I wonder what's going to replace the internet. It seems like every form of mass media we get is eventually replaced by something else, drastically reducing the significance and influence of the previous one. Radio replaced newspapers,* TV replaced radio, and currently, the internet is beginning to replace TV. We're sort of in a transitioning phase right now, but TV is just becoming more and more obsolete as portable devices that can get the internet are becoming ubiquitous. And see, each of these new forms of media couldn't really have been predicted so far in the future. The concepts just hadn't really even been thought up when the previous iteration had first been invented. So, what's going to replace the internet?
It's interesting, because most people you ask right now will say that the internet will never pass, and will just be around forever. While this DOES make perfect sense, it seems a little naive and presumptuous to say that, doesn't it? Like, to say that you KNOW what's going to happen. I'm not so into that. Of course, the internet will still be around, as TV, radio, and newspapers are still around, but I think something's just gotta usurp it's throne as the main source of well, everything. But what could? That's the problem. I can't know, because I'm not an inventor.
If science fiction is to believed, as it always should be, it will probably involve brain scanning in some way. I have absolutely no idea how, but apparently, it will. Sci-fi writers LOVE stuff that tracks brain waves. Personally, that sounds a bit too Orwellian to me. I'm more of an "implant an iPod right into my goddamn skin" kind of guy.
*Although this effect is, surprisingly, only really beginning to take its toll now, after help from the internet itself.
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