If we were to shrink from the chance to actively participate in transforming the Net into the single most complex information entity since the emergence of the human brain, would we not then be shirking a duty of almost cosmic proportions? It could happen. It’s hard to say which is really the more characteristically human trait – our drive toward complexity or our sometimes irrational fear of it … In the end, the meaning of our long-term coexistence with computer viruses may prove difficult to distinguish from the meaning of our own existence.
Predictor: Dibbell, Julian
Prediction, in context:In a 1995 article for Wired magazine, Julian Dibbell covers the concept that the study of computer viruses and worms can lead to gains for networking and computing. Dibbell writes: ”If we were to shrink from the chance to actively participate in transforming the Net into the single most complex information entity since the emergence of the human brain, would we not then be shirking a duty of almost cosmic proportions? It could happen. It’s hard to say which is really the more characteristically human trait – our drive toward complexity or our sometimes irrational fear of it. In the matter of computer viruses, fear could well gain the upper hand. It has already shown itself, after all, in our human tendency to overly reduce the multifaceted motivations of the virus writer to a caricature of hooliganism. Likewise it seems to lurk behind the urge to deny that viruses can be anything but lethally dangerous. But we’d better think long and hard before we let it stand between us and the epic opportunities that globally distributed viral programming presents us with. Because in the end, the meaning of our long-term coexistence with computer viruses may prove difficult to distinguish from the meaning of our own existence.”
Date of prediction: January 1, 1994
Topic of prediction: Communication
Subtopic: Viruses/Worms
Name of publication: Wired
Title, headline, chapter name: Viruses Are Good For You: Spawn of the Devil, Computer Viruses May Help Us Realize the Full Potential of the Net
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/3.02/viruses_pr.html
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney