Eric Schmidt’s speech in the Mobile World Congress 2012 inspired me to think for a second what it means that we have the chance to communicate, share and read information online. Due to the fact that the infrastructure around us is as well developed as it is and we can afford to buy a lap top or a mobile phone, in most cases the both, we represent the group of the people that are hyper connected.
There are 7 billion people in the world and about a little more than 2 billion of them have an online access. The latest news spread around the globe in a matter of seconds and the latest information about technological developments blast through social media with a click of a button. Imagine the possibilities that the growth of the amount of people online would bring to us; the possibilities for better innovation, the possibilities to change the world in terms of democracy, science and the opportunities business, education etc.
Since we are online and have an instant access to all the information there is, we have quite transparent and equal view to the future. Of course the people developing the future in companies like Google, Apple, Microsoft and Nokia hold on to the very latest pieces of information. Nevertheless quite soon the general public online can read from the news and social media what the latest breakthroughs are many times even before they are officially public. Due to these facts I have never before felt that I would be this close to the people representing the leading edge of the technological developments. I feel that I can feel and sense the light breezes of the future.
What the future will look like then? Looking back at the old science fiction films like Star Trek and others, it seems we are already living the future. We have the speech recognition, real time translation and the self-driving car etc. (very cool actually – look at the video below). The world is not yet ready and the evolution of the digital world will keep on developing. According to Mr. Schmidt the Moore’s law is still valid and we can see the world heading towards unlimited speed in internet access and unlimited computing processing power. That’s something, but until then we can keep on following the media and anticipating the next steps. Do you feel the future?
image credit to Pixomar / FreeDigitalPhotos.