WHO WILL OWN YOUR FUTURE?

 



 

"The best way to predict the future is to create it yourself." (Peter Diamandis)  It appears that Facebook and Google are in the creating your future mode.  Facebook just announced on internet.org a Facebook creation, that Facebook would be "involved" in a drone program to get wi-fi to more people.  Zuckerberg wants the whole world to be connected.  But drones bringing you the internet so you can be on Facebook...seems far fetched. 

 

 

Guest's on Bloomberg today had a discussion on why Facebook and Google are buying such an array of odd acquisitions.  Charlie Warzel (buzzfeed) stated that these "technology moguls" are yearning to be visionaries in that they "want to alter the course of human history."  Well, that is wide open.  Alter our history how?  By creating a future that so far they have not let us in on.  It seems to me that "whatever" this future will be that they are creating...Facebook & Google are predicting, creating, and preparing for it through purchasing.  But they can afford it but how is it democratic?  Just because they are taking it to everyone...is this what everyone wants?  Well, how would we know?  

VIRTUAL IS THE NEW SOCIAL

Zuckerberg (Facebook) has just bought a new company called Oculus VR.  According to Zuck it has the potential to create the most social platform ever, and change the way we work, play and communicate.  (Again!)

 

We are in the midst of rapid change.  Everything we thought we knew will not be.  Alvin Toffler the futurist author said many would not be able to keep up with the rapidly changing future.  He said they would get the disease of FUTURE SHOCK!  But maybe he was wrong...Maybe we will just adapt and buy into all the new goodies.  

 

For Zuckerberg and all the Big Five (Facebook,Google,Microsoft,Amazon, & Yahoo) it's all about the future. If mobile is the current computing platform, vision and virtual reality could be platforms of the future. Zuckerberg said that buying Oculus was "a long term bet on the future of computing."

 

The creator of the Oculus said that "the more we learned, the more we became convinced that virtual reality would become central to the next great wave of computing." (Dixon)

 

It is being described as a "fully immersed experience." The experience could make all the common experience today go from gaming to chatting face-to-face across the globe. 

 

"Oculus has the potential to be the most social platform ever.  Imagine not just sharing moments with your friends online but entire experiences."  (Zuckerberg)

 

Just remember it will be virtual.  We are going from the social collective body to a more atomonous and imaginary alone world.  Will this be good for us?  Will it be good for society?  Or will it be another distraction that actually separates us more and more from each other as we enter the unreal and impossible.  

GOOGLE IT

I love Google.  I use Google everywhere and so will you.  Google is hard to escape.  In someways I think we don't even mind that Google is watching our every move because it seems such a benefit in our busy inter-connected lives.  But regardless of my awe and use, I do see many connections we should be concerned about.  Is Google our friend?  Will Google keep our best interests of freedom and privacy intact?  (I don't think so!)

Google has been on quite the shopping spree lately.  Spending $17B and that's more than Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook, and Yahoo, combined in the last 2 years. (Well, maybe not Facebook as it just bought What's App for $16B & Oculus for $2B)  Nevertheless Google has acquired 114 new businesses.  Consequently, many are trying to figure out what all these acquisitions have in common.  My guess is that it is a mighty algorithm set to "what should we buy to own the future?"  Obviously, a very smart Super Computer that has access to the brains of Google & at Google, not to mention Ray Kurzweil (the futurist and inventor) and all the information of everything, everywhere...with predictive analytics incorporated is capable of designing the future.  Remember Peter's Law: "The best way to predict the future is to create it yourself."

But the shopping list for Google has been very erratic.  At least to us small brain people.  There is a mobile app that allows you to bump phones together and transfer files. Then there is the gesture recognition technology.  Also, lots and lots of robotic companies, most for humanoid robots but also a military and industrial robotic company...yikes!  As of 2014, their purchases have been either for developing Artificial Intelligence or technology that will connect all our "things."  And my favorite is that they have bought into RayBan and Oakley to make Google Glass classier.  At least the future won't be dull, eh?

So no one knows what is behind the many faceted buys and mergers but there are speculations.  Some believe that Google is after the talent that are in these different companies as they come with the purchase and are called "aqui-hires."  Others think "most of what they're developing in any way, shape, or form finds out more about you."  (Rob Enderle)  Some think they just want more places they can gain information on you to aim ads at you were ever you are.   But I am more inclined to think that Google wants to own all information.  Information is knowledge and knowledge is power.  Google is in the process of gathering everything in the way of knowledge from anywhere and everywhere.  That is the future.  And maybe Enderle is right in his statement that Google "will be a superpower...and may well run the world." 



CLOUD COMPUTING & YOU

Your Life "in the Cloud."

 

We are a "subscription economy."  Recently I have been trying to do some family history and every website I go to is offering me a free trial for my credit card # and a monthly fee.  That made me start thinking about how many things we do for a subscription of a week, a month, or a yearly fee.  And that all adds up fast.  Soon we will be subscribing for our space in the cloud to keep all our documents, as well as our favorite programs for those of us that still use Word, Power Point, Excel, and the rest.  We are becoming a society of renters not owners. 

 

But what is cloud computing?  Well, I am sure it can be very complicated if one wants to be technical but I don't.  Basically, it is a bunch of super-large, super-fast computers that all your information is routed through, stored and accessed.  Cloud computing means the ability to run multiple programs and/or applications on many computers at the same time.

 

The reason they chose the word "cloud" besides that it sounds kind of cool and gives a dreamy image, is that it virtually corresponds somewhat to a cloud.  Here's how: Cloud-computing is based on sharing resources and effectiveness.  For example, the European Users will be allocated the most priority during European business hours while the majority of Americans are sleeping.  Then they can switch priority and application during America's peak business hours when most European's are sleeping.  Thus, it is like a could in the way that it changes through growing and expanding at times, while other times it is shrinking in what it does. 

 

Now this system of massive and many computers connected together called mega-networks is extremely efficient and offer cost advantages to big business as they don't each have to have all the hardware.  "Cloud computing" is also called "pay as you go" as it is sold "as a service" (subscription) for big business and for you. 

 

They (Google, Amazon, IBM, Micro-soft, etc.,) tout how this is good for the environment as it requires less electricity, cooling, space and as such it is a public good. 

 

So what does this mean to you?  It means everything will soon be "in the cloud."  It means more of all you do will operate in this fashion.  For that is what technology is all about.  It is to make everything predictable, efficient and fast.  After all...it is a machine.  The problem is that we are expected to be more machine-like as well.  In fact, we are.  We do more.  We work faster.  We work smarter.  We play with our devices and are always connected through our engagement with others by technological devices.  But there is a cost to all this.  And that cost besides being less personal & having less physical interaction, is our complete dependence on the machine and by extension...on Google, Facebook, MS, & Amazon.