In our education process we teach this blind faith in technology. We need to basically present the antitechnology viewpoint as reasonable. That we should look at [technology] with an incredibly critical eye. Just because we can do X, Y, Z, doesn’t mean we should do X, Y, Z.
Predictor: Gundrey, George
Prediction, in context:Christopher Scheer included the following remarks from George Gundrey in an essay he wrote for the May 1995 issue of The Nation: ”‘People think technology will make them happy,’ says Net vet George Gundrey, swiveling his chair restlessly in his multimedia gulch office only a few blocks from Wired headquarters. ‘They deny it, but if you look at how they spend their money and their time, it’s clear they believe it will make them happy.’ And this is no technophobe talking – as the program coordinator for the Institute of Global Communications’ PeaceNet, Gundrey’s spending all his time trying to get the left on board the future train. He does, however, profess ‘Luddite tendencies’ – ‘Luddite’ being the post-cold war equivalent of ‘pinko,’ thrown like a hand grenade at anyone who tries to slow the advance of ‘progress. In our education process we teach this blind faith in technology,’ Gundrey says. ‘We need to basically present the antitechnology viewpoint as reasonable. That we should look at [technology] with an incredibly critical eye. Just because we can do X, Y, Z, doesn’t mean we should do X, Y, Z.'”
Date of prediction: January 1, 1995
Topic of prediction: Information Infrastructure
Subtopic: General
Name of publication: The Nation
Title, headline, chapter name: The Pursuit of Techno-Happiness
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?Did=000000001832569&Fmt=3&Deli=1&Mtd=1&Idx=42&Sid=1&RQT=309
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney