The federal government will never be able to invest in infrastructure facilities and services a meaningful fraction of the multibillion-dollar private-sector investment plus the growing investments by state governments in state-based information infrastructure and by all manner of individuals and organizations in local computing, communications, and information access infrastructure. What the federal government can do is focus its own investments and policymaking to gain the maximum leverage and assure the necessary balancing of interests to make sure that the public interest is met.
Predictor: Kleinrock, Leonard
Prediction, in context:In a May 1994 executive summary of the report “Realizing the Information Future: The Internet and Beyond,” Leonard Kleinrock says his NRENaissance Committee of the National Research Council concludes: ”The federal government will never be able to invest in infrastructure facilities and services a meaningful fraction of the multibillion-dollar private-sector investment plus the growing investments by state governments in state-based information infrastructure and by all manner of individuals and organizations in local computing, communications, and information access infrastructure. What the federal government can do is focus its own investments and policymaking to gain the maximum leverage and assure the necessary balancing of interests to make sure that the public interest is met. As part of that balancing, it will be important that NSF [National Science Foundation] and other agencies not back away from the research and education communities in terms of commitment to their needs for and contributions to information infrastructure.”
Biography:Leonard Kleinrock published the first paper on packet-switching theory in the RLE Quarterly Progress Report while at MIT in 1961. He established the Network Measurement Center at UCLA and worked in the area of digital networks. He also published a comprehensive look at digital networks in his book “Communication Nets.” He developed the ARPANET network with Lawrence Roberts. In 1969, Kleinrock’s NMC team connected an SDS Sigma 7 computer to an Interface Messenger Processor, creating the first node on the ARPANET, the first computer to connect to the Internet. Kleinrock’s team used the early system to iron out the initial design and performance issues on the world’s first packet-switched network. (Pioneer/Originator.)
Date of prediction: January 1, 1994
Topic of prediction: Economic structures
Subtopic: General
Name of publication: Realizing the Information Future: The Internet and Beyond
Title, headline, chapter name: Executive Summary
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://www.nap.edu/readingroom/books/rtif/summary.html
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Krout, Kevin M.