Bits are bits. The six o’clock news not only can be delivers when you want it, but it also can be edited for you and randomly accessed by you. If you want an old Humphery Bogart movie at 8:17 p.m., the telephone company can provide it over its twisted pair. Eventually when you watch a baseball game, you will be able to do so from any seat in the stadium or, for that matter, from the perspective of the baseball. These are the kinds of changes that come from being digital, as opposed to watching ‘Seinfeld’ at twice today’s resolution.
Predictor: Negroponte, Nicholas
Prediction, in context:In his 1995 book “Being Digital,” Nicholas Negroponte writes:”Bits are bits. The six o’clock news not only can be delivers when you want it, but it also can be edited for you and randomly accessed by you. If you want an old Humphery Bogart movie at 8:17 p.m., the telephone company can provide it over its twisted pair. Eventually when you watch a baseball game, you will be able to do so from any seat in the stadium or, for that matter, from the perspective of the baseball. These are the kinds of changes that come from being digital, as opposed to watching ‘Seinfeld’ at twice today’s resolution.”
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: February 1, 1995
Topic of prediction: Getting, Sharing Information
Subtopic: General
Name of publication: Being Digital (book)
Title, headline, chapter name: Chapter 3: Bitcasting
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
Page 49
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Guarino, Jennifer Anne