The transforming power of the Internet, and all of its possible successor netwoven communication technologies, are in the process of completely destroying all of the institutions, behaviors, and values which arose around the industrial technologies of the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries – economic, military, political, cultural – just as industrial technologies destroyed – or at least marginalized and substantially changed – the institutions, behaviors, and values of pre-industrial, agricultural societies.
Predictor: Dator, Jim
Prediction, in context:In a 1995 speech for the International Conference on Development, Ethics and the Environment in Kuala Lumpur titled “Coming Ready or Not: The World We Are Leaving Future Generations, and Our Responsibility Toward Them,” futurist Jim Dator says: ”The transforming power of the Internet, and all of its possible successor netwoven communication technologies, are in the process of completely destroying all of the institutions, behaviors, and values which arose around the industrial technologies of the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries – economic, military, political, cultural – just as industrial technologies destroyed – or at least marginalized and substantially changed – the institutions, behaviors, and values of pre-industrial, agricultural societies. But in many ways, I am only making a very shortrun observation here. Far more transforming, in my view, is the imminent emergence of artificial intelligence on the one hand, and genetic and molecular engineering on the other.”
Biography:Jim Dator was a futurist who is credited with founding the first Future Studies program in 1971. He has been director of the Hawaii Research Center for Futures Studies at the University of Hawaii. (Futurist/Consultant.)
Date of prediction: January 1, 1995
Topic of prediction: General, Overarching Remarks
Subtopic: General
Name of publication: International Conference on Development, Ethics and the Environment, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, January 13-16, 1995
Title, headline, chapter name: Coming Ready or Not: The World We Are Leaving Future Generations, and Our Responsibility Toward Them
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://www.futures.hawaii.edu/dator/other/readyornot.html
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney