Cyberspace development – much like real estate development – will probably progress through a complex and evolving blend of public policies and investments with private-sector responses to emerging opportunities.
Predictor: Mitchell, William J.
Prediction, in context:In his 1994 book “City of Bits,” MIT computer scientist William J. Mitchell writes: ”National information infrastructures will not come cheap, and policy makers will face the difficult question of how to pay for them. The various possible answers have profoundly differing social consequences, so the policy debates are likely to be contentious ones. Some will argue, from positions grounded on ideals of social justice, that universal access and attention to the public good should be guaranteed by treating national information infrastructures as public utilities paid for with tax dollars. Others will claim that only the private sector can mobilize the resources needed to construct these infrastructures quickly and run them efficiently and that private-sector service providers will therefore have to be motivated by opportunities for profits from toll charges and advertising sales. In the end, cyberspace development – much like real estate development – will probably progress through a complex and evolving blend of public policies and investments with private-sector responses to emerging opportunities.”
Biography:William J. Mitchell was a professor and dean of architecture at MIT and the author of the predictive book “City of Bits: Space, Place and the Infobahn” (1994). He also taught at Harvard, Yale, Carnegie-Mellon and Cambridge Universities. (Research Scientist/Illuminator.)
Date of prediction: January 1, 1994
Topic of prediction: Information Infrastructure
Subtopic: Role of Govt./Industry
Name of publication: City of Bits
Title, headline, chapter name: Chapter 7: Getting to the Good Bits
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://mitpress2.mit.edu/e-books/City_of_Bits/index.html
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney