It took about 10 to 50 thousand Californians, people from other states, people from other countries, and piles of money (government, corporate, university, foundation, venture capital, and personal) to create the future.
Many of those people like us on this thread.
- The best way to predict the future is to invent it.
en.wikiquote.org
If it looks like only a few dozen people, that is because of the short attention and focus of the mainstream press.
Many people organized themselves around various vaguely 'futuristic' ideas, like home computers, modems and bulletin boards, data networking, virtual reality, the desktop metaphor,
biotech, genetic engineering, gene sequencing, etc.
Most of these ideas were common in garden variety science fiction.
This was not 'spontaneous' organization, but mostly people looking to advance knowledge, their careers, profits, and other objectives, and taking deliberate steps to assist each other.
There was some behind the scene coordination from DARPA and a few others, most of that on the hardware side.
Key criteria would include having a place that is inviting for people from other countries. (this may leave out upstate New York, as it is too cold for rational thought). |
