The Civilization of Cyberspace Interview #1 (First published in the November 1995, Communication World Magazine).
Cyber-Cowboy
John Perry Barlow
"Imagine discovering a continent so vast that it may have no other side. Imagine a new world with more resources than all our future greed might exhaust, more opportunities than there will ever be entrepreneurs enough to exploit, and a peculiar kind of real estate which expands with development." John Perry Barlow describing cyberspace in 1981.
The Civilization of Cyberspace Interview #2 (First published in the January/February 1996 Communication World Magazine).
Cyber-Architect
Nicholas Negroponte
 We're not going to solve every problem in the world with better communication, but clearly an interconnected world is going to be better than a world that's not. I think you're going to see the differences between the haves and have-nots shrinking over time, and that to me would make a really wonderful place to be."
The Civilization of Cyberspace Interview #3 (First published in the December 1996 Communication World Magazine).
 Cyber-Skeptic
Cliff Stoll
"I'm not afraid of technology. I love the technology, but I distrust the claims made for it. It's like drinking from a firehose. You get plenty wet, but still walk away thirsty."
The Civilization of Cyberspace Interview #4 (First published in the June-July, 1998 issue of Communication World Magazine).
 Cyber-Realist
Esther Dyson
"We haven't created a perfect society on earth, and we won't have one in cyberspace either. But at least we can have individual choice, and individual responsibility. It just means, again, relax and don't try to fix everything. But try and fix something."
The Civilization of Cyberspace Interview #5 (First published in the March, 1999 issue of Communication World Magazine).
Cyber-Scientist
Manuel Castells
"The 21st century will not be a dark age. Neither will it deliver to most people the bounties promised by the most extraordinary technological revolution in history. Rather, it may well be characterized by informed bewilderment."
The Civilization of Cyberspace Interview #6 (First published in the December 1999 issue of Communication World Magazine).
DIGITAL DAD
Don Tapscott
"For the first time in human history, children are an authority on the big revolution that is changing every institution in society."
And Inspiring this series ...
Buckminster Fuller's Last Interview Part 1 | Part 2
Buckminster Fuller
The Possible Dreamer
"We could all be billionaires. Politics are all invalid. War is obsolete."
"By 1985 we will know what way it's going to be -- whether we will all be destroyed or on our way to Utopia and finding a new way of living."
I've been reflecting on this interview -- believed to be R. Buckminster Fuller's last-- ever since he and I spent an afternoon in his modest, cluttered office of his home in Pacific Palisades, California, in November, 1982. To say this interview was an honor and significant emotional event is a pathetic understatement. I left the interview absolutely inspired and Buckminster Fuller has been my hero ever since. Bucky died on July 1st the next year at the age of 88. His wife, Anne, died just 36 hours later, on July 3rd, one week before their 67th anniversary. What has so stayed with me ever since is not just Fuller's awesome intellect and grasp of both art and science, but his prescient foresight coupled with absolute optimism. He simply felt that if we got it right, technology could elevate all citizens of the world to unthinkable wealth, comfort and peace. That's a big if, of course. Although he spoke these words more than 20 years ago, his messages for humanity are still haunting. The interview was first published in the Spring 1983 10th anniversay issue of JD Journal, the corporate magazine of John Deere. It seems fitting to bring it back to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Fuller's geodesic dome patent -- and to rekindle his utopian spirit.
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