The advancement our current society into the information age will have dramatic impacts on many American’s daily lives. Such statements may sound profound when first suggested, however the execution of recent events have led many scholars to believe that because of the common parallels between “Networking Computers” and the Printing Press we are able to predict many of the changes to come. James A. Dewar, an expert on information advancement, has concluded, with a very lengthy argument, that there are common parallels between our society and the past (in accordance with communication).
I have read this argument and I agree with it, there are many advancements to come. Though my thoughts lie on the technological aspects of these changes. For example, Dewar claims that the computers of 2010 will have the same capabilities as super-computers have today. My interest lies in between that change, with the smaller advancements that must come to reach that goal. Though the printing press is an under-researched field and is unappreciated as well, I am truly focused on advancements leading to the saturation of the Information age.
According to many google searches, yay google, there are many who support the coming fad of virtual life. The program “Second Life” explores these ideas by allowing users to create accounts on the internet, then allowing them to create a personalized avatar that can move around inside a virtual world where they can explore, communicate, react, and interact with the environment and each other. This sounds like some crazy sci-fi movie but it’s true, virtual worlds do exist and are becoming more and more popular among the youth around the world. Why the youth? because as children of the baby-boomers (or maybe their children) we are vast and many. We have also grown with computers in our lives, since they were invented long before the birth of those of the 80’s. The internet and technology has become second hand, almost like a “must know” and is being taught in public schools. However, I have run into the occasional “old fart” on Second World, at least they claim to be (however; I assume everyone on the internet are 13 year-old boys with no education until proven, via phone or something like that). So as you can see, the technological advancements thus far have led to virtual worlds.
For the next step into this new era, there needs to be more advancements. Though the creation of the internet and thus forth have been monsterous and fast, I am just stating that this trend needs to continue in it’s constant speed for use to reach something HUGE in our lifetime. For these advancements to take place, we need to just look at what we already have and build upon them. For example, last year I had a desktop with a 30GB HD with a 2.0 GHz processor and 512 MB of RAM; now I have a laptop, 160GB of HD with AMD Turion 64 bit dual core 2.0 GHz processor and 1024 MB of RAM. As you can see, even if you don’t know what any of this means, the numbers have become bigger, therefore my laptop kicks my desktop’s ass.
P.S This article is 543 words long, sorry for being a ranting internet junkie.
“The Information Age and the Printing Press: Looking Backward to See Ahead.” 15 Jan 2008 <http://www.acm.org/ubiquity/views/j_dewar_1.html>.
Symphony of Destruction 