The chief beneficiaries of all this invention … will be the people of the world, ascending to new pinnacles of prosperity in an Information Age … Communications bandwidth is not only the secret of electronic progress. It is also the heart of economic growth, stretching the webs of interconnection that extend the reach of markets and the realms of opportunity … The advance of the telecosm offers unprecedented hope to the masses of people whom the industrial revolution passed by.
Predictor: Gilder, George
Prediction, in context:In a 1994 article he wrote for Forbes ASAP titled “The Bandwidth Tidal Wave,” George Gilder looks at the technology involved in the networking revolution. The article is a portion of his 1996 book “Telecosm.” Gilder writes: ”The chief beneficiaries of all this invention … will be the people of the world, ascending to new pinnacles of prosperity in an Information Age. Although many observers fear that these new tools will chiefly aid the existing rich – or the educated and smart – these technologies have already brought prosperity to a billion Asians, from India and Malaysia to Indonesia and China, previously mired in penury. Communications bandwidth is not only the secret of electronic progress. It is also the heart of economic growth, stretching the webs of interconnection that extend the reach of markets and the realms of opportunity. Lavishing the exponential gains of networks, endowing old jobs with newly productive tools and unleashing creativity with increasingly fertile and targeted capital, the advance of the telecosm offers unprecedented hope to the masses of people whom the industrial revolution passed by.”
Biography:George Gilder was a pioneer the formulation of the theory of supply-side economics. In his major book “Microcosm” (1989), he explored the quantum roots of the new electronic technologies. His book “Life After Television,” published by W.W. Norton (1992), is a prophecy of computers and telecommunications displacing the broadcast-TV empire. He followed it with another classic, “Telecosm.” (Futurist/Consultant.)
Date of prediction: January 1, 1994
Topic of prediction: Global Relationships/Politics
Subtopic: General
Name of publication: Forbes ASAP
Title, headline, chapter name: The Bandwidth Tidal Wave
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://www.seas.upenn.edu/~gaj1/bandgg.html
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney