The “new” technologies of the present and immediate future … clearly imply, in my view, that the challenges and possibilities of the immediate future are in this respect as well, completely without precedent, or adequate analogy, in the immediate, much less more distant, past. … There will be no return to “The Way it Used to Be” for future generations. And I deeply regret that so much time and effort is being spent on trying to make it so.
Predictor: Dator, Jim
Prediction, in context:In a 1994 research presentation he made to the 1st International Future Generations Forum in Kyoto, Japan, futurist Jim Dator makes the following statement: ”The ‘new’ technologies of the present and immediate future – especially those of electronic communication technologies, robotics, automation, expert systems, and emerging artificial intelligence and artificial life, on the one hand, and of genetic and molecular engineering of all life forms (including ‘humans’) and materials during the early and maturing years of the 21st Century, on the other – clearly imply, in my view, that the challenges and possibilities of the immediate future are in this respect as well, completely without precedent, or adequate analogy, in the immediate, much less more distant, past. … Everywhere in the world, groups of humans are crying out, and acting out, for more local governance and self control. At the same time, the greater need – a call for which is scarcely made or heard at all – exists for global governance. So no, there will be no return to ‘The Way it Used to Be’ for future generations. And I deeply regret that so much time and effort is being spent on trying to make it so.”
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: November 22, 1994
Topic of prediction: General, Overarching Remarks
Subtopic: General
Name of publication: Thinking About the Future Generations
Title, headline, chapter name: Even Though Oxygen is Flowing, the Plastic Bag May Not Inflate
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://www.futures.hawaii.edu/dator/artificiality/Oxygen.pdf
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Chick, Jason