
Almost half the world will be online by end of 2016 - dudisbrie
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/internet/almost-half-the-world-will-be-online-by-end-of-2016-report/articleshow/55561589.cms
======
TeMPOraL
My first thought: _what_? Only 50%?

I mean, it feels like the entire world is on-line, but the truth is, that's
only less than half of it. There's almost 4 billion people who don't
participate in this important aspect of human life.

> _" In 2016, people no longer go online, they are online. The spread of 3G
> and 4G networks across the world had brought the internet to more and more
> people,"_

True, and this is cool. I still remember the times of "going on-line" \- phone
modems, Internet cafes, etc. _Being_ on-line is a huge qualitative difference
over _going_ on-line.

There's a lot of work to be done. Work, I fear, not many _want_ to do. I'd
like to see a clean separation between data, code and compute. The data would
belong _to_ users, code would be a commodity we run _on_ data instead of
sending our data to code vendors. Compute is pretty abstracted away already on
a technical level, but it's chosen by the code vendors instead of users. I
think it would be ultimately worth it to decouple the two.

~~~
rubidium
"this important aspect of human life."

No denying the importance. But let's keep things in perspective too. Steve
Jobs put it rather well: "Historical precedent shows that we can turn out
amazing human beings without technology. Precedent also shows that we can turn
out very uninteresting human beings with technology."

Full quote here: "The problem is I’m older now, I’m 40 years old, and this
stuff doesn’t change the world. It really doesn’t. That’s going to break
people’s hearts.

I’m sorry, it’s true. Having children really changes your view on these
things. We’re born, we live for a brief instant, and we die. It’s been
happening for a long time. Technology is not changing it much – if at all.

These technologies can make life easier, can let us touch people we might not
otherwise. You may have a child with a birth defect and be able to get in
touch with other parents and support groups, get medical information, the
latest experimental drugs. These things can profoundly influence life. I’m not
downplaying that. But it’s a disservice to constantly put things in this
radical new light – that it’s going to change everything. Things don’t have to
change the world to be important.

[…]

Lincoln did not have a Web site at the log cabin where his parents home-
schooled him, and he turned out pretty interesting. Historical precedent shows
that we can turn out amazing human beings without technology. Precedent also
shows that we can turn out very uninteresting human beings with technology."

~~~
rm_-rf_slash
Using the internet is like moving from the city to the suburbs. You have
complete control over the news you read, the videos you watch, and the music
you listen to.

It's also a very lonely place. Human beings are reduced to casual stimulation.
No amount of information is ever enough. We don't know our neighbors.

I try as hard as I can to stay away from the internet, especially social
media. Hacker News is the only exception, the only drug that I can't quit.

I sometimes wonder how the tobacco executives feel as they promote a harmful
product, even while many of them do not smoke.

Detached consumerism is a disease. It is hard to cure because we are all
complicit in this ailment. The internet, with its stimulating advertising and
glossy social media perceptions of a flawless moment in time, is a vector for
this disease. I'm not sure the internet is helping us. It may be instrumental
in us hurting ourselves, and each other, instead.

~~~
Jtsummers
I spent my last years of high school in Las Vegas. My school was downtown,
just blocks from the Fremont Street Experience. We were surrounded by people
who were impoverished by gambling. A lot of the people running and working in
casinos don't gamble themselves (smart). And those who opposed gambling on
moral grounds but participated in the gambling economy justified it with
statements like, "Gambling is a sin, but I'm not gambling, so I'm ok."
Neglecting the negative impact they had on many people.

They slept just fine at night. Most people seem to be quite capable of this
sort of detachment from the impact of their choices.

------
alaskamiller
I signed on in 1996 when I was 12. There were ~36 million people. In 1998 that
quadrupled. And now 20 years later we're at 3.75 billion. From cowboy land to
megatropolis. Things feel more crowded, more busy, and more annoying.

But the internet is still magical. Sometimes you jump around and next thing
you know you're up at 2 in the morning wondering what's the big deal about
pizza shops and Wikileaks and Hillary Clinton or why this girl is smooshing
her face into bread.

God bless the internet.

~~~
rubidium
I do hope you're being sarcastic.

"But the internet is still magical. Sometimes you jump around and next thing
you know you're up at 2 in the morning wondering what's the big deal about
pizza shops and Wikileaks and Hillary Clinton or why this girl is smooshing
her face into bread."

That's magical?! Sounds more like the epitome of a pathetic, consumerist life.

~~~
CaptSpify
> Sounds more like the epitome of a pathetic, consumerist life.

I get what your saying, but the point I take away is: I can research whatever
I want, no matter how silly, right now. I can learn quantum physics. I can
learn to play an instrument. I can research statistics on the latest election.
And, of course, I can watch cat videos.

~~~
antisthenes
I think the only lesson here is to try and take the best parts from whatever
your partake in, be it friendships, relationships or the internet.

Or maybe rather: apply the tool at hand to the best of your ability and with
purpose only.

------
orly_bookz
It's a strange world we live in that people the world over might well get
basic internet infrastructure (even if only a cell phone with limited service
rather than high-bandwidth cable) while lacking other portions of
infrastructure many in the "first world" take for granted.

~~~
amazon_not
Internet infrastructure is fairly easy to install compared to other
infrastructure.

