The prediction, in brief:

If cyberspace represents, at the very least, the birth of a new postindustrial, metasocial spatial operator, it will remain for [the] most part stillborn if its parameters are engineered primarily to function, following [science-fiction author William] Gibson’s dystopic vision, as a virtual world of contestatory economic activity … If creative flexibility is critically foregrounded in current research agendas, cyberspace will indeed become a site of considerable cultural promise, and a locale for a new postorganic anthropology.

Predictor: Tomas, David

Prediction, in context:

In his 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,” David Tomas, an artist and anthropologist who teaches at the University of Ottawa, writes:”[‘Neuromancer’ author William] Gibson’s powerful vision is now beginning to influence the way virtual reality and cyberspace researchers are structuring their research agendas and problematics. But if cyberspace represents, at the very least, the birth of a new postindustrial, metasocial spatial operator, it will remain for [the] most part stillborn if its parameters are engineered primarily to function, following [science-fiction author William] Gibson’s dystopic vision, as a virtual world of contestatory economic activity. In order to counter this vision, one must actively and strategically seek alternative spatial and creative logics, social and cultural configurations. If such creative flexibility is critically foregrounded in current research agendas, cyberspace will indeed become a site of considerable cultural promise, and a locale for a new postorganic anthropology.”

Date of prediction: January 1, 1992

Topic of prediction: General, Overarching Remarks

Subtopic: General

Name of publication: Cyberspace: First Steps

Title, headline, chapter name: Old Rituals for New Space: Rites de Passage and William Gibson’s Cultural Model of Cyberspace

Quote Type: Direct quote

Page number or URL of document at time of study:
Page 46

This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Garrison, Betty