PROBABLE Prediction 2001.1 ![[CROSS]](../cross.gif)
Submitted 20th June 1995 by Kevin Jessup
([email protected])
Prediction:
A resurgence of professional and scholarly interest in specialized land-line dial-up BBS services.
Objective measurement:
There will be a network of more than 1000 computers dedicated to university level advanced research, none of which is connected to the wider internet.
When:
2001
Why:
The internet will become a festering cesspool of flame-wars, useless images, grade-school level questions, MUDs, idle CB-radio-style chatter (IRC) and (oh boy, here it comes) the band-width hogging "internet phone". You don't post to sci.math and ask "What's a polynomial?!" But this is exactly the crap we are starting to see!! Even sci.physics has some of the most ridiculous questions posted. Why visit alt.humor when some of the best jokes are in the "sci" newsgroups?
This degrading of the level of useful work done on the internet will lead researchers to redevelop an internet-type network separate from the mainstream.
Further comments:
This prediction is a product of reading Clifford Stoll's "Silicon Snake Oil" and of discussions with the page administrator