In the early stages – in the next three or four years – I think government should err on the side of doing less. You can really choke things and hurt the whole technological process if you try to guess and regulate in advance.
Predictor: Gates, Bill
Prediction, in context:In a 1994 interview with the editors of Wired, Microsoft CEO Bill Gates says: ”When you get revolutionary new communications tools, inevitably you’re going to have people who will be as brash as to say we ought to reconsider how society gets together to make political decisions. But I happen to think the U.S. government, on balance, is very good. What should the government have done about the PC industry when that revolution occurred? I have a very biased answer: it did exactly the right thing – that is, it did basically nothing. Now we don’t have that choice. Government has to unleash communications companies for ‘information at your fingertips’ to be realized. But in the early stages – in the next three or four years – I think government should err on the side of doing less. You can really choke things and hurt the whole technological process if you try to guess and regulate in advance.”
Biography:Bill Gates, the most influential technology entrepreneur of the late 20th century, was the primary author of the prediction-packed 1995 book “The Road Ahead” and is the founder and CEO of Microsoft Corporation. (Entrepreneur/Business Leader.)
Date of prediction: January 1, 1994
Topic of prediction: Information Infrastructure
Subtopic: Role of Govt./Industry
Name of publication: Wired
Title, headline, chapter name: Rockin’ With Mr. Bill: He’s the Richest Guy in America. He’s Got Opinions. Here Are Some of Them.
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/2.12/gates_pr.html
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney