Comparing the electronic and asphalt highways is useful – but mostly as a cautionary tale. Building the new information infrastructure will not entail the degree of immediate, physical disruption caused by the interstate highway system, but sweeping geographic relocations and accompanying social transformations seem probable.
Predictor: Sclove, Richard
Prediction, in context:In a 1994 essay for Outlook section of The Washington Post, Richard Sclove and Jeffrey Scheuer write: ”Rush-hour traffic jams, gridlock, garish plastic-and-neon strips, high fatality rates, air pollution, global warming, depletion of world oil reserves – have we forgotten all of the interstate highway system’s most familiar consequences? Comparing the electronic and asphalt highways is useful – but mostly as a cautionary tale. Building the new information infrastructure will not entail the degree of immediate, physical disruption caused by the interstate highway system, but sweeping geographic relocations and accompanying social transformations seem probable. And the risk of inequity in contriving and distributing electronic services – or conversely imposing them where they are not wanted – is clear.”
Biography:Richard Sclove was founder and an advisory board member of The Loka Institute, a nonprofit organization in Amherst, Mass., dedicated to making research, science and technology responsive to social and environmental concerns. He is also the author of the book “Democracy and Technology” (1995). (Futurist/Consultant.)
Date of prediction: May 1, 1994
Topic of prediction: General, Overarching Remarks
Subtopic: General
Name of publication: Washington Post
Title, headline, chapter name: The Ghost in the Modem: For Architects of the Info-Highway, Some Lessons From the Concrete Interstate
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://www.loka.org/alerts/loka.1.6.txt
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Taylor, Kellen L.