Guys like Negroponte predict the end of mass production, but they never say what happens to the masses. Since the Industrial Revolution, technological change has destroyed jobs, but also created many more new ones. This time, that will not happen. Nations should cope by adopting a 30-hour workweek, tax credits for volunteer work and other measures.
Predictor: Rifkin, Jeremy
Prediction, in context:In a 1995 article in The New York Times, Steve Lohr quotes economist Jeremy Rifkin. Lohr writes: ”In ‘The End of Work,’ Jeremy Rifkin, an economist, warns that the new information technology poses the threat of mass unemployment and social unrest. ‘Guys like Negroponte predict the end of mass production, but they never say what happens to the masses,’ Mr. Rifkin said. Since the Industrial Revolution, technological change has destroyed jobs, but also created many more new ones. This time, Mr. Rifkin argues, that will not happen. Nations should cope by adopting a 30-hour workweek, tax credits for volunteer work and other measures.”
Date of prediction: January 1, 1995
Topic of prediction: Economic structures
Subtopic: Employment
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