first two international seminars via satellite and fibre-optic technology, for Australia's Telstra Communications Network in Sydney and Melbourne.

Years before he started using the Internet to stream live video, Ogden predicted that the broadcast universe wouldn't be limited to 500 traditional channels, but would instead be a universe frequented by anyone with a camera, computer and limited money.

It was one of his many prognostications that he lived to see become a reality.

Cybersex was another, as Ogden had predicted 20 years ago the rise of what he called virtual sex.

Ogden, whose boundless curiosity and insight into the future of computers and satellites made him one of the world's foremost futurists, was ahead of his time when he wrote The Last Book You Will Ever Read and Other Lessons from the Future in 1993.

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B.C. futurist a free spirit