You want an example of a communication system that doesn’t charge for transport? The English language. Think of the Internet as a language rather than a machine, and most of your questions [about charging people to use it] become irrelevant. I think the Internet is tougher than you give it credit for. From now on, the struggle will not be over mechanical control of the means of information, but over spin-control of the zeitgeist.
Predictor: Sterling, Bruce
Prediction, in context:In a 1994 article for The Guardian, a London-based newspaper, technology commentator Mike Holderness quotes Internet commentator and author Bruce Sterling. Holderness writes: ”Author Bruce Sterling comments pithily that, ‘You want an example of a communication system that doesn’t charge for transport? The English language. Think of the Internet as a language rather than a machine, and most of your questions [about charging people to use it] become irrelevant. I think the Internet is tougher than you give it credit for. From now on, the struggle will not be over mechanical control of the means of information, but over spin-control of the zeitgeist.'”
Biography:Bruce Sterling, a writer, consultant and science fiction enthusiast, wrote or co-wrote “Schismatrix,” “The Hacker Crackdown” and “The Difference Engine” and edited “Mirrorshades: The Cyberpunk Anthology.” In the 1990s, he wrote tech articles for Fortune, Harper’s, Details, Whole Earth Review and Wired, where he was a contributing writer from its founding. He published the nonfiction book “Tomorrow Now: Envisioning the Next Fifty Years” in 2002. (Author/Editor/Journalist.)
Date of prediction: June 1, 1994
Topic of prediction: Controversial Issues
Subtopic: Jurisdiction/Control
Name of publication: Guardian (London)
Title, headline, chapter name: High Anxiety for Hitchhikers on the Infobahn: Just as Millions Outside the Groves of Academe Discover the Joys of Essentially Free Global Communications on the Internet, it’s All Changing
Quote Type: Paraphrase
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://www.poptel.org.uk/nuj/mike/articles/gdn-netb.htm
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney