I believe the magic of the Internet is its multifarious, noncentralized, democratic, and even anarchic quality. I think it’s already clear that the era of the giant private online service has come and gone … All of us together are competing against places like CompuServe and America Online, which are dinosaurs. As large as they’ve grown, I just don’t think that kind of service represents the future.
Predictor: Gleick, James
Prediction, in context:In a 1994 article for Wired magazine, John Batelle interviews science and technology writer James Gleick, author of “Chaos: Making a New Science” and “Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Fenyman.” In the summer of 1993, Batelle founded The Pipeline Network Inc., an innovative Manhattan-based online service. Batelle quotes Gleick saying: ”I believe the magic of the Internet is its multifarious, noncentralized, democratic, and even anarchic quality. I think it’s already clear that the era of the giant private online service has come and gone … We can provide things here in New York City that are of interest to New York users. I expect us to be delivering pizzas and videos in New York and helping New York public interest groups get their stuff online, and all sorts of things that national services can’t do. I believe in things that are local, even on the Internet, which is so majestically global. In a sense, the answer to your question is that all of us together are competing against places like CompuServe and America Online, which are dinosaurs. As large as they’ve grown, I just don’t think that kind of service represents the future.”
Date of prediction: January 1, 1994
Topic of prediction: Information Infrastructure
Subtopic: Internet Service Providers
Name of publication: Wired
Title, headline, chapter name: Pipeline: How Did James Gleick, Famous Science Writer, Come to Be a Franchiser of Internet Service?
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/2.11/gleik_pr.html
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney