As the electronic revolution merges with the biological evolution, we will have – if we don’t have it already – artificial intelligence, and artificial life, and will be struggling even more than now with issues such as the legal rights of robots, and whether you should allow your son to marry one, and who has custody of the offspring of such a union. Thus during the 21st century all historically experienced human processes – agriculture, industry, commerce, education, you name it – will come to an end … What is actually happening … is the merger of four information societies into one: the 4-billion-year-old genetic information society; the 10,000-year-old cultural information society; the 3,000-year-old civilizational society; and the 250-year-old industrial information society, all merging in the 21st century into one new “coming information society.”
Predictor: Dator, Jim
Prediction, in context:In a 1993 keynote speech he delivered at the WFSF World Conference in Turku, Finland, futurist Jim Dator makes the following statement: ”Clearly, the future of humans will not be like the past or present of humans. Almost none of the ‘information,’ ‘knowledge,’ or ‘wisdom’ we have now, or have ever known, can adequately help us anticipate or understand what is to come in this respect … And of course, as the electronic revolution merges with the biological evolution, we will have – if we don’t have it already – artificial intelligence, and artificial life, and will be struggling even more than now with issues such as the legal rights of robots, and whether you should allow your son to marry one, and who has custody of the offspring of such a union. Thus during the 21st century all historically experienced human processes – agriculture, industry, commerce, education, you name it – will come to an end. If not in your lifetime, then certainly in that of your children and grandchildren, however they may be conceived, created or decanted … What is actually happening … is the merger of four information societies into one: the 4-billion-year-old genetic information society; the 10,000-year-old cultural information society; the 3,000-year-old civilizational society; and the 250-year-old industrial information society, all merging in the 21st century into one new ‘coming information society.'”
Biography:Jim Dator was a futurist who is credited with founding the first Future Studies program in 1971. He has been director of the Hawaii Research Center for Futures Studies at the University of Hawaii. (Futurist/Consultant.)
Date of prediction: August 23, 1993
Topic of prediction: Controversial Issues
Subtopic: General
Title, headline, chapter name: Dogs Don’t Bark at Parked Cars
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://www.futures.hawaii.edu/dator/artificiality/dogs.pdf
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Chick, Jason