Building the NII, we create a vast and productive niche for the enlargement of [Manuel] de Landa’s “machinic phylum,” worlds in which machines can grow and evolve, and this eventually may have profound implications for human consciousness. Even in the relatively primitive forms it takes today, information technology seems to encourage a fixation on virtual rather than real experience – on technologically mediated perception, not direct apprehension. It can also saturate us in a hypnotic image-repertoire that works to render us passive and dream-struck no matter who, if anyone, controls it.
Predictor: Maddox, Tom
Prediction, in context:The 1995 book “The Information Revolution,” edited by Donald Altschiller, carries a reprint of the summer 1994, Wilson Quarterly article “The Cultural Consequences of the Information Superhighway” by Tom Maddox. Maddox raises cultural and social issues involved with the Internet. He writes: ”Building the NII, we create a vast and productive niche for the enlargement of [Manuel] de Landa’s ‘machinic phylum,’ worlds in which machines can grow and evolve, and this eventually may have profound implications for human consciousness. Even in the relatively primitive forms it takes today, information technology seems to encourage a fixation on virtual rather than real experience – on technologically mediated perception, not direct apprehension. It can also saturate us in a hypnotic image-repertoire that works to render us passive and dream-struck no matter who, if anyone, controls it.”
Date of prediction: January 1, 1994
Topic of prediction: General, Overarching Remarks
Subtopic: General
Name of publication: The Information Revolution (book)
Title, headline, chapter name: The Cultural Consequences of the Information Superhighway
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
Page 200
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Guarino, Jennifer Anne