I think the drive to get on-line is not so much this alleged dissatisfaction. I think it’s 3.5 trillion dollars. It has been estimated that the business coming out of these technologies is going to amount to that sum. That’s a nice pile of cash, and it’s going to generate a need to convince us that we should follow along, that we should buy these things. I think that is one answer. The other answer is that the wired world is a response to certain cultural changes over the last two or three generations – the breakup of the family, the breakdown of the community, the degradation of the physical environment … Every place I’ve loved in this world has been paved over, malled over, disappeared. As we observe this assault on the physical world, we feel ourselves losing control. I think alternative worlds become more appealing to us.
Predictor: Slouka, Mark
Prediction, in context:In a 1995 HarperÕs Magazine article, four experts on the impact of modern computing and telecommunications technology debate the effects of such technology on modern society. The article includes comments by Mark Slouka, the author of “War of the Worlds: Cyberspace and the Hi-tech Assault on Reality,” published by Basic Books. Slouka says: ÒI am not dissatisfied with the ecosystem I inhabit. I think the drive to get on-line is not so much this alleged dissatisfaction. I think it’s 3.5 trillion dollars. It has been estimated that the business coming out of these technologies is going to amount to that sum. That’s a nice pile of cash, and it’s going to generate a need to convince us that we should follow along, that we should buy these things. I think that is one answer. The other answer is that the wired world is a response to certain cultural changes over the last two or three generations – the breakup of the family, the breakdown of the community, the degradation of the physical environment. I grew up in a little place up near the Catskills, Putnam Lake. It’s gone. Every place I’ve loved in this world has been paved over, malled over, disappeared. As we observe this assault on the physical world, we feel ourselves losing control. I think alternative worlds become more appealing to us.Ó
Date of prediction: January 1, 1995
Topic of prediction: General, Overarching Remarks
Subtopic: General
Name of publication: Harper's Magazine
Title, headline, chapter name: What Are We Doing On-line? A Debate on the Social Consequences of Online Communications
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
Pages 35 - 46
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Guarino, Jennifer Anne