How the wireless Internet is changing consciousness

Can you imagine a world in which everyone (and I do mean everyone) on the planet has the ability to communicate with each other at all times? Think about the ramifications of this for a moment. For example, consider the implications of a teenager in a shopping mall trying to decide whether to purchase a new electronic device. In a totally connected world that teenager will have access to considerably more information about that device than just what is on the packaging or in an advertisement for the product. The connected teenager can instantly broadcast a question about that product to his or her circle of friends and receive immediate responses from those who choose to do so.

At first glance, you may see little difference between the above example and today’s reality of seeing cell phones everywhere. There is a subtle difference, however. Instead of cell phones, the devices tomorrow’s teenagers, and eventually their parents, will be using will be much more sophisticated than a simple cell phone. Called “personal electronic companions,” these new devices are going to cause a revolution in consciousness unlike anything we have seen before. It may take 50 more years before the majority of people on this planet have their own electronic companions, but that day will most surely arrive. Some believe that day will come quite soon.

These little devices, which at first will seem so innocuous, will first be used by teenagers and young adults. Before long, however, parents are going to realize how convenient, and necessary, it is to be able to communicate with their family members at all times. Without even realizing what is happening, people who own and use these new wireless Internet devices will begin to take it for granted that most of the important people in their lives are instantly available with the tap of a few keys on a portable Internet device. What is more, they will also have the ability to instantly access almost any public database that is online.

Return now to our example of a person in a shopping mall trying to decide whether to purchase a new electronic device. By using the bar code scanner on their personal electronic companion, tomorrow’s consumer can instantly send out a request for information about that product to their friends as well as to consumer data bases. In a world like that, how will your company’s products and services rate? A person with constant access to the wealth of information on the Net, combined with the ability to instantly communicate with friends and family, can almost be seen as having super-psychic abilities. And when the day arrives that these devices become small enough to be implanted and “wet wired” to one’s brain, we will truly see the dawn of a new branch of our species, Homo cyber.