In my own best-case scenario, every elementary and high school teacher in the United States of America will have unlimited and absolutely cost-free professional access to long-distance telephone service. The provision of this service could be made, by law, a basic operation requirement for all telephone companies. Of course, this would also apply to cable television. By the same token, every teacher in every American public school will be provided, by the manufacturer, on demand, and at no cost, with copies of any piece of software.
Predictor: Gibson, William
Prediction, in context:In a 1993 speech for the National Academy of Sciences Convocation on Technology and Education in Washington, D.C., author William Gibson makes the following remarks:”In my own best-case scenario, every elementary and high school teacher in the United States of America will have unlimited and absolutely cost-free professional access to long-distance telephone service. The provision of this service could be made, by law, a basic operation requirement for all telephone companies. Of course, this would also apply to cable television. By the same token, every teacher in every American public school will be provided, by the manufacturer, on demand, and at no cost, with copies of any piece of software whatever – assuming that said software’s manufacturer would wish their product to be commercially available in the United States … Where is the R&D support for teaching? Where is the tech support for our children’s teachers? Why shouldn’t we give our teachers a license to obtain software, all software, any software, for nothing? Does anyone demand a licensing fee, each time a child is taught the alphabet? Any corporation that genuinely wishes to invest in this country’s future should step forward now and offer services and software. Having thrived under democracy, in a free market, the time has come for these corporations to demonstrate an enlightened self-interest, by acting to assure the survival of democracy and the free market – and incidentally, by assuring that virtually the entire populace of the United States will become computer-literate potential consumers within a single generation. Stop devouring your children’s future in order to meet your next quarterly report.”
Biography:William Gibson published the influential book “Neuromancer,” in which he coined the term “cyberspace,” in 1984. Through the early 1990s, he was asked to comment regularly on the coming age of the Internet despite the fact that he claimed to use it rarely, if ever. (Author/Editor/Journalist.)
Date of prediction: May 13, 1993
Topic of prediction: Getting, Sharing Information
Subtopic: E-learning
Name of publication: National Academy of Sciences
Title, headline, chapter name: Literary Freeware: Not for Commercial Use
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://www.eff.org/Net_culture/Cyberpunk/William_Gibson/sterling_gibson_nas.speeches
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Falcone, Peter P.