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Many respondents said they expect some level of privacy to be retained. There was disagreement over whether this privacy protection is best accomplished by law or by social contract. Respondents split evenly on a central question of whether the world will be a better place in 2020 due to the greater transparency of people and institutions afforded by the Internet. Our scenario asked respondents to weigh the benefits of transparency against the costs in privacy, and they responded this way: 46% agreed that the benefits of greater transparency would outweigh the privacy costs, and 49% disagreed that the benefits would outweigh the costs.
Violence, Luddites, and technological “refuseniks”: Most respondents agreed that resistance to the effects of technological change may inspire some acts of violence, but most violent struggle in the future will emerge from classic sources: religious ideologies, politics, and economics. Many people will remain unconnected to the network because of their economic circumstances. Still, some respondents believe that a class of technology refuseniks will emerge between now and 2020 and choose not to participate in the digital communications network. They will form their own cultural group that lives apart from “modern” society.
Compelling or “addictive” virtual worlds: Many respondents agreed with the notion that those who are connected online will spend more time immersing themselves in more sophisticated, compelling, networked, synthetic worlds by 2020. While this will foster productivity and connectedness and be an advantage to many, it will lead to addiction problems for some. The word “addiction” struck some respondents as an inappropriate term for the problems they foresaw, while others thought it appropriate.
The fate of language online: Many respondents said they accept the idea that English will be the world’s lingua franca for cross-cultural communications in the next few decades. But notable numbers maintained that English will not overwhelm other languages and crowd them into obscurity. Instead, these respondents believe that as the Internet continues to improve, Mandarin and other languages will expand their influence. Most respondents stressed that linguistic diversity is good and that the Internet will allow the preservation of languages and associated cultures. Some respondents noted that all languages evolve over time and that the Internet will abet that evolution.
