We’re told that anyone without a modem is an inept bumpkin, hopelessly behind the times or afraid of the march of technology. Don’t buy it, or the cyberbullies will bury us all … Life in the real world is far more interesting, far more important, far richer, than anything you’ll ever find on a computer screen … Every hour that you’re behind the keyboard is 60 minutes that you’re not doing something else.
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:”We’re told that anyone without a modem is an inept bumpkin, hopelessly behind the times or afraid of the march of technology. Don’t buy it, or the cyberbullies will bury us all … I can’t help worrying about the gross disparity between the ballyhooed electronic utopia and the mundane reality of today’s networked community … I’m mainly speaking to people who feel mystically lured to the Internet: lotus-eaters, beware. Life in the real world is far more interesting, far more important, far richer, than anything you’ll ever find on a computer screen … Every hour that you’re behind the keyboard is 60 minutes that you’re not doing something else.”
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: Community/Culture
Subtopic: Social Withdrawal/Addiction
Name of publication: Silicon Snake Oil
Title, headline, chapter name: An Amalgam of Popular Fictions About the Internet, Including Brief Trips to China and The City of No Illusions
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
Pages 12, 13
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney