The prediction, in brief:

Paradoxically, the superhighway may connect us more to other people of similar interests and beliefs. But we’ll have less communication with those who are different. Socially we may find ourselves returning to a form of tribalism, as we separate ourselves along group lines – racial, ethnic, ideological – choosing access to only the information that speaks to our identities and beliefs. There may be more avenues for individual speech but fewer for robust, wide-open debate.

Predictor: Brown, Les

Prediction, in context:

In a 1995 article for The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Marcia Stepanek of Hearst Newspapers interviews scholars about their views of the expected impact of communications networks, quoting author Les Brown. Stepanek writes:”In the next 30 years, futurists say, a majority of Americans will probably use computer keyboards for much of their needs, huddling together in increasingly segregated computer communities of interest – to work, to shop, to learn, to govern, to communicate and entertain themselves. ‘Paradoxically, the superhighway may connect us more to other people of similar interests and beliefs,’ says author Les Brown. ‘But we’ll have less communication with those who are different. Socially we may find ourselves returning to a form of tribalism, as we separate ourselves along group lines – racial, ethnic, ideological – choosing access to only the information that speaks to our identities and beliefs,’ Brown says. ‘There may be more avenues for individual speech but fewer for robust, wide-open debate.'”

Date of prediction: January 1, 1995

Topic of prediction: Community/Culture

Subtopic: Relationships

Name of publication: Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Title, headline, chapter name: Scholars Try to Measure the Impact

Quote Type: Direct quote

Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe/document?_m=a2da499fc860f603f890270e01d5c693&_docnum=1&wchp=dGLbVtb-lSlAl&_md5=c06b25b68e8d45fca948131279df77d3

This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Garrison, Betty