We Have Met The Borg — And They Are Us?
September 18th, 2007
This article, which appeared in Business Week a few months ago, appeared in my email yesterday. It’s thought-provoking reading that predicts a next-generation Internet more like World of Warcraft and Second Life than Google and Yahoo!
The Metaverse Roadmap referred to in the article spells it all out in quite a lot of detail, and if the Business Week article tweaked your interest, I suggest you check it out. Be warned, though: It’s not light reading, by any means. Just a bit of skimming here and there, though, is sure to capture your imagination and raise a ton of questions.
For example: What happens to an individual’s psychological nature when one’s sense of self is reflected by a virtual avatar as much (or perhaps more) than the physical self? How does the nature and perception of reality shift when augmented reality becomes the norm, or when one can easily invent and constantly reinvent one’s own reality? What happens to society when a huge percentage of that society spends more time in the virtual world than in the real world?
Yes, we’re living in an age of remarkable technological revolution. And so many of us are caught up in buying or marketing the next cool gadget, playing with the next cool Web app and figuring out ways to turn that cool new gizmo into a viable business plan.
But all this technology delivers a lot more than entertainment and convenience. As the cutting edge becomes ever-sharper, as profoundly sophisticated technologies spread beyond the early adopter geekarati to the collective man in the street, a lot more will be happening to that man beyond the ability to post opinions on Amazon and videos on YouTube.
With great power comes more than great responsibility. There will also come great psychological and philosophical revolutions, perhaps profound enough to shake the very foundations of how the human species sees itself.
As we’re buying, marketing, playing and figuring, it behooves us to take a breath once in a while and think about the implications of all this technology we deal with on a daily basis.
The revolution is about more than just information.