10 Years That Changed the World
Wired's latest cover article examines technology's navel lint of the past 10-years -- the years of excitement, the ups and downs, the bazillions that was made and lost, and how we're all better for where it got us. Wired credits Netscape going public 10-years ago with giving the power to the people -- acting as a catalyst for the growth of the web, and allowing such concepts as blogs, wikis, peer-to-peer and open source to in turn be a catalyst for social transformation. Yes, social transformation. The web, the internet, and all those hyperlinks out there didn't amount to a squat in the world of commerce when compared to its impact on culture. Today, we hardly know what the internet truly is -- it's vast, interconnected, redundant, etc., etc. -- but what does all of that truly mean? We can physically describe it and understand how its parts function to make the whole -- but what the impact of the internet on us is hardly understood -- and what lasting effect its transformative influence will have on global culture is something that's probably only visible with hindsight.
With hindsight, the Wired article takes us back to visit the last 10-years, to gaze upon the wonder of the world we have become. It's a marvelous, scary, otherworldly world. It's a world so rich and complex that it challenges our imagination. Looking back, only a few had an inkling of what was going to happen -- but they only saw the technologies. They only saw the bits and bytes of the details. The world that eventually materialized from those zeros and ones was a world none of them saw coming.
With hindsight, the Wired article takes us back to visit the last 10-years, to gaze upon the wonder of the world we have become. It's a marvelous, scary, otherworldly world. It's a world so rich and complex that it challenges our imagination. Looking back, only a few had an inkling of what was going to happen -- but they only saw the technologies. They only saw the bits and bytes of the details. The world that eventually materialized from those zeros and ones was a world none of them saw coming.
I think what is constantly underestimated is the need for people to make things - no matter what it is an image, software, a quilt etc We ae only just seeing this urge manifest itself now.
ReplyDeleteYou are right an interesting article and thanks for the comment on Mindtracks
Nicely written commentary.
ReplyDeleteIt truly is amazing how far we've come (or devolved some might say) in 10 years.
It's amazing how far the hardware has advanced in 10 years too. Think back to your hardware set up 10 years ago. (shudder)
The Net has become part of our collective DNA. I can't imagine living without it. I could if I had too but it has truly opened to world to all of us.
I think of my own parents, both in their eighties, both computer-savvy, a dual platform home (PC & Mac). With DSL and access to the Net living in a tiny (75 people) 'dot-in-the-road' town in SE Iowa. Through the net they can access the world. That revolutionary.