This article was taken from the March 2014 issue of Wired magazine. Be the first to read Wired's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by <span class="s1">subscribing online.
Given the history of humanity thus far, the internet will not be a hive of collaboration, co-operation and enhanced democracy. It has the potential to divide us and destroy our world.
Proponents of the Singularity speak of an impending time when everyone uploads their minds into the cloud, and man and machine evolve into one hyperconnected being. But why wait? Most of us are already cyborgs anyway, relying on technology for much of our intellectual, social, biological and cultural endeavours.
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The next stage will feature embedded, synthetic and biocomputing mechanisms operating in ways we haven't yet imagined. The new web will exist on biological signal carriers and nano-transmission devices. Everything and everyone will communicate with everything else, and access to information will replace ownership. Streaming will become the norm and personal privacy will be a quaint notion -- the new "vintage" status symbol. Private living will be a privilege afforded only to those so powerful, so rich, that they can remain off the grid by using extremely exclusive privacy services. The web commons will be ruled by mega corporations that will house, process and transmit the sum of knowledge and experience. The Googles and Amazons will become so powerful, we'll forget we ever had "terms of use" or owned any personal information.
Warfare will move almost entirely into cyberspace. The web will be more than just a tool for espionage; it will enable attacks on enemies. As access to information, trust mechanisms and reputation ecosystems become the sources of power, such power will change hands rapidly. Once the drones start terminating human beings as calmly as a refrigerator produces ice cubes, the world will have become a very scary place indeed.
Keren Elazari is a security specialist and industry analyst with GigaOM Research. She spoke at WIRED2012
More from Wired's Web at 25 series
- Tim Berners-Lee: the past, present and future
- Marc Andreessen: embed the internet
- Jimmy Wales: the developing world
- Mikko Hypponen: government surveillance
- Joi Ito: 'it's a living, evolving organism'
- Nigel Shadbolt: augmented intelligence
- Vint Cerf: internet of things
- Nick D'Aloisio: natural language
- Ze Frank: 8 things to expect next
- Arianna Huffington: the net grows up
- 8 internet memes you forgot you shared
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
