The falsehood of the Internet is that it will provide us with close, meaningful relationships, with cheap, good information and with useful life skills. Within each one of those promises is a grain of truth, but on balance they are simply false.
Predictor: Stoll, Clifford
Prediction, in context:In a 1995 article for Maclean’s magazine in Canada, Joe Chidley interviews Clifford Stoll, author of the book “Silicon Snake Oil,” a cautionary look at the impact of computers and the Internet. Chidley quotes Stoll: ”I’ve been hearing this thick hyperbole for the past two years about the wonderments of the Digital Age. But there’s such a gulf between the promises and the dreary reality that I face when I turn on my modem that someone ought to call the bluff. The falsehood of the Internet is that it will provide us with close, meaningful relationships, with cheap, good information and with useful life skills. Within each one of those promises is a grain of truth, but on balance they are simply false.”
Biography:Clifford Stoll was an astrophysicist who also wrote the influential books “Silicon Snake Oil” (1995) and “The Cuckoo’s Egg.” A long-time network user, Stoll made “Silicon Snake Oil” his platform for finding fault with the Internet hype of the early 1990s. He pointed out the pitfalls of a completely networked society and offered arguments in opposition to the hype. (Author/Editor/Journalist.)
Date of prediction: May 1, 1995
Topic of prediction: General, Overarching Remarks
Subtopic: General
Name of publication: Maclean's
Title, headline, chapter name: Reality Check
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe/document?_m=d15e4c74b880ed5d1f33e1bbedb03299&_docnum=11&wchp=dGLbVtb-lSlAl&_md5=8062a3a05284c1f1dda10f1c652355b1
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Tencer, Elizabeth L.