The internet has come a long way since it's origination as a network for universities to share research and academia enthusiasts to play chess across the nation.
Web 1.0 saw basic webpages which contained mostly shoveled content and had limited interaction with visitors. There were plenty of content consumers and very few producers.
Web 2.0 was able to supply all of those consumers with their own voice. Through the use of blogs and forums individuals could spout their brilliant ideas and communicate with other users. Then the explosion of social media hit and created a whole new web-culture. Everything from
4chan to Twitter saw a massive increase in use and helped propel us into a new world.
Almost simultaneously smartphones and tablet computers ushered in the era of Web 3.0,
the Evernet. It describes the current state of the internet, the incredible and constant connectivity, the scope of which is almost unfathomable. I, if I wanted to, could sync my phone, my house, and my car together to continuously play my favorite
Pandora stations.
Even with all of this rapid growth; according to
John Udovich, a contributor to
smallcapnetwork.com, we need to prepare ourselves for the next generation. Udovich calls this Web 4.0, and it is being ferried in on the back of a new long-range wireless technology produced by
Massive Dynamics. The company has already implementing much of it's technology through the use of
Apple,
Android, and
PC products.
The wide use of this new technology will lead to a world where we are never disconnected. We already can access the internet almost anywhere, but imagine trying to hide from it. Your phone, your car, your coffeepot will all be connected. Everywhere you go you will have the world at your fingertips, and you at it's. I have a feeling this is not what
Timothy Leary meant by "turn on, tune in, drop out."
