By now, we are all familiar with Moore’s Law of Accelerating returns – basically, the law states that processor speeds increase exponentially over time at a measurable rate. I believe there is a parallel law, the Law of Decelerating Consumer Patience. That is, as computer speeds increase, our patience decreases (or our expectations increase). This leads to frustrations and perhaps a misconception that our computers have gotten slower. Of course, this is a generalized statement, and I’m well aware of hardware decrepitude, however, exposure to cutting edge processor speeds (directly or indirectly) has a “grass is greener” effect. The question is this “Has my computer gotten slower, or do I simply expect more?” After all, when your computer was first purchased, you were probably amazed at how much faster it was than your previous model. There may have even been a hopeful perception that this new computer would meet your needs for a long time to come. All computers will seem (and actually be) slower over time, according to Moore’s law, and entropy itself. That is, until quantum computing is discovered…
If we’re going to have this continual frustration for the forseeable future, how can we “stay on top of the game?” Well, ultimately, it’s not about the computer or hardware we possess, it’s more about the flow of information and content, more importantly the speed at which it can be disseminated and digested by us. This leads me to my next vision of the future, what I like to call the Terminal Culture.
In the terminal culture, we are all part of a super internet. All of our content, files, and information will live on the internet. Personal computers and desktops will only be terminals – only a few bytes of information will be stored locally – even operating systems will be run from the network. You will, at any time, be able to walk up to any terminal, log in, and your “computer” will appear before you. Terminals will (and are) appear in the form of many different types of devices, allowing you to be perpetually connected to your information. Undoubtedly, encryption technology will become more advanced in tandem with the Terminal Revolution. There will also be a physical limitation, the fact that the terminals won’t have or need the storage space necessary to localize private information. However, since everything will live on the super internet, that information will be arguably more accessible to hackers and cyber terrorists.
The concept of privacy is going to change from the way we traditionally know it. This lack of traditional privacy will have an effect on the ethics of society. That is not necessarily to say that we will be “more” ethical, but rather that our ethics will change to meet the new landscape of openness. We’re seeing this already with publicly accessible photo galleries which often show moments of intimacy, embarrassment, and revealing moments that help to define us in a deeper way to those around us.
