www.alliancecom.net 11 A More Virtual World Futurologists believe we’ll be living in an increasingly virtual world. Our digital presence will not be separate from the physical world but ingrained in it. Virtual Reality (VR) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) will pave the way for a more streamlined online experience. Judith Donath, a researcher for the Berkman Klein Center at Harvard University and author of The Social Machine: Designs for Living Online, said, “Within only the next quarter century, the way we now search or use the internet will be considered archaically clunky. Information will be displayed, floating in the air ... the web will appear in the real world, not just on glass screens. Gone will be keyboards, the mouse, and screens.” Activating a Digital Overlay Due to developments in the field of brain-computer interface technology, we should be able to send information and commands through mere brain signals by 2040. Taking that a step further, it’s expected that by 2050, nanobots (robots that are microscopic in nature) may be plugged directly into the brain for fullimmersion virtual reality, and there could be eye implants allowing us to see the digital world without the need for a display. If you’re not crazy about the idea of adding objects to your brain or eyes, “future you” will have the non-invasive option of augmented reality glasses with display capabilities. These glasses will activate a digital overlay with information about your surroundings. Internet Everywhere Leonard Kleinrock, the UCLA professor who networked the first computers in the early packet-switching network, said this about the internet’s future: “The internet will be everywhere, available on a continuous basis, and will be invisible in the sense that it will disappear into the infrastructure, just as electricity is, in many ways, invisible. The Internet of Things will be an embedded world of the Internet of Invisible Things. We will be able to interact with its capabilities via human-friendly interfaces such as speech, gestures, haptics, holograms, displays, and so on.” Prepare for an adventure ahead! Exploring the Future of the Internet Expect fewer keyboards and more augmented reality glasses In the 50+ years since the internet was born, it’s grown from linking a handful of computers to connecting billions of users around the globe. What will the internet look like in another 50 years?
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