If modern society may be said to foster an individual who is rational, autonomous, centered and stable … then perhaps a postmodern society is emerging which nurtures forms of identity different from, even opposite to those of modernity. And electronic communications technologies significantly enhance these postmodern possibilities.
Predictor: Poster, Mark
Prediction, in context:In his 1995 book “The Second Media Age,” Mark Poster, a member of the humanities faculty at the University of California at Irvine, writes: ”In the 20th century, electronic media are supporting [a] profound transformation of cultural identity. Telephone, radio, film, television, the computer and now their integration as ‘multimedia’ reconfigure words, sounds and images so as to cultivate new configurations of individuality. If modern society may be said to foster an individual who is rational, autonomous, centered and stable … then perhaps a postmodern society is emerging which nurtures forms of identity different from, even opposite to those of modernity. And electronic communications technologies significantly enhance these postmodern possibilities. Discussions of these technologies … tend to often miss precisely this crucial level of analysis, treating them as enhancements for already formed individuals to deploy to their advantage or disadvantage.”
Biography:Mark Poster wrote the paper “Cyberdemocracy: Internet and the Public Sphere” in 1995 while teaching at the University of California, Irvine. He also wrote about technology for Wired magazine. (Author/Editor/Journalist.)
Date of prediction: January 1, 1995
Topic of prediction: General, Overarching Remarks
Subtopic: General
Name of publication: The Second Media Age
Title, headline, chapter name: Chapter Two: Postmodern Virtualities
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://www.humanities.uci.edu/mposter/writings/internet.html
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Schmidt, Nicholas