The prediction, in brief:

We are moving toward a culture of simulation in which people are increasingly comfortable with substituting representations of reality for the real.

Predictor: Turkle, Sherry

Prediction, in context:

In her 1995 book “Life on the Screen,” Sherry Turkle – an accomplished social psychologist, sociologist and anthropologist from MIT whose studies centered around people and computers for decades – writes:”We have learned to take things at interface value. We are moving toward a culture of simulation in which people are increasingly comfortable with substituting representations of reality for the real. We use a Macintosh-style ‘desktop’ as well as one on four legs. We join virtual communities that exist only among people communicating on computer networks as well as communities in which we are physically present. We come to question simple distinctions between real and artificial. In what sense should one consider a screen desktop less real than any other?”

Biography:

Sherry Turkle was the author of “Life on the Screen: Computers and the Human Spirit.” and a professor of the psychology of science at MIT. (Research Scientist/Illuminator.)

Date of prediction: January 1, 1995

Topic of prediction: Community/Culture

Subtopic: Human-Machine Interaction

Name of publication: Life on the Screen (book)

Title, headline, chapter name: Introduction: Identity on the Internet

Quote Type: Direct quote

Page number or URL of document at time of study:
Page 23

This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney