Internet 2020: The Pew Report is ready

Some will find this report a bit daunting. It is well done and uses a scientific method to extrapolate a possible future of the nature of communication. It's on ALL the Execs reading lists.

In many ways it is relatively encouraging forward-look. In others ways it feels much like a William Gibson-esque whirling-sucking-vortex-of-despair. It is interesting for other reasons too... the who, what,when,where,why and how behind it are for some, worthy of note.

You might see a fair bit about this in the mainstream media net-flow. I'm not sure it matters much but if what they see even comes a bit to fruition - we-all got some hopes and some darn serious concerns. Potential Babylon-a-comin'/panacea of spectra. Might be fun. Is there such a thing as too hooked-up or too much communication? I'm thinking, not - but I could be entirely wrong. Ever had a friend or an aquaintance get miffed cuz' you weren't "jacked-in"? Or took time to eat or sleep? Or heaven-forbid do nothing?

Maybe to get a synopsis of the Pew Report try the Goog [I'm sure there a variety of editorial view-points to consider already). The PDF is .here

Victor K

EDIT: I found a BBC piece and a synopsis

[edit on 25-9-2006 by V Kaminski]

That is interesting, but I think that it is useless.

How can those people know what the Internet will be in 2020? Did anyone of those "experts" (in what) predicted in 1990 that the Internet would be in 2006 what it is today?

This reminds me of those articles from some magazines in the 1950s about life in the year 2000, some will see the light of day, some will never happen, and probably the next big thing is something nobody has thought yet .

Actually a number of people in 1990s were talking about how the web would be today and a few of them were surprisingly correct(though our progress towards the true vision is stagnant at best). Eric Drexler foresaw the Read/Write web with hyperlinks. Wikipedia is the closest thing to what he laid out in Engines of Creation in the 80s. I distinctly remember a futurist issue of Wired(I think) back in the early ninety's talk about what the Web would be in 10 years, and a lot of their predictions are eerily familiar to BitTorrent, YouTube, Podcasting, and Blogging. Neil Stephonson foresaw huge virtual worlds in his novel Snow Crash(some say it was the inspiration for them to create things like EverCrack and Second Life).

These types of future visions gives inspiration to developers here and now. Without Imagination Science wouldn't progress at all.

Originally posted by sardion2000
These types of future visions gives inspiration to developers here and now. Without Imagination Science wouldn't progress at all.

Yes, that is why I don't see them as "predictions" but as ways of putting people thinking in the same way as the people who made them.

Maybe look behind the who of Pew... or not. How can they know? Exactamundo! It's what "they" want for our future turf? If one looks at the folks involved and the penetration of this in biz circles? Who's to say eh? The Berkeley crew and William Gibson or even we 3 have a better chance of guessing... LOL.

But no, eh, I do want the fat pipes, I do want global access and I'm "afraid" of what that might mean for some... how big can the digital divide get? Ethical issue maybe... for some. Always the blade cuts both-ways, always a price to pay.

I can remember bein' on a dial-up BBS back in the... well a long time ago... we thought we we're PHAT at 300 baud... rotary handsets and handset receptical modems - I remeber the first time I wired money... telex, POTS init strings and on those new-fangled 5-and-a-quarter floppies.

Beyond that... tech-investors do take this stuff pretty seriously - no "bucks" no "Buck Rogers"... I think if the "tech savvy" like you guys stay "up on the wheel" and find a venue such as ATS... perhaps we'll get by pretty good. New pipes - new plumbers.

I lost track of the number of com protocols... new one's all the time... and that ain't even the half-of-it, no not by half. Oops 6:30 gotta go As It Happens is on Carol Oft interviews the President of Pakistan...

Thanx,

Victor K.

EDIT: They have some "other" predictions too - nice little racket:

Forward 150

Back 150

KidZone - Rockin with Spot, the Nanodog ECE? Yikes!

Teachers' Tips Vic hear's the theme from Speilberg's "JAWS"

The previous "Embargoed" Study - 2004

Hockey - fore-checking gets the lead - back-checking insures the victory... LOL.

Victor K.

[edit on 26-9-2006 by V Kaminski]