Tuesday, May 27, 2014

What happens when the rest of the world gets a smart phone with internet access?

Imagine this... a global economy that resembles our current one is functioning, faultily in many respects, but the engine is indeed churning away; adding new consumers/investors all the time; the market is indeed sustained by the need to devote most of its energy in attracting consumers to specific products... then, 2 billion new consumers enter the marketplace.

It isn't quite the same as imagining a local or mid sized retail chain getting flooded with 1000% increased foot traffic, because a global economy works with current and potential inventory; just the notion of that many new eyes alone would spawn efforts to increase market presence. Signaling to your product becomes at least more active, and the demand for new products, increases by sheer awareness increases from those newly considered consumers.

The economic arguments are usually shrouded in pessimissim regarding human nature, and a cynicism about how human beings are going to handle, collectively, such a flux in status quo. I submit that this potential scenario does not lose its luster simply because people might screw it up. I will try my best to argue for a scenario that results itself in lieu of current assessments on human nature (whatever the hell they actually are).

Think back to when you first discovered the internet. I was probably 8 years old; I would goto my sister's house and play video games on their PC. Old, original DOS games mostly. Then, suddenly, they would, before letting me sit down to play, connect their computer vizaviz AOL to the internet, and allow me access to a search engine and chat rooms. I was instantly enamored. What happens when you give an 8 year old today, access to a fairly up to date interface through which to access the internet. Ancient Android operating systems, with their youth, are stable and functional enough to sustain repeated use and intrigue the curious.

Again, I think it's convenient and lazy to a certain degree to simply respond with an argument that hinges upon the historical precedent that humans will likely just screw it all up. Either the power elite will snatch and control this opportunity in fear that too many people with access to information is a danger to the state (which is a likely point of concern for those in power, I'm sure), or people just won't be that interested in the technology because they are somehow not smart enough, or enlightened enough, or educated enough. And indeed, a state responding with control manuevers rather than expansion strategies are probably going to do that in order to stop access to unwanted information. All this really can go without saying, in my opinion, for the implications to the contrary (even if not ultimately optimistic) are considerable, even if the outcome turns out to be a negative one on a moral level.

Think of a society of evil rulers controlling the internet; then think of its contrary... an internet-connected global economy with 6 or 7 billion active participants; I'm confident in the intrigue.