The World Wide Web as we know is only 5000 days old. What’s happening in the next 5000 days? Kevin Kelly’s Ted Talk focuses on areas such as social media, the Internet Cloud and other forces such as personalization, transparency and transferring culture that are transforming the current internet into the ONE machine. The current internet, interconnecting into ONE single global machine is the most reliable machine anyone can ever imagine, with zero downtime, serving 100 billion clicks a day, 8 terrabytes per second traffic, 55 trillion internet links and using up 5% of energy of the planet.
Kelly thinks we need to get better at believing in the impossible. Well, I think the advanced technologies are there – but I don’t have the same imagination of a global utopia. And I am afraid that the high personal cost for the illusion of transparency and global culture is too high. Once I read about a lady who rented some movies at Block Buster and later found the details of her transactions on her Facebook wall. (Apparently, Facebook and Block Buster exchanged this information against the Video Privacy Protection Act). This scared me so I have made efforts to not expose myself too much on the Internet. However, googling my name, and I can find past and current addresses, complete with satellite pictures and map from google, home price and other stuff. Not that I think these info are particularly interesting, but the idea of having my personal information on the Internet always makes me feel uncomfortable.
The 8PM news today informs us about how US big brothers are planning to scan Facebook and monitor Twitter in a bid to thwart any sign of social disorder within the United States and to predict global events such as the current Arab Springs. It reminds us that the ONE machine is not really ours but it belongs to the governments. When the Chinese Communists can dictate what information Google search engine can serve up to Chinese, and when British Prime Minister advocates the power of the government to shut down Internet access during the times of public riots, we are also reminded that within the ONE machine, are many sub machines, and they are not owned by us.
Perhaps it is possible that, as the world citizens are more educated and technologies are more advance, the gap of digital divide will no longer be visible, resources will be plentiful, world peace will be achievable and people will be 'let go'. Until then, the governmental control of the Internet and the individual lost of control though personalization will remain the two biggest negative forces.
Perhaps it is possible that, as the world citizens are more educated and technologies are more advance, the gap of digital divide will no longer be visible, resources will be plentiful, world peace will be achievable and people will be 'let go'. Until then, the governmental control of the Internet and the individual lost of control though personalization will remain the two biggest negative forces.
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