A computer-screen newspaper will never take the place of a real one read over a cup of coffee. And “networking” with role-playing electronic personalities will never replace face-to-face conversation.
Predictor: Stoll, Clifford
Prediction, in context:In a 1995 article for The Buffalo News, Mike Vogel writes about Clifford Stoll, author of the book “Silicon Snake Oil,” a cautionary look at the impact of computers and the Internet. Vogel writes: ”The Internet, or global information superhighway, has been billed as a worldwide community that will promote the sharing of opinions and ideas, draw us all closer and put information at everyone’s fingertips. Stoll sees it as a force that fragments, isolates, causes users to withdraw into the cold electronic glow of a screen that can only mimic, but never duplicate, the communal fire. A computer-screen newspaper, he opines, will never take the place of a real one read over a cup of coffee. And ‘networking’ with role-playing electronic personalities will never replace face-to-face conversation.”
Biography:Clifford Stoll was an astrophysicist who also wrote the influential books “Silicon Snake Oil” (1995) and “The Cuckoo’s Egg.” A long-time network user, Stoll made “Silicon Snake Oil” his platform for finding fault with the Internet hype of the early 1990s. He pointed out the pitfalls of a completely networked society and offered arguments in opposition to the hype. (Author/Editor/Journalist.)
Date of prediction: April 26, 1995
Topic of prediction: General, Overarching Remarks
Subtopic: General
Name of publication: Buffalo News
Title, headline, chapter name: Time to Exit the Information Superhighway?
Quote Type: Paraphrase
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe/document?_m=a8f697544f4699066e71296b43a40f99&_docnum=6&wchp=dGLbVlb-lSlAl&_md5=b2b7e254c903c3260303213ebb6dcd45
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Tencer, Elizabeth L.