Here in the heart of the information economy the dream that seizes the imagination of our rising cyber class of entrepreneurs and code-warriors is one of empowerment and autonomy through greater information and technology … It hinges on a certain mode of behavior becoming universalized – in this case computer literacy, gadget acquisition, and a voracious appetite for ersatz reality. If the Net truly does become the cultural glue holding the emerging global village together, the pressure toward such behavior will become relentless. Perhaps it will be fitting justice if the catalysts of the new digital politics are ultimately forced by the logic of their political ideals to become online Dr. Frankensteins battling their own creation run amuck.
Predictor: Kinney, Jay
Prediction, in context:For a 1995 article for Wired magazine, Jay Kinney, publisher and editor of Gnosis: A Journal of the Western Inner Traditions, writes: ”Someone, probably Marx, made the observation that emerging classes tend to envision utopia in their own image. Small wonder then that here in the heart of the information economy the dream that seizes the imagination of our rising cyber class of entrepreneurs and code-warriors is one of empowerment and autonomy through greater information and technology. It’s not a bad dream, really, although like most utopian visions it hinges on a certain mode of behavior becoming universalized – in this case computer literacy, gadget acquisition, and a voracious appetite for ersatz reality. If the Net truly does become the cultural glue holding the emerging global village together, the pressure toward such behavior will become relentless. Perhaps it will be fitting justice if the catalysts of the new digital politics are ultimately forced by the logic of their political ideals to become online Dr. Frankensteins battling their own creation run amuck.”
Date of prediction: January 1, 1995
Topic of prediction: Global Relationships/Politics
Subtopic: Democracy
Name of publication: Wired
Title, headline, chapter name: ‘Anarcho-Emergentist-Republicans’: Is There a New Politics Emerging in the Net/Cyberspace/Digital Culture?
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/3.09/netpolitics_pr.html
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney