5037 Gingrich Eyes Internet as 'Cyber-Political' Forum for Americans Jan. 11 (fwd)

Tue, 17 Jan 1995 11:27:16 -0500 (EST)
Bill Haller (wxhst3+@pitt.edu)

WSNers,

Speaking of futurology, this item came over GEOWEB. I don't mean to
distract from the current discussion, considering its basic importance,
but this may of of interest to some.

Bill Haller

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, 16 Jan 95 22:43:19 -0800
From:more+@newsmaster.tgc.com
To: bob.hammond@census.gov
Subject: 5037 Gingrich Eyes Internet as 'Cyber-Political' Forum for Americans Jan. 11

Gingrich Eyes Internet as 'Cyber-Political' Forum for Americans Jan. 11
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Washington, D.C. -- House Speaker Newt Gingrich sees the future as a
wonderful place where every citizen can speak out directly to the government
and access to the Internet is guaranteed to all Americans, according to Nita
Lelyveld, a writer for the Associated Press.

"Somewhere there has to be a missionary spirit in America that says to the
poorest child in America, `The Internet's for you. The information age is for
you,'" Gingrich told fellow futurists at a conference Tuesday called
"Democracy in Virtual America."

"If we can wire the world -- 84 countries, 42 million people wired into
Internet ... -- we can wire Washington, D.C., we can wire Anacostia," he
said of one of the capital's poorest neighborhoods. "We can find a way to
reach out."

Gingrich was the last of many speakers at the conference sponsored by the
conservative Progress & Freedom Foundation. The first was his favorite
futurist, the best-selling author Alvin Toffler, who drew an enthusiastic
response.

Toffler believes human history has progressed in waves, from a first-wave
agricultural society to a second-wave industrial society to a just-now-
blossoming third-wave information society, Lelyveld reported.

As each new wave emerges, it clashes with the existing order, he contends.
Now, for instance, industrial ways of thinking persist -- centered on mass
society, mass production and the assembly line -- while new ways of thinking
emerge focusing on individualism, knowledge, computers and fax machines.

"Second-wave muscle is being replaced by 'knowledge power' in the emerging
third-wave workplace," Toffler argues. "We believe that this election is not
a stand-alone event but part of a larger historical process."

Toffler and his wife, Heidi, sat for several hours more listening to a
panel of conservative theorists describe their own techno-theories about
"byte cities", "brain lords" and "cyber-politics".

Among the panelists was Arianna Huffington, wife of defeated California
Senate candidate and multimillionaire Michael Huffington. She urged third-
wave thinkers not to associate with those who cling to the second wave. "I
don't believe in small rebellions. I believe in huge revolutions," she said.

Toffler stated that Huffington and the others weren't entirely on his wave
length. "Some of the things they said bothered me," he added. Toffler
commented that he and his wife diverge from Gingrich, too, on such issues as
school prayer and just how decentralized government should become, Lelyveld
said.

The Tofflers said Gingrich has been a friend for more than 20 years, and
Republicans as a whole have been more receptive to new ideas. "Newt is a new
thinker," Mrs. Toffler said. "He is a third-wave leader."

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