The prediction, in brief:

There are no simple technological solutions to social problems. There’s plenty of distrust and animosity between people who communicate perfectly well. Access to a universe of information cannot solve our problems: We will forever struggle to understand one another.

Predictor: Stoll, Clifford

Prediction, in context:

In excerpts from his book “Silicon Snake Oil” that were run as a sidebar story to a 1995 interview, Clifford Stoll talks about how he sees it that people can be vicitimized by the new communications medium:”Internet hustlers, pushing the Internet as a universal panacea, offer a tempting escape from this all-too-mundane world. They tell us that we need not get along with our neighbors, heck, needn’t even interact with them. Won’t need to travel to a library either; those books will come right to my desk. Interactive multimedia will solve classroom problems. The key ingredient of their silicon snake oil is a echnocratic belief that computers and networks will make a better society. Access to information, better communications … can cure social problems. I don’t believe them. There are no simple technological solutions to social problems. There’s plenty of distrust and animosity between people who communicate perfectly well. Access to a universe of information cannot solve our problems: We will forever struggle to understand one another.”

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: Community/Culture

Subtopic: Virtual Communities

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.