Societies are going to be asked to make hard choices in such area as universal availability, investment in education, regulation, and the balance between individual privacy and community security. While it is important that we start thinking about the future, we should guard against the impulse to take hasty action. We can ask only the most general kinds of questions today, so it doesn’t make sense to come up with detailed, specific regulations. We’ve got a good number of years to observe the course of the coming revolution, and we should use that time to make intelligent rather than reflexive decisions.
Predictor: Gates, Bill
Prediction, in context:In his 1995 book “The Road Ahead,” Microsoft CEO Bill Gates writes: ”Societies are going to be asked to make hard choices in such area as universal availability, investment in education, regulation, and the balance between individual privacy and community security. While it is important that we start thinking about the future, we should guard against the impulse to take hasty action. We can ask only the most general kinds of questions today, so it doesn’t make sense to come up with detailed, specific regulations. We’ve got a good number of years to observe the course of the coming revolution, and we should use that time to make intelligent rather than reflexive decisions.”
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: Controversial Issues
Subtopic: General
Name of publication: The Road Ahead (book)
Title, headline, chapter name: Chapter 12: Critical Issues
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
Pages 251, 252
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Guarino, Jennifer Anne