Topic: Newsweek in 1995: Why the Internet will Fail. (Read 7132 times)

I've read his book -- the Cuckoo's Egg -- Cliff Stoll was very much involved with the early Internet and a pretty smart guy, not some kind of clueless journalist like many of you probably picture him after reading his article. He got a lot of things wrong in 1995, but I got the sense from reading it that he was responding to the type of "futurist" comments that were prevalent at the time such as, computers will replace teachers and all students will have their own personal computers at school. Computer software has augmented education, but has not replaced the traditional model (not yet anyway).

He was really off about online shopping though. I suppose the secure socket layer (SSL) hadn't been developed yet so all Internet traffic was clear text, and the online shopping infrastructure hadn't been developed yet. It's easy to point your fingers and laugh now, but given the environment at the time, it's not hard to see where he was coming from.

Let's not lose perspective though: the Internet is a complex network of routers and computers and serves as the backbone for a suite of other technologies that utilize it: web services, e-mail, VOIP, etc.

Bitcoin is just one of these services. It's a payment protocol with some unique properties. Certainly it has the potential to change the way people conduct financial transactions... or at least inspire whatever P2P payment system comes out on top in the end. But don't kid yourselves, this isn't on the same caliber of the Internet. Bitcoin is a PART of the Internet, and its usefulness will only go as far as people are willing to develop it, and most of all USE it.

Amazing. it really does highlight where the internet was and where it is today. puts allot of that "bitcoin wont work because its not in use everywhere by default" talk to rest.. though do people even really think that?

great find, thank you sir!

i've used the internet as an example quite often when talking to friends/family who are quick to dismiss bitcoin. i like to liken it to online shopping and how A LOT of people thought the idea was crazy and insanely unsafe, 20 years later amazon is taking over the world . It didn't happen over night and it wont happen over night with bitcoin, but the potential is certainly there.

Heck I can remember a relative getting in a big argument with the CEO of his company (a large retail outlet in north america that everyone would know) because my relative tried to convince them that creating a company website was a good investment. Again fast forward 20 years and there's no way a decent size company wouldn't have a website.

priceless   !

@ beetcoin

whats more important: news or money?

Haha. Yeah, I never really listen to these naysayers who think they can predict the future and what is and isn't a 'fad'. It's based on zero evidence and is mere speculation.

While the Internet beckons brightly, seductively flashing an icon of knowledge-as-power, this nonplace lures us to surrender our time on earth. A poor substitute it is, this virtual reality where frustration is legion and where–in the holy names of Education and Progress–important aspects of human interactions are relentlessly devalued.

Yep, I remember myself from back then "bah, that WWW thing is no more entertaining than a slide-show on a CD-ROM, no way this will ever be useful"

Here are two more positive accounts on the matter, from the same time period:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_o8gerare0 (1993)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XluovrUA6Bk (1995)

 

Careful, or you may be writing a similar article yourself in the year 2032!

while cryptos share many similarities with the internet, i don't think they are necessarily direct comparisons. the internet's impact will probably be much much bigger and more felt than BTC's.

yes I watched this one, I like when they say our "internet address instead of e-mail" than he asks what is that @ how do you say it hahahahahaha

I have likened the current stage of Bitcoin as similar to the birth of the modern web. Back in '95 the Internet was just as misunderstood.

Here is another from 1994

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUs7iG1mNjI

this was an article from 1995

This is good.

A blog called Three Word Chant has dug up an infamous Newsweek article dating back to 1995 titled “The Internet? Bah!” .

There are a number of quotes that will leave you grinning proudly about how wrong author Clifford Stoll was, but before we criticise, let’s accept this is 1995. The Internet was a mess. No Google. No method to the madness. It’s understandable how many may have believed there wasn’t something in this Internet thing. Then again, this author really should have known better, Clifford Stoll is a US astronomer and author, you would expect someone of his technological background to have you a more inspired vision of the future. You can read more about him here and watch a mad (and I mean mad) TED presentation of his here.

You can read the article below. My favorite parts are highlighted in red.




read the whole article here  http://thenextweb.com/shareables/2010/02/27/newsweek-1995-buy-books-newspapers-straight-intenet-uh/#!qjW6g