Visionary David Bowie Predicted the Power of the Internet in 1999

He foresaw both the good and the bad when nobody else did.

“It’s an alien life form that just landed,”

David Bowie says in an interview with a skeptical Jeremy Paxman.

Back then some folks weren’t impressed and saw the Internet as a tool, just like respected BBC journalist Paxman did. But David Bowie saw potential. He created BowieNet, an ISP, in 1998, allowing fans access to (studio) live feeds.

He reflects

“We’re on the cusp of something exhilarating and terrifying,”

Lightyears before Twitter and Instagram, he foresaw that the Internet could bring together artists and fans, that a piece of art is only complete with the fan’s response. However, he prophesies:

“What the internet is going to do to society, both good and bad, is unimaginable.”