A hundred million people speaking to one another through computer text and getting their information from researchers, observers, archived material, and just plain other people are impossible to control. They have a reality test. They also have a countercultural weapon.
Predictor: Rushkoff, Douglas
Prediction, in context:In his 1994 book “Media Virus: Hidden Agendas in Popular Culture,” Douglas Rushkoff writes: ”Needless to say, the Internet is a social anarchy. There is no governing body for the system. Scientists share the network with hobbyists and hackers who share the system with writers, artists, researchers, corporations, and, of course, activists. The Internet is inherently threatening to anyone in a position of power because no one – at least not yet – can regulate the tremendous flow of information. The real observations of millions of people, shared through the networks, create an undeniable, high-resolution portrait of our current state of affairs … A hundred million people speaking to one another through computer text and getting their information from researchers, observers, archived material, and just plain other people are impossible to control. They have a reality test. They also have a countercultural weapon.”
Biography:Douglas Rushkoff, an author, social theorist, journalist and software developer, wrote the book “Cyberia: Life in the Trenches of Hyperspace,” (Harper San Francisco, 1994) a best-selling portrait of the 1990s cyberculture. He edited “The Gen X Reader” (Ballantine, 1994), a collection of writings by the elusive, media-wary “slacker” generation. He also wrote “Media Virus! Hidden Agendas in Popular Culture” (Ballantine, 1994). In the 1990s, he regularly contributed features about pop-culture, media and technology to magazines. (Author/Editor/Journalist.)
Date of prediction: January 1, 1994
Topic of prediction: Global Relationships/Politics
Subtopic: Democracy
Name of publication: Media Virus: Hidden Agendas in Popular Culture
Title, headline, chapter name: Chapter 8: The Net
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
Page 238
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Stewart, Ben L.