The prediction, in brief:

You wake up one morning to discover that your handwriting’s gone. You can’t sign your name. Your business has lost its letterhead, envelopes, checks, logos, and even the ink in your pens has disappeared. You open your mouth, and no sounds come out. You can no longer shake hands, frown, snicker, or laugh out loud. Oh, you can still communicate, using the same uniform style imposed on everyone: ASCII text. The only difference between your messages and another’s is their contents. You spend your life developing your public appearance: it shows in your handwriting, signature, voice, clothing and handshake. You leave all this behind when you send e-mail.

Predictor: Stoll, Clifford

Prediction, in context:

In his 1995 book “Silicon Snake Oil,” writer Clifford Stoll shares his take on the Internet’s future, discussing e-mail:”You wake up one morning to discover that your handwriting’s gone. You can’t sign your name. Your business has lost its letterhead, envelopes, checks, logos, and even the ink in your pens has disappeared. You open your mouth, and no sounds come out. You can no longer shake hands, frown, snicker, or laugh out loud. Oh, you can still communicate, using the same uniform style imposed on everyone: ASCII text. The only difference between your messages and another’s is their contents. You spend your life developing your public appearance: it shows in your handwriting, signature, voice, clothing and handshake. You leave all this behind when you send e-mail.”

Biography:

Clifford Stoll was an astrophysicist who also wrote the influential books “Silicon Snake Oil” (1995) and “The Cuckoo’s Egg.” A long-time network user, Stoll made “Silicon Snake Oil” his platform for finding fault with the Internet hype of the early 1990s. He pointed out the pitfalls of a completely networked society and offered arguments in opposition to the hype. (Author/Editor/Journalist.)

Date of prediction: January 1, 1995

Topic of prediction: Communication

Subtopic: E-mail

Name of publication: Silicon Snake Oil

Title, headline, chapter name: An Inquiry into Mail, an Experiment with the Post Office, and a Comment on Cryptography

Quote Type: Direct quote

Page number or URL of document at time of study:
Page 167

This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney