Position Paper 3: Forecasting the Future
What Will the Internet Look Like in the Future
On October 29th, 1969, a message was sent from a rather nondescript room at UCLA in Southern California to a Stanford Research Institute computer console in Menlo Park, California. It read simply “Lo,” though it was supposed to say “Login.” The system crashed before completing the task. This was the world’s first message sent via an interconnected computer network known as ARPANET. On this unassuming fall day, the modern internet as we now know was conceived.
In the five decades since, the internet has transformed human existence. From how we wage war to how we make each other laugh, it’s unfathomable how much the internet has shaped life in that short amount of time.
But what will our digital world look like in the future? How will we solve the challenges that we are currently facing around privacy and data protection? Should we be hopeful—or fearful—for our changing digital world?
One example of future internet technology will be the increased use of virtual reality and augmented reality. The world in front of us will be a mix of reality and the virtual and, at times, it will be unable to decipher which one is which. Mike Liebhold, a senior researcher at the Institute of the Future and at Apple's Advanced Technology Lab in the 1980s, writes that, in the near future, everyone will wear augmented reality glasses and use that to interact with their environment.
I believe in regards to the future of the internet, the ‘Internet of Things’ will fully mature. Already, the “Internet of Things” connects refrigerators, alarm clocks, and various other household appliances. In another 15 years, that connection will extend to vehicles, wallets, health monitors, and perhaps even our paper currency. The more freely information flows, the greater power and freedom we have; this truth will drive our desire to connect everything we can to the Internet.
A negative aspect on the future of the internet will be an end to privacy. Every time you ask Alexa to send more cat food, you are giving a billion-dollar company more information about who you are. Mainly, that you have a cat who likes to eat. But also credit card information, addresses, telephone numbers, and so on. The decision has been made to sacrifice some of this potentially private information for the sake of convenience.
Overall, I would say the future of the internet looks promising. The invention of these new forms of the internet will help us interact with information in ways which have never been seen before.
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