“As information becomes cheap, learning what not to read or connect to becomes more valuable,” … what becomes important are what Kelly calls “the technologies of disconnection” – the search tools, filters and digesters that refine and manage data. As information becomes like air – everywhere and free the value will be how it is processed. There will be more unlisted numbers and e-mail addresses, according to Kelly. “And more people will subscribe to small information salons rather than cosmopolitan services like CompuServe.”
Predictor: Kelly, Kevin
Prediction, in context:In a 1995 article for The San Francisco Chronicle, Peter Sinton quotes Kevin Kelly of Wired magazine. Sinton writes: ”There are conflicting ideas about access to information. One of the ironies of the information age, says Wired magazine executive editor Kevin Kelly, is that ‘we want to send e-mail to everyone in the world, but don’t want everyone in the world to send e-mail to us.’ Getting deluged by the equivalent of 6 billion pieces of junk mail will hardly make anyone wiser. It will only clog the information arteries. ‘As information becomes cheap, learning what not to read or connect to becomes more valuable,’ said Kelly. As raw data becomes intellectual landfill, what becomes important are what Kelly calls ‘the technologies of disconnection’ – the search tools, filters and digesters that refine and manage data. As information becomes like air – everywhere and free the value will be how it is processed. There will be more unlisted numbers and e-mail addresses, according to Kelly. ‘And more people will subscribe to small information salons rather than cosmopolitan services like CompuServe.'”
Biography:Kevin Kelly was the author of the book “Out of Control” and the first executive editor of the highly influential Wired magazine. (Author/Editor/Journalist.)
Date of prediction: January 1, 1995
Topic of prediction: Community/Culture
Subtopic: Information Overload
Name of publication: San Francisco Chronicle
Title, headline, chapter name: Perils Await the Unwary on the Cyber-Frontier
Quote Type: Partial quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe/document?_m=61282d07c016320bb392cb6af1b493c...
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Komorowski, Anne Gabrielle