The digital haves and have-nots will be less concerned with race or wealth and more concerned (if anything) with age. Developing nations will leapfrog the telecommunications infrastructures of the First World and become more wired (and wireless). We once moaned about the demographics of the world. But all of a sudden we must ask ourselves: Considering two countries with roughly the same population, Germany and Mexico, is it really so good that less than half of all Germans are under 40 and so bad that more than half of all Mexicans are under 20? Which of those nations will benefit first from “being digital”?
Predictor: Negroponte, Nicholas
Prediction, in context:In a 1995 column for Wired magazine, Nicholas Negroponte, founder of MIT’s Media Lab, writes about his new book “Being Digital”: ”The digital haves and have-nots will be less concerned with race or wealth and more concerned (if anything) with age. Developing nations will leapfrog the telecommunications infrastructures of the First World and become more wired (and wireless). We once moaned about the demographics of the world. But all of a sudden we must ask ourselves: Considering two countries with roughly the same population, Germany and Mexico, is it really so good that less than half of all Germans are under 40 and so bad that more than half of all Mexicans are under 20? Which of those nations will benefit first from ‘being digital’?”
Biography:Nicholas Negroponte, a co-founder of MIT’s Media Lab and a popular speaker and writer about technologies of the future, wrote one of the 1990s’ best-selling books about the new future of communications, “Being Digital.” (Pioneer/Originator.)
Date of prediction: January 1, 1995
Topic of prediction: Global Relationships/Politics
Subtopic: General
Name of publication: Wired
Title, headline, chapter name: Being Digital: A Book (P)review
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/3.02/negroponte_pr.html
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney