The prediction, in brief:

The poor could be left with the obsolete and decaying urban remnants and isolated rural settlements that the more privileged no longer need. Surely the most fundamental challenge in building the bitsphere will be to deploy access according to principles of social equity – not in ways that heighten the privilege of the haves and further marginalize the have-nots.

Predictor: Mitchell, William J.

Prediction, in context:

In his 1994 book “City of Bits,” MIT computer scientist William J. Mitchell writes:”By redirecting access to services and opportunities, the growing information infrastructure has the potential to create winners and losers on a vast scale. It is pleasant to imagine a nation of networked Aspens and cyberspaced Santa Monicas peopled by convivial, bicycle-riding locals, but the obvious danger is that such restructuring will instead produce electronic Jakartas – well-connected, well-serviced, fortified enclaves of privilege surrounded by miserable hyperghettoes, where investments in information infrastructure and appliances are not made, electronically delivered services do not reach, and few economic opportunities are to be found. The poor could be left with the obsolete and decaying urban remnants and isolated rural settlements that the more privileged no longer need. Surely the most fundamental challenge in building the bitsphere will be to deploy access according to principles of social equity – not in ways that heighten the privilege of the haves and further marginalize the have-nots.”

Biography:

William J. Mitchell was a professor and dean of architecture at MIT and the author of the predictive book “City of Bits: Space, Place and the Infobahn” (1994). He also taught at Harvard, Yale, Carnegie-Mellon and Cambridge Universities. (Research Scientist/Illuminator.)

Date of prediction: January 1, 1994

Topic of prediction: Controversial Issues

Subtopic: Digital Divide

Name of publication: City of Bits

Title, headline, chapter name: Chapter 7: Getting to the Good Bits

Quote Type: Direct quote

Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://mitpress2.mit.edu/e-books/City_of_Bits/index.html

This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney