The prediction, in brief:

When all is said and done, is there a new politics emerging in the Net/cyberspace/digital culture? Short answer: Yes, if by “new politics” one means an increased visibility for certain strains of ideology, like libertarianism, that have not generally made it through the mass media’s bozo-filters. Libertarianism – with its zealous advocacy of laissez-faire capitalism, deregulation, and privatization – is a ready-made “killer app” for high-tech start-ups, would-be millionaires, and the rest of the “don’t tread on me” cybercrew. Mix this in with the current impatience toward half-failed liberal solutions and mammoth government and we may see some unusually radical proposals enacted in Washington.

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:”When all is said and done, is there a new politics emerging in the Net/cyberspace/digital culture? Short answer: Yes, if by ‘new politics’ one means an increased visibility for certain strains of ideology, like libertarianism, that have not generally made it through the mass media’s bozo-filters. Libertarianism – with its zealous advocacy of laissez-faire capitalism, deregulation, and privatization – is a ready-made ‘killer app’ for high-tech start-ups, would-be millionaires, and the rest of the ‘don’t tread on me’ cybercrew. Mix this in with the current impatience toward half-failed liberal solutions and mammoth government and we may see some unusually radical proposals enacted in Washington.”

Date of prediction: January 1, 1995

Topic of prediction: Global Relationships/Politics

Subtopic: Democracy

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