Our happiness will be an illusion, artfully constructed for strategic ends. The Yellow Brick Road cannot take me anywhere I would like to go. The information superhighway will do no better.
Predictor: Gandy, Oscar H.
Prediction, in context:In this 1994 article in the Phi Kappa Phi journal National Forum, Professor Oscar Gandy uses L. Frank Baum’s story of “Oz” as the underlying metaphoric hook for his concerns about the Internet. Gandy writes: ”The Information Age envisioned by Jacques Ellul is as peaceful as the Emerald City. ‘It will not seem insane, for everything will be ordered … Our deepest instincts and our most secret passions will be analyzed, published, and exploited. We shall be rewarded with everything our hearts ever desired.’ But our happiness will be an illusion, artfully constructed for strategic ends. The Yellow Brick Road cannot take me anywhere I would like to go. The information superhighway will do no better.”
Date of prediction: January 1, 1994
Topic of prediction: General, Overarching Remarks
Subtopic: General
Name of publication: National Forum
Title, headline, chapter name: The Information Superhighway as the Yellow Brick Road
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?Did=000000005878683&Fmt=3&Deli=1&Mtd=1&Idx=5&Sid=6&RQT=309
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney