What you propose here, ladies and gentlemen, may well represent nothing less than this nation’s last and best hope of providing something like a level socio-economic playing field for a true majority of its citizens.
Predictor: Gibson, William
Prediction, in context:In a 1993 speech for the National Academy of Sciences Convocation on Technology and Education in Washington, D.C., author William Gibson makes the following remarks: ”Any of America’s bad dreams, our sorriest future scenarios, stem from a single and terrible fact: There currently exists in this nation a vast and disenfranchised underclass, drawn, most shamefully, along racial lines, a permanent feature of the American landscape. What you propose here, ladies and gentlemen, may well represent nothing less than this nation’s last and best hope of providing something like a level socio-economic playing field for a true majority of its citizens.”
Biography:William Gibson published the influential book “Neuromancer,” in which he coined the term “cyberspace,” in 1984. Through the early 1990s, he was asked to comment regularly on the coming age of the Internet despite the fact that he claimed to use it rarely, if ever. (Author/Editor/Journalist.)
Date of prediction: May 13, 1993
Topic of prediction: Information Infrastructure
Subtopic: Open Access
Name of publication: National Academy of Sciences
Title, headline, chapter name: Literary Freeware: Not for Commercial Use
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://www.eff.org/Net_culture/Cyberpunk/William_Gibson/sterling_gibson_nas.speeches
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney