Mathematicians today believe that 250-digit-long product of two primes would take millions of years to factor with any foreseeable amount of future computing power. But who really knows? This uncertainty – and the unlikely but conceivable possibility that someone could come up with an easy way of factoring big numbers – means that a software platform for the information highway will have to be designed in such a way that its encryption scheme can be changed readily.
Predictor: Gates, Bill
Prediction, in context:In his 1995 book “The Road Ahead,” Microsoft CEO Bill Gates writes: ”Mathematicians today believe that 250-digit-long product of two primes would take millions of years to factor with any foreseeable amount of future computing power. But who really knows? This uncertainty – and the unlikely but conceivable possibility that someone could come up with an easy way of factoring big numbers – means that a software platform for the information highway will have to be designed in such a way that its encryption scheme can be changed readily.”
Biography:Bill Gates, the most influential technology entrepreneur of the late 20th century, was the primary author of the prediction-packed 1995 book “The Road Ahead” and is the founder and CEO of Microsoft Corporation. (Entrepreneur/Business Leader.)
Date of prediction: January 1, 1995
Topic of prediction: Communication
Subtopic: Security/Encryption
Name of publication: The Road Ahead (book)
Title, headline, chapter name: Chapter 5: Paths to the Highway
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
Page 110
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Guarino, Jennifer Anne