Once all forms of media – text, voice and video – are in the digital lingua franca, the structure and economics of the information and entertainment industries are totally transformed. And in the future, the real gap in society will not be between rich and poor, but between the old and the young, who are fluent with digital tools like personal computers and online communication … Technology will not only make people better off materially but also “be a natural force drawing people into greater world harmony.”
Predictor: Negroponte, Nicholas
Prediction, in context:In a 1995 article in The New York Times, Steve Lohr quotes Nicholas Negroponte of MIT, the author of “Being Digital.” Lohr writes: ”Of the current entries, the book by Mr. Negroponte, a columnist for Wired, a monthly magazine of computer culture, is the most optimistic about what the new technology portends. His starting point is that once all forms of media – text, voice and video – are in the digital lingua franca, the structure and economics of the information and entertainment industries are totally transformed. And in the future, the real gap in society will not be between rich and poor, but between the old and the young, who are fluent with digital tools like personal computers and online communication. There will be adjustments, he concedes, but Mr. Negroponte is confident that the technology will not only make people better off materially but also ‘be a natural force drawing people into greater world harmony.'”
Biography:Nicholas Negroponte, a co-founder of MIT’s Media Lab and a popular speaker and writer about technologies of the future, wrote one of the 1990s’ best-selling books about the new future of communications, “Being Digital.” (Pioneer/Originator.)
Date of prediction: January 1, 1995
Topic of prediction: Controversial Issues
Subtopic: Digital Divide
Name of publication: New York Times
Title, headline, chapter name: The Meaning of Digital Life: Publishers Sell Remedies for Computer-Age Angst
Quote Type: Partial quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe/document?_m=ca7ce2e33e069dc737009b08b4a18106&_docnum=1&wchp=dGLbVzb-lSlAl&_md5=153f050bc885c43ec52fad060fc675d3
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Garrison, Betty