I don’t think that there’s any reason you can’t go on leading exactly the life you lead now, living with the technology you find most comfortable, reading your books – of which there are likely to be more over the period of your lifetime, by the way, rather than less. I see no reason why you can’t personally “refuse it.” But over the long haul, I’d say that society, everything that is human on this planet, is going to be profoundly transformed by this, and in many ways, some of which will probably be scary to those of us with this mind-set, some of which will be glorious and transforming.
Predictor: Barlow, John Perry
Prediction, in context:In a 1995 HarperÕs Magazine article, four experts on the impact of modern computing and telecommunications technology debate the effects of such technology on modern society. The article includes comments by John Perry Barlow, one of the founders of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a group formed to protect civil liberties in cyberspace. Barlow says: ”I don’t think that there’s any reason you can’t go on leading exactly the life you lead now, living with the technology you find most comfortable, reading your books – of which there are likely to be more over the period of your lifetime, by the way, rather than less. I see no reason why you can’t personally ‘refuse it.’ But over the long haul, I’d say that society, everything that is human on this planet, is going to be profoundly transformed by this, and in many ways, some of which will probably be scary to those of us with this mind-set, some of which will be glorious and transforming.Ó
Date of prediction: January 1, 1995
Topic of prediction: General, Overarching Remarks
Subtopic: General
Name of publication: Harper's Magazine
Title, headline, chapter name: What Are We Doing On-line? A Debate on the Social Consequences of Online Communications
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
Pages 35 - 46
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Guarino, Jennifer Anne