Information, Noise, and the Evolving Internet

Abstract

As mobile standards and devices continue to advance, we will be connected in a much more symbiotic way. Instead of accessing the Internet using traditional means, more dynamic interfaces like speech, presence, gestures, and thought control will evolve and be seamlessly integrated into our daily lives. In addition, the tools we use will be smarter, demonstrating a significant ability to predict our needs. More intelligent tools with their own learned predictive behaviors will support our daily lives. This chapter draws on sociological theorist Anthony Giddens’s (The consequences of modernity, Stanford University Press, Stanford, 1990) concept of reflexivity, the circular relationship between cause and effect, in which there is a recursive production of structuring properties, to explore possible futures of the Internet. It examines technical changes related to the near-term Internet and the growing tension between information and noise, and discusses implications for the policymaking process. Three different scenarios for the future Internet are presented.