Foreword: Throughout human history entrenched socio-technical, socio-political, and other cultural periods have been labeled as an age. For example, there was the Stone Age, Bronze Age, Middle Ages, etc… Typically these ages lasted, in some cases, for centuries. Today ages are moving more swiftly and can last only a decade or two as the case with the Information Age. This opinion post discusses the transition away from the information age and the coming of a new age.
The Rise of a New Age
The information age began with the advent of widespread digital processing and mass communications which resulted in explosive growth having several pivotal events. Each pivotal event was a disruptive technology that propelled the age into further wild growth. The first major pivotal event was the introduction of the desktop computer which propelled wide spread computational capability into common use. The next pivotal event was achieving real-time computations during which processors speeds were increasing and processing technologies were evolving. The advent of the webpage on December 24, 1991 created a common platform for human centric communications. The miniaturization of the circuits for portability and wearability expanded the transition to common activities. The anticipated final major event of the Information Age is what futurist Ray Kurzwiel calls the ‘singularity’ when computer systems will become more capable than the human brain. Even though many people consider the singularity on event horizon, the Information Age is drawing to a close if not already over since processing speeds, storage capacity, and computational capability already exceed human capacity as discussed in the post Organizational Computational Architectures. As of 2015, information systems lack self-awareness (the ability to reason independent of human supervision), sentience (the ability to feel emotions), and wisdom (the ability to make quantum leaps in judgment in the absence of information). Inroads are being made on each of these areas and the achievement of reasonable capability in each of these areas will have profound impacts on humanity.
What the Information Age was about is characterized by the transition to digital computational systems from the older paper processes and analogue systems of the industrial revolution. That transition is nearly complete as digital computational systems are now nearly everywhere and the few remaining legacy systems will become so technologically obsolete that they will be removed from use soon. The result of the Information Age is the processing, accumulation, and organization of not only data into information but also knowledge. Now that we have these systems and accumulated knowledge what purpose does this serve?
To gain a greater understanding and appreciation of the purpose, let us go back in time to the early 1960’s. Generalize information theory, fathered by Claude E. Shannon PhD, had already emerged circa 1948 as a science and research was ongoing in this domain. Generalized Chaos Theory, fathered by meteorologist Edward Lorenze, emerged circa 1962 when the world held disconnected polarized views. There were pillars of knowledge that rarely if ever communicated. Thus, there was a redundant process of discovery in each knowledge domain.. More than 10 years after Chaos Theory was discovered the world began to observe the value of Chaos Theory. Scientist began to network pillars of knowledge resulting in wide spread increases in scientific findings where knowledge had stagnated.
One of the great discoveries of Chaos Theory was that networked systems are found throughout nature. The greatest network system is gravity as every particle in space-time is in instantaneous communication with every other particle throughout space-time. In a similar fashion the Information Age has produced pillars of information and knowledge that are now being networked. These networked pillars are now combining in interesting ways. Hence, the world has entered the Age of the Hybrid.
During the Age of the Hybrid there will be a blurring between domains such as virtual and physical realities, biology and machinery, genome and computers, etc… The blurring has been ongoing and is increasing as the transition to digital systems completes giving rise to the Age of the Hybrid. Knowledge domains will network and multiply information and knowledge exponentially.
The tempo of change is anticipated to be overwhelming. The purchase decision is expected to shift away from a discrete purchase to subscribing to a brand as the hardware products are expected to commoditize. The purchase decision will be to go with a company based on reputation for stability and the capability to service needs. In turn for the brand subscription, updated and newer technology will be exchanged for the outdated, obsolete, or the older hardware for nominal cost if not covered fully by the subscription fee. For example, you may purchase a cell phone service in which on a regular cycle the phone itself will be replaced by the provider as part of the subscription.
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| Figure 1: Transhumanism Symbol |
In conclusion, the purpose of the information age has been fulfilled and the world is entering a new age during which combinations of knowledge domains will cause hybrid realities, systems, and creatures.