The web of tomorrow

The last ten years has seen the web transform from a technical curiosity to a vital channel for information. In the middle of the 1990s, very few knew what a web page was, let alone had one.

The web is arguably the fastest growing invention of all time, connecting people in a way unfathomable mere decades ago. Where will the web be in 30 years? Will there still be hyperlinks? Will the browsers of today be replaced and refined by touchpads, voice recognition and AI bots? Will it collapse under it’s own weight? Under adverts, spam and auto-generated nonsense? Or perhaps divide itself into proprietary walled gardens?

Meet your new overlords.

Will the web even be used by humans at all in the future? Or will it be a hive of AI programs that exchange information as a friendly edition of Skynet? Is it even possible to “pull the plug” if we would want to do so? I guess nothing short of an EMP generated by a “planet killer” asteroid could do the work.

Only one thing is certain. The internet, in one form or another, is here to stay.