by Search Copywriter
B. Emirzian
The internet industry has been gaining in strength ever since it first gained a public face in the 1990s - and it undoubtedly intends to keep its high rate of momentum. In fact, a recent report from the Pew Internet & American Life Project revealed a widespread belief that the internet will be available to the majority of the world's population by the year 2020. B. Emirzian
With everything the internet encompasses - from a powerful economic and educational tool, to a means for the world to better 'connect' - it's surely an invaluable resource for humans. Or is it?
Surprisingly, while just over half of the 742 technologists and futurists surveyed hold a positive outlook on the vast developments foreseen within the internet market, a whopping 46% believe that the industry can actually hurt us if it keeps up with such rapid growth - and that technology is on its way to becoming invasive to the human world.
"Key builders of the next generation of the internet often agree on the direction technology will change, but there is much less agreement about the social and political impact those changes will have," said Janna Quitney Anderson, lead author of the report, The Future of the Internet II.
So why is the rate - and span - at which the internet is spreading its colossal wings frightening so many?
There are reservations about the loss of privacy, as well as about a possible rise in internet misuse - especially by governments or large corporations. Many also fear that humans can lose control of the very technology which they create. "Sometime after 2020, our machines will become intelligent, evolve rapidly, and end up treating us as pets," predicted Bob Saffo of the Institute of the Future.
One net-user responded by stating that such consequences are "probable but unlikely...as people of the world value democracy and privacy, and would oppose any form of control and authoritarian rule."
Others are concerned that the English language will gain strength to the extent of displacing other languages, while a massive 60% of survey respondents predicted that communities of 'Luddites' would emerge and possibly launch attacks against the communication and technology infrastructure.
Many also fear that the world's population - primarily its younger part - is at risk of becoming excessively reliant on the internet. As reported in a previous bigmouthmedia article, 'China's internet addiction: a friendly invasion gone bad?' prominent world-player China is now dealing with somewhat of an internet obsession; an estimated one in eight net users in China is psychologically dependant on the internet - the majority of the constituents being young people.
While there is no doubt in anyone's mind that the internet industry will continue to thrive in years to come, its effects on those responsible for its advancement is highly debatable. Yet the validity of concerns regarding its growth cannot be discounted or accepted as yet, simply because with a mechanism as powerful as the internet, possibilities are more than wide-ranging: they're seemingly endless.
