I am writing in response to the videos that we watched in class today, The Future of Communication and Epic 2015. Both were about the internet and how it has evolved in the past and what will become of it in the future. Personally, I feel that some of the predictions were possible and a little scary.
I think Epic 2015 was more believable than The Future of Communication. It was not as extreme in its predictions. The virtual worlds that The Future of Communication talked about were a terrifying concept. I'm not gonna lie, the thought of living my life through a computer freaks me out a bit. You don't live your life, you have a virtual avatar live it for you. With that, there will be no reality. If reality is being replicated, then everybody is living a virtual reality and not truly experiencing life.
While The Future of Communication video was farfetched, Epic 2015 was more believable. Both videos predict that Amazon and Google will become the dominant, powerhouse businesses and it seems that this may be the case. Anyone looking for any type of information can find what they are looking for by typing it into Google's search box. It is now a word that people use in casual conversation. The typical response to a question when someone doesn't know the answer is now "Google it." Or if somebody is looking to buy something that is hard to find in stores Amazon sells everything from books to garden hoses. Although, it is somewhat scary to think that it would be just those two business that pretty much run everything.
I did agree with Epic 2015 when it said that the New York Times would become a newsletter for the elite and elderly. Many older people like to hold a newspaper in their hands in order to find out the news. Some do not know how to work computers or do not enjoy reading the news on a computer screen. The computer is how most young people get their news. It is faster and more efficient and most printed newspapers to have websites where people can get their news for free. And who doesn't love free stuff? It seems that nowadays many newspapers are struggling and classic journalism will soon die out. It would make sense that the New York Times is the only one left in print for the elderly and elite.
So will the videos be right? Will their predictions come true? I guess we will have to wait and see.
I completely agree with you. "The Future of Communication" was not only a tad too futuristic, it was down-right scary. I don't want to live my life through an avatar! I think the joining of companies is extremely plausible, and that's why "Epic 2015" didn't freak me out as much. But it's true; we'll just have to wait and see what happens.
ReplyDeleteYou're right, "The Future of Communication" was farfetched. While I watched all I could think about was why anyone would want to live through an avatar. The video could have easily been a trailer for an upcoming scifi flick and I found it to be rather unbelievable. Glad to see I'm not the only one.
ReplyDeletei Agree with alee: the future shouldn't be scary for us. That video made it seem as though we were in danger. I think that human communication should not be limited to avatar, and i think the human species would not let that happen.
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