People have known for decades that each time they place an order from a mail-order catalogue or contribute to a political cause, they are adding information to a database. … People are isolated in their reflections about their electronic personae. On the Internet, such matters are more likely to find a collective voice.
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: ”People have known for decades that each time they place an order from a mail-order catalogue or contribute to a political cause, they are adding information to a database. New catalogues and new requests for political contributions arrive that are more and more finely tuned to the profile of the electronic personae they have created through their transactions. But people are isolated in their reflections about their electronic personae. On the Internet, such matters are more likely to find a collective voice.”
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: Controversial Issues
Subtopic: Anonymity/Personal Identity
Name of publication: Life on the Screen (book)
Title, headline, chapter name: Chapter 9: Virtuality and its Discontents
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
Pages 248, 249
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney