When I received my new videoconferencing endpoint for my home office a couple of years ago the “phone number” (e.164 alias) it was assigned was 780077. My colleagues of course wasted no time teasing me about the number. “You’re a 007” they quipped, “licensed to kill technology” and other variations I’m sure you can imagine.
All of the jokes and attention made me reflect on the whole James Bond genre. While it wasn’t Star Trek or Science Fiction of any kind, I realized that 007 had as much to do with predicting and steering the technology we use today as anyone else in the fictional world.
