The Internet has come a long way. It finds its origins in
research commissioned by the United States government in the 1960s. The result
of this research was the ARPANET, a network that served as a backbone for
interconnection of academic and military networks in the 1980s. This project
would lay the groundwork for the transition into the modern Internet that we
use today. Commercial internet has
quickly developed from a 56 kbps (kilobytes per second) dial-up connection in
the late 1990s to 1 Gbps fibre internet connection in 2018. That is over 2000
times the download speed. We use the Internet for everything now. Research,
education, shopping, gaming, career work and peer interaction are some of the
things we use the internet for daily. In terms of usefulness, it seems like the
Internet can not go much further, however, there are plans in store to take the
Internet to brand new heights.
Gigabit internet will be come the norm and much faster
internet connections will be available. Tech companies are already
experimenting with internet speeds of over 1 terabyte per second. This will make
its way into commercial use sooner than we think. The world will continue to
become more connected with more users in developing nations gaining access to
the web. It is predicted that by 2020, over 20 billion devices will be
connected. However, with the expansion of the internet’s reach comes some
consequences. Hackers will grow in number and become better at their craft.
Internet service providers will strive to enforce remove net neutrality, giving
them ability to control how we use the internet and what we can access. Despite
this, improved internet security will curb many potential hackers and net
neutrality awareness grows everyday, especially within North America.
Artificial intelligence technology is advancing at a rapid
pace and, we often fail to realize the influence it already has on most of our
lives. Siri for Apple products, Cortana for Microsoft products and social media
are a couple examples of things that make use of AI technology in our daily
lives. As it is right now, artificial
intelligence enriches our lives greatly and has personally been of great use in
my life. There is worry that through artificial intelligence, the internet will
gain “consciousness” and began to act autonomously. To answer simply, the
internet can not gain “consciousness” because it is simply an interconnected
network of networks. The Internet has a bright future and will continue to
evolve in ways that make life easier for users and keep us intrigued.
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