The plan, according to a consensus of experts … is that every home will eventually be wired and … this access will make our lives fuller, richer, easier, more wonderful somehow. Will it? Probably not … We are talking about a machine here; a pretty interesting one, but basically a big machine that spits data across long distances … Ultimately we just connected to one another, and that doesn’t make us any different; it just means we are more in touch.
Predictor: Moore, Dinty W.
Prediction, in context:In the 1995 book “The Emperor’s New Clothes: The Naked Truth About the Internet Culture,” author Dinty Moore writes: ”The plan, according to a consensus of experts in telecommunications, the computer industry and cable networks, as well as Al Gore himself, is that every home will eventually be wired and ready, every single American (and someday the world) will have access to this amazing resource, and this access will make our lives fuller, richer, easier, more wonderful somehow. Will it? Probably not … We are talking about a machine here; a pretty interesting one, but basically a big machine that spits data across long distances. Despite what varied sorts of machines we have at our disposal, despite all the uploads and downloads and listservers in the world, we are still going to be the same human beings, the same contentious, territorial, ridiculous, lovely, procrastinating souls … Ultimately we just connected to one another, and that doesn’t make us any different; it just means we are more in touch.”
Date of prediction: January 1, 1995
Topic of prediction: Getting, Sharing Information
Subtopic: General
Name of publication: The Emperor's Virtual Clothes: The Naked Truth about Internet Culture
Title, headline, chapter name: Big Brother and the Bad Boys: The Dark Side of the Net.
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
Page 201
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney