The prediction, in brief:

The computer hucksters have promoted a digital world which will not come to pass.

Predictor: Stoll, Clifford

Prediction, in context:

In a 1995 Times of London interview with reporter John Diamond, Clifford Stoll says computer technology generally and the Internet specifically is a bill of goods being sold by an understandably bullish computer industry to a gullible public: ”The computer hucksters have promoted a digital world which will not come to pass. My complaint is not with the companies trying to sell this stuff; it’s with the general population accepting this without any skepticism. In the U.S. there’s skepticism about politics, about other technologies, but about computing nothing. There are very few people saying that perhaps the Internet will deliver less than promised.”

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: October 1, 1995

Topic of prediction: General, Overarching Remarks

Subtopic: General

Name of publication: Times (London)

Title, headline, chapter name: First Disciple of the New Faith Turns Heretic

Quote Type: Direct quote

Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe/document?_m=a4d7accfbfebf143a2cfd0f7b9f1ce76&_docnum=11&wchp=dGLbVlb-lSlAl&_md5=28dc85ab6ab7c8e5cf9bd882f8ac5583

This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Tencer, Elizabeth L.