We have a national standard of infantilized media, which allow necessary human chaos only as it sneaks through in the form of eroticized violence and violent eroticism, both typically subtextual, subliminal, and dishonest. If we wish the NII to escape such a malign fate, we should work toward an opaque and open NII, one that, for instance, allows universal and near-anonymous access, guarantees the individual the right (which the government does not currently do) and means to encrypt information, and provides individual control over content, both outgoing and incoming. Taken together, these technical attributes would combine to create an NII that might actually serve us without entangling us even more in the embrace of commercial and governmental forces.
Predictor: Maddox, Tom
Prediction, in context:The 1995 book “The Information Revolution,” edited by Donald Altschiller, carries a reprint of the summer 1994, Wilson Quarterly article “The Cultural Consequences of the Information Superhighway” by Tom Maddox. Maddox raises cultural and social issues involved with the Internet. He writes: ”The history of American broadcast media is not greatly encouraging. Network and local programming alike have proceeded according to unspoken canons of property that defy adults standards of free speech and journalistic practice. As a result, we have a national standard of infantilized media, which allow necessary human chaos only as it sneaks through in the form of eroticized violence and violent eroticism, both typically subtextual, subliminal, and dishonest. If we wish the NII to escape such a malign fate, we should work toward an opaque and open NII, one that, for instance, allows universal and near-anonymous access, guarantees the individual the right (which the government does not currently do) and means to encrypt information, and provides individual control over content, both outgoing and incoming. Taken together, these technical attributes would combine to create an NII that might actually serve us without entangling us even more in the embrace of commercial and governmental forces.”
Date of prediction: January 1, 1994
Topic of prediction: Information Infrastructure
Subtopic: Open Access
Name of publication: The Information Revolution (book)
Title, headline, chapter name: The Cultural Consequences of the Information Superhighway
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
Pages 199, 200
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Guarino, Jennifer Anne