Reflections on the Future of Technology

In the next 50 years, one can anticipate the major changes in technology will revolve around networking.  If this is true, than we can also anticipate this having major changes in our personal lives, in education, and in business.

For starters I think it is safe to assume that increasing internet speeds, and businesses revolving around networking and the internet will mean that we will begin to see the barriers between our private lives, education and business shrink and probably disappear.

I have spoken to one of the chairs of the computer science department at a university who told me that one of the things that they are working on and looking forward to in the future is doing away with personal computers so that all data will be centralized on servers, and all one will need is a terminal in order to access that information.  That speaks some major changes that we should expect to see in terms of how we define privacy, and property rights.

As far as education however, already young people have to learn so much information and new technology so fast, and at much younger ages.  Which means that the gap between those who grow up with technology and those who have to learn technology will be ever increasing.

One of the statistics we looked at today said that the turnover on antiquated technical knowledge is now is getting close to being less than a year.  I imagine that one of the consequences of that will mean that younger people will be ever brighter, and every more adaptable, and it will be that much more important that we are raising and training them to live with that mode of thinking.

So while we may still not have flying cars in 50 years, what is definitely likely is that there may not even be a need for it as national and continental barriers will break against the uniting power of online networking.  The world will get ever smaller, and evermore competitive.  And so it is vitally important that we begin preparing for that now.