The majority of the future “workforce” is destined to be made up of contractors and consultants, including temporaries and part-timers, whose role is more one of “supplier” than “employee.” As intellectual property becomes more central to the valuation of businesses, and as most “production” work is eventually taken over by machines, workers in most fields will want compensation in the form of “points” and “residuals”: that is, a share in the ownership of capital.
Predictor: Perelman, Lewis J.
Prediction, in context:In a 1994 article he wrote for Wired magazine, Lewis J. Perelman addresses the future of education in an age of digital networks in the form of an open letter to the nation’s information industry executives. He writes: ”Ownership of capital, particularly in the form of intellectual property, from now onward will be progressively more important to personal and family income than the performance of ‘labor.’ The core of full-time employees in our economy is shrinking to the vanishing point: The majority of the future ‘workforce’ is destined to be made up of contractors and consultants, including temporaries and part-timers, whose role is more one of ‘supplier’ than ’employee.’ As intellectual property becomes more central to the valuation of businesses, and as most ‘production’ work is eventually taken over by machines, workers in most fields will want compensation in the form of ‘points’ and ‘residuals’: that is, a share in the ownership of capital.”
Date of prediction: January 1, 1993
Topic of prediction: Economic structures
Subtopic: General
Name of publication: Wired
Title, headline, chapter name: School’s Out: The Hyperlearning Revolution Will Replace Public Education
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/1.01/hyperlearning_pr.html
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Stotler, Larry