In cyberspace we lose weight immediately; but there is a gravity of choice that is not yet fully understood. Certainly there will be a shifting from the sense of territory, of being an inhabitant of an earthly system of values that includes roots, walls, and possessions, toward a radical adventure that blasts it all.
Predictor: Stenger, Nicole
Prediction, in context:In her early 1990s essay, “Old Rituals for New Space: Rites de Passage and William Gibson’s Cultural Model of Cyberspace,” which was published in the collection “Cyberspace: First Steps,” Nicole Stenger, a computer animation artist and director of the Group for the Study of Virtual Systems at the University of California at Santa Cruz, writes: ”Where is cyberspace? … Entering this realm of pure feelings is a decision to leave firm ground that may have more consequences than we think. Watching TV, after all, only commits us to being obese. In cyberspace we lose weight immediately; but there is a gravity of choice that is not yet fully understood. Certainly there will be a shifting from the sense of territory, of being an inhabitant of an earthly system of values that includes roots, walls, and possessions, toward a radical adventure that blasts it all. Baudrillard would probably think that cyberspace is the just future of ‘those peoples with no origins and no authenticity who will know how to exploit the situation to the full.'”
Date of prediction: January 1, 1992
Topic of prediction: General, Overarching Remarks
Subtopic: General
Name of publication: Cyberspace: First Steps
Title, headline, chapter name: Mind is a Leaking Rainbow
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
Page 53
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney