# How will the internet change our lives going forward....



## truthseeker (9 Mar 2011)

Because, obviously, there has already been some pretty major changes in the past 20 years like online banking, online shopping, social networking, freedom of information (remember when you used to have to consult an actual book to know the answer to something? Now google will tell you Jackie Kennedys shoe size in microseconds!!), online training....etc.

But we're still in the early days of the internet. As we go forward there is more and more information building up that may be useful in the future. 

Brendan made a comment on some other thread about the criteria for mortgages in the boom years being something that there would be information available on this site about if the person looked through threads from 2005/2006. 

Message boards will contain massive amounts of information about peoples views/opinions from particular time periods - to draw a parallel - there is no way of knowing now what went through a Roman centurions head when he was in the Roman army - but in a few centuries time if someone wants to know what a soldier in Afghanistan was thinking, it will no doubt be available on some message board somewhere.

Google maps will periodically update their street views so you may be able to go back and see how your area looked 20 years ago, and what got built since etc...

Facebook and other social networking sites will revolutionise the 'family tree' business as you'll be able to trace your anscestors back through your parents social netowrking page.

So what other future uses will this amazing information highway called the internet have?


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## DB74 (9 Mar 2011)

IMO, eventually we will have no TV stations as we know it now. All entertainment of this type will be via an internet connection (or similar device) and most will be PPV on demand with a monthly bill depending on what you watched that month.


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## TarfHead (9 Mar 2011)

Hmmm, forecasts of the future tend to not work out.

VCRs will kill cinema, the internet will kill newspapers, e-readers will kill the book.

'_Facebook and other social networking sites will revolutionise the 'family tree' business as you'll be able to trace your anscestors back through your parents social netowrking page._'

My children won't be able to trace their family tree using social networks, cos I'm not on any. 500m people on Facebook is less than 1 in 10 of the world's population.


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## truthseeker (10 Mar 2011)

DB74 said:


> IMO, eventually we will have no TV stations as we know it now. All entertainment of this type will be via an internet connection (or similar device) and most will be PPV on demand with a monthly bill depending on what you watched that month.


 
You know - we probably wont have any internet as we know it now. Its already massively changed since its early days.

Tarfhead - FB etc is also still only in the very early days, and Id bet someone/somewhere who is related to you is on it - thats enough for family tree tracing - you just need one link in.


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## Ceist Beag (10 Mar 2011)

As Tarfhead said, very hard to predict things like this accurately but sure it's fun having a go!  I believe we're already not far from a point where phones will become redundant. The internet as it is understood by many today will change - it won't be seen as something people interact with via a pc/laptop on a desk, it will become part of everyday life, such as internet radio replacing standard radio, internet media replacing tv channels, VOIP devices replacing phones and so on. Who knows, it may even get to the point where the likes of the Google robots which scan emails for key words and throw up ads based on this become more intrusive - for example robots that pick up words from conversations and display ads at the top of tv screens or some such! One thing is for sure with the internet, the more data people provide, the more targeted marketing (and other data based businesses) will grow.


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## bren1916 (10 Mar 2011)

I remember being asked in school back in the 70's what life would be like in the year 2000, I thought we'd all be living or at least holidaying on Mars...so I'll pass on this one


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## TarfHead (10 Mar 2011)

bren1916 said:


> I remember being asked in school back in the 70's what life would be like in the year 2000, I thought we'd all be living or at least holidaying on Mars...so I'll pass on this one


 
+1

_Blade Runner_ is set in 2019. How's the nascent _replicant_ business developing ?

And, as I've posted on similar threads, where's my jet pack ? The 10yo me would have been sure that they'd be commonplace at this stage.


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## truthseeker (10 Mar 2011)

TarfHead said:


> And, as I've posted on similar threads, where's my jet pack ? The 10yo me would have been sure that they'd be commonplace at this stage.


 
Ive been wondering the same about my hovercraft.

Roads? Where we're going we dont need roads.


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## Firefly (10 Mar 2011)

All I want is one of those hover-boards from BTTF II


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## Firefly (10 Mar 2011)

I think we are at the "Wild Wild West" stage regarding to where the internet is at present. Hard to imagine it being possible to download music illegally with such ease in the future. A lot more pay per view/use for the big online news media. Bring on the day when illegal material is unavailable on the internet too..particularly involving children. Privay will be further eroded. We'll all know where we all are....this will be a big fight for us...apart from AAM I have NO online presence that I am aware of.


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## TarfHead (10 Mar 2011)

Firefly said:


> I think we are at the "Wild Wild West" stage regarding to where the internet is at present. Hard to imagine it being possible to download music illegally with such ease in the future.


 
But sure why would you then need broadband  ?


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## Jane Doe (10 Jun 2011)

when was the internet first available in ireland? 1990? and who was the first isp?


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## csirl (13 Jun 2011)

truthseeker said:


> Tarfhead - FB etc is also still only in the very early days, and Id bet someone/somewhere who is related to you is on it - thats enough for family tree tracing - you just need one link in.


 
They said this about Bebo 5 years ago. My sense is that FB will go the way of Bebo when the current generation of teens move on to something else.


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## Mpsox (13 Jun 2011)

We'll see the demise of the laptop and desktop over the next few years with the move to slates. Desktops PCs will go the way of the tape recorder. As will the printed book.

We'll see the rise in contactless payment technology, you'll pass your phone over a reader and have the price of something deducted automatically, instead of carrying cash.


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## TarfHead (13 Jun 2011)

Mpsox said:


> We'll see the demise of the laptop and desktop over the next few years with the move to slates. Desktops PCs will go the way of the tape recorder. As will the printed book.


 
I disagree. Not only about books, but also about PCs with keyboards. They'll still be used for years to come.



Mpsox said:


> We'll see the rise in contactless payment technology, you'll pass your phone over a reader and have the price of something deducted automatically, instead of carrying cash.


 
NFC (Near Field Communications) devices are in use in other countries. It's just Ireland, let alone the less developed world, that's late to the table. And it won't be exclusively phone based.


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## mf1 (13 Jun 2011)

"We'll see the demise of the laptop and desktop over the next few years with the move to slates. Desktops PCs will go the way of the tape recorder. As will the printed book."

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooo! I don't want slates 

Given yesterdays crap weather, I took to the bed, for the entire morning,  complete with mug of tea and a stack of books from the library - slates just don't do it for me.

mf


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## micmclo (13 Jun 2011)

Back in the late 80's, early 90's, RTÉ had a show called Beyond 2000

Gotta say I thought we'd be further along then we are now.

Colonies on Mars and every car running on electricity or hydrogen. We could mine it from the moon.
And soon cars would run above the ground on jet propulsion so you didn't have to maintain roads
A cartoon show called the Jetsons used to have Jetpacks. In fact I've seen jetpacks in James Bond films and in the Superbowl and that was decades ago. I want my jetpack dammit!

The internet and technology was supposed to make work easier. Along with the paperless office that has been expected for decades.
Now I got a blackberry and a boss sending me demands on Saturday mornings. 
Disappointed


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## csirl (13 Jun 2011)

Within the next few years, the internet, including Boardband will be entirely wireless - probably using the mobile phone network. Think about all the money our Government is going to waste with its broadband programme wiring up most of the country at great expense with soon to be obsolete wires.


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## Betsy Og (13 Jun 2011)

Hmmm space, its complicated, its expensive, there's not much to be gained by it. Pointless ego driven stuff. What would we be doing on Mars???, will Leitrim be overpopulated to the point of bursting or something???

& I know someone will say, we'd have no satellite TV or SatNav if there was no space exploration ..... methinks twould have been cheaper and quicker to work out how to place satellites than any jaunts about the place. Walking on the moon was cool, but setting up a base on another planet just aint worth it.

So I tend to disregard space in predictions of the future. 

How about every car being a battery powered car, as something that might happen and could drastically reduce air and noise pollution worldwide. You cant get people to keep to the left of a white line, imagine the fun with them hovering through 3D spaces....


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## truthseeker (13 Jun 2011)

Mpsox said:


> As will the printed book.


 
Nooooooo!!! Blasphemy!!!


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## Mpsox (14 Jun 2011)

TarfHead said:


> I disagree. Not only about books, but also about PCs with keyboards. They'll still be used for years to come.


 
Amazon are selling more electronic downloads then physical books in the US, book stores are closing all over the world (Waterstones as an example in Dublin). Cloud computing will mean there will be no need for massive storage space and disks on a PC. Already more and more people are using wireless technology and you can get wireless printers as well. 

I'm not saying I like it, just the way things are going. Books and laptops will become an "old" persons thing, just like CDs instead of downloads


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## horusd (14 Jun 2011)

truthseeker said:


> Nooooooo!!! Blasphemy!!!


 

I agree. I love the smell of books and I tend to write across mine. Sentences that I like, ideas that are deep, interesting, odd or  funny. I'll live with the  old fogey epithet.


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## Shawady (14 Jun 2011)

csirl said:


> They said this about Bebo 5 years ago. My sense is that FB will go the way of Bebo when the current generation of teens move on to something else.


 
Some evidence of that here.

http://www.independent.ie/business/...tigue-6-million-us-users-log-out-2674120.html


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