If wilderness plays an important part in kindling the human spirit, perhaps as it vanishes people are reinventing it in different ways. In the future with the earth encircled by satellites and everyone wired together by digital links, the new back country may become the world of artificial computer networks known as cyberspace. One can already become lost for hours in the neck of the Internet called the World Wide Web, pointing and clicking a trail through a maze of hypertext documents and digital pictures.
Predictor: Markoff, John
Prediction, in context:In a 1994 article for Computer-Mediated Communication magazine, Stephen Doheny-Ferina quotes New York Times columnist John Markoff, who says: ”If wilderness plays an important part in kindling the human spirit, perhaps as it vanishes people are reinventing it in different ways. In the future with the earth encircled by satellites and everyone wired together by digital links, the new back country may become the world of artificial computer networks known as cyberspace. One can already become lost for hours in the neck of the Internet called the World Wide Web, pointing and clicking a trail through a maze of hypertext documents and digital pictures.”
Biography:John Markoff wrote or co-wrote “The High Cost of High Tech,” “Cyber Punk: Outlaws and Hackers on the Computer Frontier” and “Takedown: The Pursuit and Capture of America’s Most Wanted Computer Outlaw.” He also covered the computer industry and technology for the New York Times. (Author/Editor/Journalist.)
Date of prediction: January 1, 1994
Topic of prediction: Information Infrastructure
Subtopic: Wireless Technologies
Name of publication: Computer-Mediated Communication Magazine
Title, headline, chapter name: The Last Link: Cybernauts in the Electronic Frontier: Pets on a Leash
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://www.december.com/cmc/mag/1994/nov/last.html
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Walsh, Meghan