Our Growing Global Digital Nervous System

By Rob Greenlee, WebTalk Radio
Monday, June 7, 2004; 12:00pm EST

The world is getting smaller every day as we grow more connected because of digital communication technology. Every year, millions of new people become networked together using the Internet.

You can see how we�re connecting everywhere � from the proliferation of single-chip wi-fi-enabled mobile computers, tiny RF sensor transmitters, mobile networked smart phones, ubiquitous always-on Internet connections and even new tech-driven social networking movements.

Together, they�re forming a growing global digital nervous system whose potential impact seems almost limitless. Communication and interaction between objects, people and the environment shall transform our very existence on this planet and beyond.

The future Internet could include worlds like the Moon and Mars, as we colonize the planets in the coming decades.

Global nervous system network technologies are not the fix to the world�s social problems and conflicts, but can serve as a way towards resolving more of those issues via better communication and cultural understanding.

Hopefully, over the coming decades, people of this world will use this global nervous system to begin the healing process to resolve economic and social conflicts around the world.

This change will cause all to become more global in view and understanding. America is a great and powerful country but really lacks a global view of the world.

I think that this global digital nervous system will more easily link America to the rest of the world.

It seems as though we are finally awakening from a long, dark sleep as humans on this earth start seeing the earth and solar system as one place.

These growing interconnected networks of people who are currently using the Internet to communicate are making separation and distance from each other irrelevant.

Friendships are being created every day that are not dependent on proximity as voice over IP technology is enabling less expensive voice communications.

E-mail and instant messenger communications are allowing regular communications to be maintained over longer periods of time and distance.

Faster wireless and wired broadband connection speeds will enable visual communications through digital video that will enable us to connect with others around the world in ways we can only imagine now.

The concept of personal broadcasting will come into its own in a big way. We will all need to become broadcasters and need to be verbally skilled communicators.

I think a person�s ability to communicate in all ways verbal, written and on-camera will be skills that will be required of everyone for economical survival on this planet over the next 10-20 years.

This collective thought and communication on a global level will enable humanity to reach a more peaceful existence as cultural conflicts slowly resolve themselves.

Every person on the planet will at some point in the future become an information worker of some type and will be connected to this global nervous system we now call the Internet.

Rob Greenlee is host of the WebTalk Radio Show, a University Place, Washington-based radio and Webcast show featuring technology news and interviews.

About Source of Article
Rob Greenlee is Founder and co-host of the WebTalkGuys Radio Show.  WebTalkGuys, a Seattle-based talk show featuring technology news and interviews. It is broadcast on WebTalkGuys Radio, Sonic Box, via Pocket PC at Mazingo Networks and the telephone via the Mobile Broadcast Network.  It's on the radio in Seattle at KLAY 1180 AM and KVTI 90.9 FM. Past show and interviews are also webcast via the Internet at http://www.webtalkguys.com/. Greenlee is also a member of the The International Academy of Digital Arts & Sciences.