The folk process is definitely ongoing, just as history never stops progressing. At any given time, of course, people living in the moment cannot possibly foresee how history will record the present time.

What makes it especially difficult to predict the future of "folk music,' or of any ongoing artisitic tradition, is the fact that audio and video recording technologies, among other similar developments, are so very new in historical terms. Not only is it impossible to forsee how this new complication will affect current and future development of our shared cultural memory ~ we are not even able to appreciate all the unconsious assumptions behind our own various ideas of "tradition" and "process," and how these assumptions are inescapably based upon information we have received through decidedly non-traditional channels: records and tapes, certainly, but also widely-available paperback books, contemporary universities and schools, computer-aided research, and even internet forums like this one.