I would not rule out transforming our government into a direct democracy. Maybe that’s where government evolves, when we truly have an enlightened public.
Predictor: Reiss, Jeffrey
Prediction, in context:In a 1994 article about digital democracy for Wired magazine, Evan I. Schwartz quotes TCI executive Jeffrey Reiss. Schwartz writes: ”Democracy in America has always been a living, breathing experiment. And no one knows just where the experiment will lead. [TCI executive Jeffrey] Reiss, for one, says, ‘I would not rule out transforming our government into a direct democracy. Maybe that’s where government evolves, when we truly have an enlightened public.’ How will we know when the public is at last enlightened? That’s hard to say. But if the electronic town meetings of the future start pulling better ratings than ‘Roseanne,’ ‘Seinfeld,’ or ‘Beavis and Butt-head,’ watch out!”
Date of prediction: January 1, 1994
Topic of prediction: Global Relationships/Politics
Subtopic: Democracy
Name of publication: Wired
Title, headline, chapter name: Direct Democracy: Are You Ready for the Democracy Channel?
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/2.01/e.dem_pr.html
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney