Every new communication technology – including the telephone – brings people together in new ways and distances them in others. If we are to make good decisions as a society about a powerful new communition medium, we must not fail to look at the human element.
Predictor: Rheingold, Howard
Prediction, in context:In a 1993 article he wrote for Newsweek magazine, Howard Rheingold says: ”If we don’t lose the freedom to speak as we choose, and if the price of access doesn’t restrict virtual communities to the wealthy, we have the opportunity to build a grassroots electronic democracy. But first we have to understand the nature of the medium, its pitfalls as well as its benefits. Virtual communities are not utopias … There are dark sides, just as every technology cast cultural shadows. Electronic bulletin-board systems can bring people together, but the computer screen can be a way of controlling relationships, keeping people at a distance. Words on a screen help people communicate without the usual barriers of prejudice based on appearance. That same distancing of real-life identity and online persona can lead to cybercads and charlatans who use the medium to swindle others. People are cruel and rude to each other in real communities – and human nature doesn’t change because the community is mediated by a computer screen. Computer-mediated communications are particularly susceptible to deception … Every new communication technology – including the telephone – brings people together in new ways and distances them in others. If we are to make good decisions as a society about a powerful new communition medium, we must not fail to look at the human element.’
Biography:Howard Rheingold, one of the first writers to illuminate the ideals and foibles of virtual communities, published a webzine called Electric Minds and wrote “Virtual Reality,” “Smart Mobs” and “Virtual Community.” He also was the editor of Whole Earth Review and the Millennium Whole Earth Catalog. (Research Scientist/Illuminator.)
Date of prediction: January 1, 1993
Topic of prediction: Community/Culture
Subtopic: Relationships
Name of publication: Newsweek
Title, headline, chapter name: Cold Knowledge and Social Warmth
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://weblinks2.epnet.com/citation.asp?tb=1&_ug=dbs+0+ln+en%2Dus+sid+41187390%2D87D6%2D4D82%2DAC76%2DC591D2ADEEDC%40Sessionmgr2+7289&_uh=btn+N+idb+f5hish+jdb+f5hjnh+op+phrase+ss+ID++WER+CC01&_us=bs+Rheingold++And+++internet+ds+Rheingold++And+++internet+dstb+ES+fh+0+gl+%5Fs%5F0+hd+0+or+Date+ri+KAAACB1D00070961+sm+ES+EB49&cf=1&fn=1&rn=6
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Smith, Ian T.