The History of Information and Communications Technology and Cultural Change...
Gerry Christensen ?? ?? ??
Head of Caller ID Reputation? Partnerships and Expert in Communications Identity and Trust
[ The following is a work-in-progress: Welcoming ideas for future edits !!! ]
They say that the ability to communicate begins with the ability to think in terms of stories. Early humans communicated in stories long before civilization developed from tribes into communities, towns and cities. However, the?Gutenberg Press?is widely attributed to facilitating the ability to move far beyond tribal knowledge to persistent information sharing.
Modern communications technology has enabled humans to cross the chasm of geography and time. Recent Information and Communications (ICT) developments have democratized the ability for increasingly more humans to share information, ideas and expression. While largely beneficial, there have been some unintended and unwelcome consequences such as those that attempt to exploit inexpensive resources, identity validation deficiencies and lack of behavior monitoring for ill-gotten gains.
With the advent of the?metaverse?concept, ICT seems to be on the cusp of entering into a new phase of communications, applications, content and commerce that involves three dimensional experience. Whereas today, human interactions are largely two dimensional (e.g. we stare at 2D planes such as computer UIs for a great extent of daily life), companies such as?Meta?are leading the charge for a more 3D, and virtual, lifestyle.
This will clearly facilitate some positives such as the ability to think and learn in three dimensions, which may even affect evolutionary development. Think of how one currently perceives three dimensions. Without depth perception (two eyes), shadowing and/or a sense of touch/texture, it would arguably be difficult to envision three dimensions. While in the metaverse, will it be easier to perceive a fourth spatial dimension that may exist beyond our everyday common sense understanding of the?Newtonian?world?
What will be the unintended consequences of the metaverse? Will it release from?Pandora's Box?aspects of existence mistakenly embraced as positive based on preliminary conclusions without the benefit of proper introspection? This may be the case once visualization, sensors and AI are able to simulate a world that is imperceptivity different than "reality".
What about the Allure of a World that is "better" than Reality?
What about a world in which NPCs (e.g. non-player characters or "bots") are programmable and thus predictable? If there are no unpleasant surprises, there is little or no pain, but what does that mean for joy? What about a world in which arguably one of things that brings meaning to life — struggle — is removed from the equation? What would a life represent if there is nothing to strive for and nothing to overcome?
The converse to this question is: What if someone else's NPC pretends to be someone I know and trust, but really means harm. Is this the metaverse equivalent to unlawful robocallers but with stakes that are orders of magnitude greater?
These are all important things to ponder as a conscious consumer, rather than stumbling into a?Brave New World?that may make humans long for what once was...
Here are a few of the major milestones in ICT:
Milestones/impacts to consider:
I believe it was called the "Modified Final Judgement" in 1982, not "Modification of Final Judgment"