No amount of data, bandwidth or processing power can substitute for inspired thought … Today, those with the most information have the most power. This is patently false … The Internet, that great digital Dumpster, confers not power, not prosperity, not perspicacity. Vice President Al Gore warned that we must not “divide our society into information haves and have nots.” I’m not worried a bit; information is everywhere. You can take as much as you want.
Predictor: Stoll, Clifford
Prediction, in context:In his 1995 book “Silicon Snake Oil,” writer Clifford Stoll shares his take on the Internet’s future implications for libraries:”There’s a relationship between data, information, knowledge, understanding and wisdom. Our networks are awash in data. A little of it’s information. A smidgen of this shows up as knowledge. Combined with ideas, some of that is actually useful … Minds think with ideas, not information. No amount of data, bandwidth or processing power can substitute for inspired thought. Dazzled by computers and communications theory, we’ve been misled into thinking that experience can be broken down into bits and bytes. High schools teach us knowledge is power. The movie ‘The Net’ transformed that cliche into ‘information is power.’ Today, those with the most information have the most power. This is patently false … The Internet, that great digital Dumpster, confers not power, not prosperity, not perspicacity. Vice President Al Gore warned that we must not ‘divide our society into information haves and have nots.’ I’m not worried a bit; information is everywhere. You can take as much as you want.”
Biography:Clifford Stoll was an astrophysicist who also wrote the influential books “Silicon Snake Oil” (1995) and “The Cuckoo’s Egg.” A long-time network user, Stoll made “Silicon Snake Oil” his platform for finding fault with the Internet hype of the early 1990s. He pointed out the pitfalls of a completely networked society and offered arguments in opposition to the hype. (Author/Editor/Journalist.)
Date of prediction: January 1, 1995
Topic of prediction: Getting, Sharing Information
Subtopic: Libraries/Databases
Name of publication: Silicon Snake Oil
Title, headline, chapter name: Wherein the Author Considers the Future of the Library, the Myth of Free Information, and a Novel Way to Heat Bathwater
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
Page 196
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney