The development we now generally refer to as cyberspace may be a hot topic of discussion these days, but it is unlikely that it will be much talked about 25 years from now … Over the next few decades, cyberspace will become increasingly ubiquitous and unobtrusive – which is another way of suggesting that its social impact may be so profound that we won’t even be able to trace all the ramifications.
Predictor: Harris, Blake
Prediction, in context:In a 1995 article in Government Technology, Blake Harris writes: ”The development we now generally refer to as cyberspace may be a hot topic of discussion these days, but it is unlikely that it will be much talked about 25 years from now. It’s not that the long-term social impact of computer-mediated communications will be insignificant … technologies become so much a part of the human landscape that no one pays them much attention. In industrialized society, the printed word so surrounds us that we often aren’t even conscious of its presence. What happens is that technological innovations such as printing become secondary to the task being performed and therefore become virtually invisible. In a similar fashion, over the next few decades, cyberspace will become increasingly ubiquitous and unobtrusive – which is another way of suggesting that its social impact may be so profound that we won’t even be able to trace all the ramifications.”
Date of prediction: October 1, 1995
Topic of prediction: General, Overarching Remarks
Subtopic: General
Name of publication: Government Technology
Title, headline, chapter name: Cyberspace 2020: The Future of Cyberspace Will Rely Not on Our Ability to Police it, but on What We Collectively Build There
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://www.govtech.net/magazine/gt/1995/oct/cyberspa.phtml
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Stotler, Larry