The I-way will rearrange the writing space of the printed book into a new writing space larger and more complex than ink on paper. The instrumentation of our lives can be seen as part of that “writing space.” As data from weather sensors, demographic surveys, cash registers, all the millions of electronic information generators pour forth their words into the Net, they enlarge the writing space of our times. Their information becomes part of what we know, part of our meaning.
Predictor: Kelly, Kevin
Prediction, in context:In a 1994 article he wrote for newspaper The Guardian of London, Wired magazine editor Kevin Kelly says:”The Internet is the largest functioning anarchy in the world. Every day, hundreds of millions of messages are passed without the benefit of a central authority. Every day, millions of words are added and build an immense distributed document, one that is under eternal construction, constant flux … The job of readers of printed text was to find the canonical truth in texts. Net-distributed text supplies a new role for readers – every reader co-determines the meaning of a text. This relationship is the fundamental idea of post-modern literary criticism, in which there is no canon. The truth of a work changes with each reading. In order to decipher a text, it must be viewed as idea-threads, some owned by the author, some by the reader and others by the greater context of the author’s time. It is no coincidence that the post-modernists arose as the networks formed. In the last half-century a uniform mass-market has collapsed into a network of small niches as a result of the information tide. An aggregation of fragments is the only kind of whole we now have. The fragmentation in business markets, of social mores, of spiritual beliefs, or ethnicity, and of truth itself is the mark of this era. Our society is a working pandemonium of fragments. That’s almost the definition of the network many hope the I-way [information highway] becomes. The I-way will rearrange the writing space of the printed book into a new writing space larger and more complex than ink on paper. The instrumentation of our lives can be seen as part of that ‘writing space.’ As data from weather sensors, demographic surveys, cash registers, all the millions of electronic information generators pour forth their words into the Net, they enlarge the writing space of our times. Their information becomes part of what we know, part of our meaning. Their digitized bits form the new literary space we think in, which includes not only a rejuvenated interest in letter writing, but also the syntax of MTV, the structure of asynchronous conversations, the logic of fragmented ideas.”
Biography:Kevin Kelly was the author of the book “Out of Control” and the first executive editor of the highly influential Wired magazine. (Author/Editor/Journalist.)
Date of prediction: January 1, 1994
Topic of prediction: Getting, Sharing Information
Subtopic: Publishing
Name of publication: The Guardian (London)
Title, headline, chapter name: In 2004 We’ll All Live on the Internet with Silicon Valley Visionaries. Kevin Kelly Already Does.
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe/document?_m=da999e988215a1ea15b156d0f8aa909c
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney