The technology will survive, it will remain useful, but the hype will cool. Protocol will be refined, and all the free goodies likely will evaporate. There will still be interesting stuff going on, but the shrill messiahs will latch onto something else. The rest of us will be able to get some work done. There is something revolutionary happening here, we have this great new way to find out stuff. But the Internet is not about to reconfigure the human heart or change anything that matters. What matters is what always has mattered; what always will matter. It is distressing whenever humans decide that some technology or other is going to substantially alter their lives.
Predictor: Mart, Philip
Prediction, in context:In a 1995 article in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, journalist Philip Mart says the Internet will become a great tool but will not change the human experience. He writes: ”The technology will survive, it will remain useful, but the hype will cool. Protocol will be refined, and all the free goodies likely will evaporate. There will still be interesting stuff going on, but the shrill messiahs will latch onto something else. The rest of us will be able to get some work done. There is something revolutionary happening here, we have this great new way to find out stuff. But the Internet is not about to reconfigure the human heart or change anything that matters. What matters is what always has mattered; what always will matter. It is distressing whenever humans decide that some technology or other is going to substantially alter their lives.”
Date of prediction: January 1, 1995
Topic of prediction: General, Overarching Remarks
Subtopic: General
Name of publication: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Title, headline, chapter name: Cyber Utopia a Mirage
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
Page 19
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Guarino, Jennifer Anne