As we move into the world of mobile code, of secure systems, of network payment, the new principles are being, silently or not, laid down. These principles will define the behavior of a new machine, a new anthill, a new brain, which is the sum of ourselves and our creations. Vannevar Bush’s MEMEX was described as a complex machine. We see it now as a cog in a larger system. We feel fairly proud that we have built MEMEX-like machines. But now we have links, do we know what to do with them? When it comes to designing larger machine, we are still banging the rocks together. But we are at a time of great creativity, of great potential for change for better or worse, and there is a feeling that in fact we may be able to bring our collective teamwork up to a level at which we can ensure our survival.
Predictor: Berners-Lee, Tim
Prediction, in context:The following is an excerpt from a 1995 speech given by Tim Berners-Lee at MIT, arranged by Andy Van Dam in honor of the 50th anniversary of Vannevar Bush’s visionary article “As We May Think,” which ran in the Atlantic monthly in 1945. In this excerpt Berners-Lee discusses principles and the Web: ”The rules of Web behavior are being defined now, by programmers meeting in groups, by lawyers and politicians. They are making decisions. For example, one simple principle is end-to-end confidentiality. What a simple rule, that in cyberspace, privacy should be available between two people irrespective of physical location. This rule is opposed by those who feel that it would cause society to be come as a whole unstable … As we move into the world of mobile code, of secure systems, of network payment, the new principles are being, silently or not, laid down. These principles will define the behavior of a new machine, a new anthill, a new brain, which is the sum of ourselves and our creations. Vannevar Bush’s MEMEX was described as a complex machine. We see it now as a cog in a larger system. We feel fairly proud that we have built MEMEX-like machines. But now we have links, do we know what to do with them? When it comes to designing larger machine, we are still banging the rocks together. But we are at a time of great creativity, of great potential for change for better or worse, and there is a feeling that in fact we may be able to bring our collective teamwork up to a level at which we can ensure our survival. We have got ‘the great record’ at our fingertips, and maybe we may yet learn to ‘grow in the wisdom of race experience’ such that Vannevar Bush might be proud of us.”
Biography:Tim Berners-Lee of CERN first released his revolutionary World-Wide Web for initial use in 1991 and with it shared his invention HTML (hypertext mark-up language). He later served as director of W3 Consortium, an open forum of companies and organizations whose goal was to find ways to help the Web reach its full potential. (Pioneer/Originator.)
Date of prediction: October 12, 1995
Topic of prediction: Community/Culture
Subtopic: General
Name of publication: www.w3.org
Title, headline, chapter name: Hypertext and Our Collective Destiny
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://www.w3.org/Talks/9510_Bush/Talk.html
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Bruno, Marian Theresa