The prediction, in brief:

The mediation has become so intense that the things mediated can no longer even pretend to be unaffected. The culture is increasingly simulational in the sense that the media often changes the things that it treats, transforming the identity of originals and referentialities. In the second media age, “reality” becomes multiple.

Predictor: Poster, Mark

Prediction, in context:

In his 1995 book “The Second Media Age,” Mark Poster, a member of the humanities faculty at the University of California at Irvine, writes about the virtual reality spaces and anonymity provided by MOOs and MUDs:”The terms ‘virtual reality’ and ‘real time’ attest to the force of the second media age in constituting a simulational culture. The mediation has become so intense that the things mediated can no longer even pretend to be unaffected. The culture is increasingly simulational in the sense that the media often changes the things that it treats, transforming the identity of originals and referentialities. In the second media age, ‘reality’ becomes multiple. The wounds of modernity are borne with us when we enter this new arena and in some cases are even exacerbated. Nonetheless, the makings of a new cultural space are also at work in the MUDs. One participant argues that continuous participation in the game leads to a sense of involvement that is somewhere between ordinary reality and fiction. The effect of new media such as the Internet and virtual reality, then, is to multiply the kinds of ‘realities’ one encounters in society.”

Biography:

Mark Poster wrote the paper “Cyberdemocracy: Internet and the Public Sphere” in 1995 while teaching at the University of California, Irvine. He also wrote about technology for Wired magazine. (Author/Editor/Journalist.)

Date of prediction: January 1, 1995

Topic of prediction: Community/Culture

Subtopic: MOOs/MUDs/B-Boards/Newsgroups

Name of publication: The Second Media Age

Title, headline, chapter name: Chapter Two: Postmodern Virtualities

Quote Type: Partial quote

Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://www.humanities.uci.edu/mposter/writings/internet.html

This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Schmidt, Nicholas