Like the Internet itself, the process of global integration may have no directing center on which to pin the blame, but merely its own internal logic and the confluence of self-interested economic and political entities. In ad hoc fashion, the big players end up with an unseen agenda that may be quite sufficient to overturn the old order of politics.
Predictor: Kinney, Jay
Prediction, in context:For a 1995 article for Wired magazine, Jay Kinney, publisher and editor of Gnosis: A Journal of the Western Inner Traditions, writes: ”Like the Internet itself, the process of global integration may have no directing center on which to pin the blame, but merely its own internal logic and the confluence of self-interested economic and political entities. In ad hoc fashion, the big players end up with an unseen agenda that may be quite sufficient to overturn the old order of politics. Consider the following projections and spin your own scenario. Let’s assume: Both co-ax and wireless grids fully spread to quasi-universal access (already in motion); Bandwidth widens to allow the equivalent of HDTV on your desktop (only a matter of time); Your desktop decentralizes and mobilizes through miniaturization, voice recognition, and “smart” interfaces to usher in personal digital assistants done right … ; Television … mutates into a selection of interactive 24-hour lifestyle choices sponsored by enormous competing corporate alliances that help you to literally ‘get a life’ …; Electronic money, smart cards, and various tax agencies collaborate to marginalize cash while assuring that the city/state/federal/world tax authorities get their cut of every financial or commodity transaction (still working the bugs out of this one); One way or the other, nothing is free – i.e., the meter is running on all services rendered all the time, although we may toggle between productive ‘billable’ time (when we build up our credit reservoir) and leisure “consumption” time (when our reservoir is drawn upon).”
Date of prediction: January 1, 1995
Topic of prediction: Global Relationships/Politics
Subtopic: General
Name of publication: Wired
Title, headline, chapter name: ‘Anarcho-Emergentist-Republicans’: Is There a New Politics Emerging in the Net/Cyberspace/Digital Culture?
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/3.09/netpolitics_pr.html
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney