It's just a matter of time.
Terminator 3 was not a very good movie, but it had one really cool concept. The movie revised the original concept of Skynet being some massive mainframe computer. Instead, it revealed that Skynet was in fact an artificial intelligence that infiltrated the world's computers through the internet. As technology moves forward, I think this may end up being the case after all!
My theory starts with the rise of handheld computing. There have been tons of attempts to have a computer in the palm of your hand, but for various reasons, all have been relative failures. The Newton and Palm are 2 that jump to mind right away. However, in a very sneaky fashion, mobile phones have stepped into the handheld computing void in the form of smart phones. These phones are here and they are taking over in a big way. Apple releases its updated iPhone in June with a lot of rumors about what it will offer. Probably more memory, a smaller size, faster processor, camera, GPS and 3G wireless data capability.
More importantly, the phone will release simultaneously with iTunes new applications store. What does this mean? Users will be able to download thousands of programs to run on their iPhone. Games, organizers, office suites, everything. The iPhone will be able to do everything that a computer can do with the exception of having 250GB of storage and the ability to play or burn discs. How will many of these apps work? They will be widgets that run off the net but display on your phone.
This is where Google comes in. They have already cornered the market on internet search and advertising, becoming a multi-billion dollar empire. Gmail is just about the greatest program I have ever used. Ali and I couldn't have rented a house in Nashville without Google Maps and Streetview. I am totally dependent on Google calender, and the Google docs are pretty slick too (if they could just figure out how to allow cut and paste from other apps). What is the common thread to these and many other Google apps? They are run from the internet. No software is installed on your computer. This is also why Google is sitting in prime position to exploit iPhone and other smart phones. Their apps run off the net without draining memory and power from the handheld device.
I don't think it will be too much longer until the PC as we know it no longer exists. It will be replaced by a handheld unit that links wirelessly to the internet to run applications and access all your data stored online. Sure, you'll be able to dock it to a monitor or keyboard at home, but the actual computer will not be there. Think I'm wrong? Just consider all the Google apps I mentioned above. How many do you use? What about your pictures - all online yet? Movies and music? If studios have their way, no more CDs or DVDs. It will all be on-demand service that requires a download fee or a monthly subscription.
When you look at all these things, it's not hard to see how Google will be running the world before long. Supposedly, they are even working on their own OS, which would be the final dagger in the heart of Apple and Microsoft. I think it's safe to say that James Cameron was right about Skynet but wrong about the name!
It's people. Soylent Green is made out of people!
1 comment:
I think the PC will stick around for a while. There will always be people who want to host their own content, and even Google has a server farm with thousands of PCs (though the actual number is not released). I agree that Skynet as a mainframe is not realistic, but Skynet as a server-farm may be. As more devices require support from a server to function correctly, the server farms have to get bigger and they get more centralized. The devices don't need to have computing power because the servers do - which means all the power Skynet/Google needs is already in their server farms. Granted, it's not a mainframe, but it's as close as you'll get anymore.
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