I think it would be safe to assume that, for 14 hours a day, there is a computer within a foot of you. It could even be under an inch! That tiny box in your pocket has more information in it that any person could have learned in their entire life 30 years ago, and with a few swipes of your finger on a touch screen, you can access any of it. Or you can communicate with people anywhere in the world. It has brought dictatorships to their knees, it has connected humanity, it has given many people a job, and yet we still just watch cat videos and read tweets. My idea for this blog is the internet. It can be our friend, our enemy, and it will shape tomorrow.
In 1969, just a few days after the last of the hippies left Woodstock, a silent (revolution) took place at UCLA. “LO” was typed into the very first computer by professor Leonard Kleinrock. It continued to crash before he could finish his word “LOGIN”. Eventually the system worked, and the infant internet was born. Twelve years later there would still only be 213 computers. Fourteen after that there were 16 million, and by today there are over 1.7 billion people who are connected.
So there’s for the past, what about the future? Quantum computing is supposed to be this amazing new thing happening right in our town, but I know absolutely nothing about it. All I got from looking it up was that it’s really fast and can factor huge numbers very quickly and overpower classical computer immensely. If anyone knows a thing about it, please comment. I’d love to figure out what all the fuss is about.
So quantum aside, I really don’t know what is next for the internet. Kansas city now has Google Fiber, the fastest connection in the world. So I’d be surprised if nothing came out of that. Also, SOPA and PIPA failed, which would have sterilized the best of the internet through copyright law.
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| Google Glass is so cool |
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| But this cat is cooler |
