The Internet and its Ominous Future

Future technologies could make it easier to control people’s lives.

The Internet has reached a milestone in that twenty-five years ago the World Wide Web was created. The Pew Research Center decided this is an appropriate time to do a survey on how experts envision the future of the Internet. The results of the survey of 1,867 experts in privacy, technology and cyber security do not paint an entirely rosy picture.

Most of the experts agree the future Internet will be everywhere and more invisible, seamlessly integrated into our everyday lives. Wearable technologies with their use of artificial intelligence will become the norm. There are indeed some positive predictions. The availability of hyper-connectivity could reduce global ignorance. People in the future will always be online so that finding information such as job openings will be easier and faster. There should also be an increase in the ability to monitor and improve health of patients.

However, there is a downside. The people who will be unwilling or unable to keep up with the changing technology could lose out, increasing the separation between the rich and the poor. That would include a  larger divide between wealthy nations and those less developed. There could also be a rise in unsavory practices such as cyberstalking, pornography, bullying and mob-behavior. With the creation of massive data centers, one might expect an increase in espionage, surveillance, social control and censorship of free speech.

"It is likely that more people will be disadvantaged (arrested, compromised, blackmailed) due to the authorized and unauthorized use of monitored activity data," says Alan Clark, CEO of a software technology company.

In 1949 author George Orwell wrote a novel entitled 1984. In this book, according to Wikipedia, Orwell  describes a “a world of perpetual war, omnipresent government surveillance, and public mind control, dictated by a political system euphemistically named English Socialism (or, in the government's invented language, Newspeak, called Ingsoc) under the control of a privileged Inner Party elite that persecutes all individualism and independent thinking as ‘thoughtcrimes.’ The tyranny is epitomised by Big Brother, the quasi-divine Party leader who enjoys an intense cult of personality, but who may not even exist.” Is it possible that the full thrust of Orwell’s prophecy will come true a few decades late, thanks to the growth of technology?

Fortunately, there are many people today who are concerned about the loss of privacy and individual rights. May these guardians of liberty continue to have success in ensuring that humans aren’t eventually controlled or programmed like robots to do the will of some governing body. 

There is even more reason for Christians to be optimistic about the future. We will want to remember there is a Guardian who has promised not to let anything happen to us that is not good for us. “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28). Technology is also turning out to be a good thing when it comes to spreading the good news of Jesus, though, of course, it is also being used to spread lies and other evils.

In regard to the long-range future, the picture, for those who believe in Jesus as their Savior from sin, is completely rosy. We who are faithfully following and serving the Lord are guaranteed a place in heaven where the only authority will be our loving God, Creator and King. “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world’ “ (Matthew 25:34) 

Reference: Tia Ghose, “The Future of the Internet: Dark and Ubiquitous,” livescience.

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QUESTION OF THE DAY

What are four types of cookware and dishes never to put into a dishwasher?

Cast iron (can rust), wood (can warp), China and delicate glassware (chemicals in detergents can be abrasive), and insulated travel mugs (water can breach the seal between the inner and outer layers).

Source: USA Weekend (March 7-9, 2014)

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