No cyber-fair could possibly compete with or be remembered alongside a real one. The greatness of the great world’s fairs was inseparable from their greatness as places where you saw daring architecture, heard music and fountains and the snap of flags, smelled the hot dogs, and above all joined the crowd. The actual crowd.
Predictor: Gelernter, David
Prediction, in context:In a 1995 article for City Journal, David Gelernter writes: ”Newly announced plans for a ‘world’s fair on the Internet’ embody the appealing optimism of cyber-punditry at its best. Visitors will examine a large collection of exhibitions via computer. People everywhere can browse the fair, and exhibitions can originate all over the world. An exhibition might be a multimedia city tour, or a demonstration of some spiffy new software. I like the idea and hope it succeeds; borrowing the term ‘world’s fair’ with its aura of brilliance and optimism is a master stroke. Yet this good idea casts a melancholy shadow. For all its potential fascination, no cyber-fair could possibly compete with or be remembered alongside a real one. The greatness of the great world’s fairs was inseparable from their greatness as places where you saw daring architecture, heard music and fountains and the snap of flags, smelled the hot dogs, and above all joined the crowd. The actual crowd. People loved the great world’s fairs and sought them out because they loved great occasions and company, and of course we still do.”
Biography:David Gelernter, a Yale University scientist, was the author of “Mirror Worlds,” “1939: The Lost World of the Fair” and “The Muse in the Machine.” (Research Scientist/Illuminator.)
Date of prediction: January 1, 1995
Topic of prediction: Community/Culture
Subtopic: Virtual Communities
Name of publication: City Journal
Title, headline, chapter name: Bring Back the Urban Visionaries: Why Have the Best Technology Brains Stopped Trying to Solve Urban Problems?
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
www.city-journal.org/html/5_3_bring_back.html
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney