PCs … will inevitably become more bedworthy. And television sets will grow to resemble keyboardless computers, installed more like Sheetrock than furniture … the TV and the PC are bit processors, accumulating bits as they come, or reaching for them from afar. Sometimes, you’ll want to pull on bits; other times, you’ll want them pushed at you – whether you’re in the bedroom or the living room, sitting or lying, with someone or alone.
Predictor: Negroponte, Nicholas
Prediction, in context:In a 1995 article for Wired magazine, Nicholas Negroponte, founder of MIT’s Media Lab, writes: ”Bit by Bit, PCs Are Becoming TVs. Or Is It the Other Way Around? Only a year ago, people argued over which one would serve as the port of entry for the I-way, and which would be the information and entertainment appliance for the home. Well, the argument is over … PCs … will inevitably become more bedworthy. And television sets will grow to resemble keyboardless computers, installed more like Sheetrock than furniture. The difference is not really social. Some still consider the experience of humans watching TV side by side to be more social than the interaction of the 10 million Americans online today. Yet we know that Americans engage more in ‘community’ than ‘information retrieval’ while online. The basic difference between today’s TVs and PCs has nothing to do with location, social habits, or our need to relax. It has to do with how the bits arrive. The TV takes in bits radiated by cable, satellite, or terrestrial transmission. These bits are essentially thrown at the TV to catch-as-catch-can. By contrast, the PC receives its bits because it (or you) asks for them explicitly (or implicitly). That’s the difference. In both cases, the TV and the PC are bit processors, accumulating bits as they come, or reaching for them from afar. Sometimes, you’ll want to pull on bits; other times, you’ll want them pushed at you – whether you’re in the bedroom or the living room, sitting or lying, with someone or alone.”
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: Information Infrastructure
Subtopic: Internet Appliances
Name of publication: Wired
Title, headline, chapter name: Bit By Bit, PCs Are Becoming TVs. Or is it the Other Way Around?
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/3.08/negroponte_pr.html
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney