Scientists and researchers on different continents will probably work jointly on projects with a degree of collaboration that is unrealistic today. Undoubtedly we will see the rise of the virtual salesperson who makes calls to businesses and homes in some fashion over the global Net. These things are predictable because new technologies tend first to be used to do familiar tasks more cheaply and easily.
Predictor: Harris, Blake
Prediction, in context:In a 1995 article for the journal Government Technology, Blake Harris takes a look at the future of the Internet. Harris writes: ”It will ultimately be possible to communicate in real-time video, text, graphics and audio with anyone, anywhere, at anytime – and at very little cost. As a result, business meetings will increasingly take place in cyberspace involving participants scattered across the global marketplace. Scientists and researchers on different continents will probably work jointly on projects with a degree of collaboration that is unrealistic today. Undoubtedly we will see the rise of the virtual salesperson who makes calls to businesses and homes in some fashion over the global Net. These things are predictable because new technologies tend first to be used to do familiar tasks more cheaply and easily. However, much of the topography of cyberspace will be mapped out in the coming years by entrepreneurial ingenuity, both inside and outside the government sector, as well as by what people want and how people use it – things which are invariably difficult to predict. No one, for instance, foresaw that the automobile would spawn sprawling suburbs.”
Date of prediction: January 1, 1995
Topic of prediction: Communication
Subtopic: General
Name of publication: Government Technology
Title, headline, chapter name: Cyberspace 2020
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
www.govtech.net/publications/gt/1995/oct/cyberspa.phtml
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney