There’s a great Bill Gibson line: “The future is already here, it’s just unevenly distributed.” There’s tension from people who are on the (cyberspace) border. I’m afraid it will result in violence before it’s all over. I want to see us thinking openly and seriously about how to avoid bloodshed. Because blood will be shed over this divide before it’s over with. It’s really just a question of how much.
Predictor: Barlow, John Perry
Prediction, in context:In a 1995 article in Denver’s major daily newspaper, the Rocky Mountain News, an unknown writer outlined a meeting of the nation’s top technology minds – Aspen Summit: Cyberspace and the American Dream II. The goal of the conference organizers – the Progress & Freedom Foundation, a Washington, D.C.-based economic think tank – according to the author, was to “create a set of principles that will guide government, industry and society through the evolution of Information Age to Knowledge Age.” Quoting outspoken Internet activist John Perry Barlow, the reporter writes: ”‘There’s a great (cyberpunk writer) Bill Gibson line: “The future is already here, it’s just unevenly distributed,”‘ said Electronic Frontier Foundation co-founder and Grateful Dead lyricist John Perry Barlow. ‘You really can see that in this room. It’s the high end on the getting-it spectrum, but the spectrum within this room is incredibly broad. It makes you think about how broad it really is across the face of society.’ … Barlow, a maverick cybernaut who got his visionary stripes during the ’60s and ’70s, has seen his share of upheaval, a good deal of it violent. Fasten your seatbelts, because there’s going to be more to come, Barlow said. ‘There’s tension from people who are on the (cyberspace) border,’ Barlow said. ‘I’m afraid it will result in violence before it’s all over.’ Much of that conflict comes from the old system of centralized command-and-control government clashing with the new system of decentralized and often chaotic cyberspace. ‘I want to see us thinking openly and seriously about how to avoid bloodshed,’ Barlow said. ‘Because blood will be shed over this divide before it’s over with. It’s really just a question of how much.'”
Biography:John Perry Barlow helped found the Electronic Frontier Foundation in 1990 with WELL (Whole Earth ‘Lectronic Link) members Mitch Kapor and John Gilmore in direct response to a threat to free speech. Barlow’s was one of the loudest voices in the battle to keep the Internet unfettered while still encouraging that it become a tool available to everyone. (Advocate/Voice of the People.)
Date of prediction: January 1, 1995
Topic of prediction: General, Overarching Remarks
Subtopic: General
Name of publication: Rocky Mountain News
Title, headline, chapter name: Conflict Certain in Cyberspace
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
Business Page 78A
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney