Despite a lot of current press, the Internet is not about to fall apart … Life, the Universe, and the Internet will continue to prevail. So, so long, and thanks for all the attention. Clearly the perceived problems are mostly harmless.
Predictor: De Vries, Peter J.L.
Prediction, in context:In a 1994 article for LAN Magazine, Peter J.L. de Vries borrows a phrase made popular by science-fiction author Douglas Adams. De Vries writes: ”The Internet is doomed. It’s grown too big too quickly and too few addresses are left. The Internet will soon die. Yikes, what a scary forecast. But that’s the message propagated by the networking equivalent of the tabloid media. As usual, the voices of calm and reason, which outnumber those predicting doom, go mostly unheard … Most people in the TCP/IP internetworking world find the cried of imminent death and disorder a little exaggerated … The fact is that people are laboring hard to keep the situation from ever approaching such dire straits … We are only beginning to understand all that the Internet can do for us. So keep in mind that despite a lot of current press, the Internet is not about to fall apart. As Douglas Adams once put it, don’t panic. The plethora of guides to the worldwide network make it clear that we have not come to the end of the Internet. Life, the Universe, and the Internet will continue to prevail. So, so long, and thanks for all the attention. Clearly the perceived problems are mostly harmless.”
Date of prediction: July 1, 1994
Topic of prediction: Information Infrastructure
Subtopic: General
Name of publication: LAN Magazine
Title, headline, chapter name: A Capitol Problem: Address Shortages on the Internet
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://web1.infotrac.galegroup.com/itw/infomark/960/944/36143110w1/purl=rc2_ITOF_1_a+capitol+problem_xx__1994______LAN+Magazine________________________________________________&dyn=sig!1?sw_aep=ncliveec
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Garrison, Betty