There are lots of potential negatives for individuals. It’s going to mean wrenching changes, I think. The technology itself: no negatives. The impact on people: it depends. It’s going to continue to change the way the work force is put together, the activities that people undertake, the amount of change people have to be undergoing to stay current. It’s going to challenge the education system in order to keep up. It’s going to have a whole series of impacts like that. The sheer rate of change, assuming it continues to increase, is going to start to get pretty severe.
Predictor: Andreessen, Marc
Prediction, in context:The following was taken from a transcript of a 1995 video interview of Marc Andreessen, conducted for the Smithsonian Institution by David K. Allison, curator of the division of information technology and society at the National Museum of American History: ”Allison- Do you see a downside [to the future of the internet]?” ”Andreessen- Well, there are lots of potential negatives for individuals. It’s going to mean wrenching changes, I think. The technology itself: no negatives. The impact on people: it depends. It’s going to continue to change the way the work force is put together, the activities that people undertake, the amount of change people have to be undergoing to stay current. It’s going to challenge the education system in order to keep up. It’s going to have a whole series of impacts like that. The sheer rate of change, assuming it continues to increase, is going to start to get pretty severe.”
Biography:Marc Andreessen worked with Eric Bina at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois in 1992, to develop a browser that would be usable on any computer, easy to use and graphically rich. In 1993, their browser, Mosaic, completely changed the face of the Internet Ð it allowed HTML “image” tags which make it so text and art can appear on the same page; it allowed easy text scrolling; and it introduced hyperlinks, allowing users to simply click on an area of the screen to go to another document on the Internet. In1994, Mosaic was developed and marketed; the product eventually was named Netscape. (Pioneer/Originator.)
Date of prediction: June 1, 1995
Topic of prediction: General, Overarching Remarks
Subtopic: General
Name of publication: Smithsonian Institution Oral and Video Histories
Title, headline, chapter name: Marc Andreessen
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://americanhistory.si.edu/csr/comphist/ma1.html
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Allen, Patrick J.