John Frankel Any.Biz » The Internet is a Black Hole

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The Internet is a Black Hole

April 10, 2010 - 11:20 pm

I think most epiphanies are trite as soon as they are discovered. It might be pithy, or simple, or even “elegant” as we used to say at college, but ultimately it is trite and obvious once it is stated. The Internet is a black hole.

There is a great giant sucking sound, and it is of everything that was physical in my childhood being virtualized, vaporized, digitalized and dematerialized; News, newspapers, magazines, books, books-on-tape, cassettes, records, CD’s, DVD’s, home movies, theater movies, televisions, telephones, mail, junk mail, voice mail, shopping, dating, researching, reviewing, trading, banking, gaming, you name it. Moore’s Law, productivity, capitalism are all drivers here, but in the process we replace physical interaction with objects with pseudo-interaction via keyboards, mice, and “touching” images on screens. The human mind is so malleable that it is able to ignore the difference between what is real and what is its representation:

That is all fine. This is not a luddite diatribe, just an observation that the physical objects we interact with are reducing over time to “portals” into our virtual world. Will the number of objects we own reduce over time? That I am not sure of, but what I am certain of is the percentage of our waking time interacting with our desktops, phones, pads, televisions, consoles and other connected computers is increasing, and the number of previously physical interactions is reducing.

As I said at the top of this post, the observation is trite, but the conclusions seem powerful – here are a quick ten:

1. We will increasingly value our interfaces as they involve more and more of our presence.
2. These interfaces will have strong emotional elements to them. They will be seductive. Apple wins.
3. There will be many activities that will not be fully sucked into the black hole: exercise, a walk in the park, climbing a mountain, travel, eating, laughing with family and friends, getting dressed, going the bar…though many could have a degree of virtualization (Nintendo Wii, anyone?), and especially if the Holodeck is ever invented.
4. These changes will fundamentally change winners and losers in society.
5. The move to virtualize everything that can be is inexorable, inevitable and will crush industries in its path. It will go further than reasonable.
6. Once these “portals” can walk, talk and interact with us on an equal footing they will reach even further into our presence. Robots are just a matter of time.
7. There is a real risk that work, as we know it, changes and with that what we value as a society and how income is distributed.
8. Education might have to be reevaluated as to its purpose and its content.
9. Society, morals, politics will need to adapt.
10. Starting a career in a profession that involves a long apprenticeship might well be the wrong thing to do.

The world is changing, fast, and disappearing into our computers. This is unprecedented change. It will impact us as a race. We are becoming systemically dependent on the Internet. It is a brave new world. Let’s hope the power stays on.