Encryption technology civilizes the grid-locking avalanche of knowledge and data that networked systems generate. Without this taming spirit, the Net becomes a web that snares its own life. It strangles itself by its own prolific connections. A cipher is the yin for the network’s yang, a tiny hidden force that is able to tame the explosive interconnections born of decentralized, distributed systems.
Predictor: Kelly, Kevin
Prediction, in context:In his 1994 book “Out of Control: The New Biology of Machines, Social Systems and the Economic World,” Kevin Kelly, editor of Wired magazine, writes: ”I’m listening to the cypherpunks [and their push for encryption] not because I think that anarchy is a solution to anything but because it seems to me that encryption technology civilizes the grid-locking avalanche of knowledge and data that networked systems generate. Without this taming spirit, the Net becomes a web that snares its own life. It strangles itself by its own prolific connections. A cipher is the yin for the network’s yang, a tiny hidden force that is able to tame the explosive interconnections born of decentralized, distributed systems. Encryption permits the requisite out-of-controllness that a hive culture demands in order to keep nimble and quick as it evolves into a deepening tangle.”
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, 1992
Topic of prediction: Communication
Subtopic: Security/Encryption
Name of publication: Out of Control: The New Biology of Machines, Social Systems, and the Economic World
Title, headline, chapter name: E-Money
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
Page 229
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney