It’s been nearly 20-30 years
since the computers became a part of our daily lives. And within such a short
span of time we have achieved wonders. Perhaps the last 30 years have witnessed
the fastest growth period in the history of humanity. Today technology touches
the lives of nearly 70% of the world population. And soon within 2-3 decades
every single human on the planet would be connected to everyone else in the
world. Connectivity has never been better and the collective intelligence of
people is constantly producing new and innovative solutions for the various
challenges faced by our societies on a daily basis. There is hardly any doubt that if the present
trend and the level of growth continues, humanity would reach unparalled
heights by the next century itself.
So
let’s come back to the present scenario. Today we are connected primarily with
the help of the internet. The internet is dominated by some giants like Google,
Facebook, twitter, yahoo, Microsoft, etc. They help us remain connected with
our loved ones and also help us express ourselves. It has become a perfect
example of free speech. This freedom of expression and speech has huge benefits
and it also has some unavoidable problems. A simple example is the rumors and
memes on the web. There are also scenarios where the opinion of a single person
expressed through these social platforms has threatened Individuals, Industries
and Societies. Today, some of the most dangerous threats and the explanations
are conveyed through the social media. The 2014 Lok Sabha elections in India
were the perfect example of deploying social platforms to gain political
benefit. This article by CNN-ibn provides a vague summary into the whole workings. This trend has continued even
after the election. Such is the power of connectivity through social platforms,
and they grow hand in hand every single moment. Every new internet user is an
addition to the power of the web.
Soon
there would be a time when every single person in every corner of the world
would be connected to the web in one way or the other. The whole web would be
much more organized than it is now and information flow would be streamlined
depending on user demand. People would be using the web more carefully and
everyone would be expressing their opinion on everything they want to. As the
saying goes “The more open a society, the
more targets it presents”. All it takes is the
right person with the right words and he/she could end our civilization.
Although it seems highly impractical, it is possible.
Now
imagine, what if this huge power is controlled and diverted according to a
single person wish? What if the tweet that can topple a government or start a
war is controlled by one man or one organization? Yes, I am right. Today
Facebook is fully aware what is going on in our private lives. Google knows
nearly everything about what we want (though what we are searching). And
twitter knows everything we stand for (what we believe in). Thus the total
information collected by these 3 organizations can easily provide us a rough
idea about a socially active individual’s personality, wants, opinions, etc.
Thus it can be easily predicted that in the future at-least 90% of the people’s
behavior and actions would be with some or the other organizations.
Now
imagine all the different organizations coming under one umbrella to analyze
and develop behavioral analytics. As Artificial intelligence and behavioral
analytics advance, organizations can easily predict people’s thoughts and
actions. Thus eventually it would be the organizations that would be running
our lives, and not us. We would be shown what they want us to see in order to
get a specific effect on a particular society. We can also predict that such AI
along with behavioral patterns could easily manipulate mass behavior depending
on requirement. Now Imagine This Power On Sale.
Everyone wants to be on the web
and remain connected. Even I do too…….. But What if the above Predictions
Becomes Reality??? Who would ever want to be part of such a huge social
experiment to destroy our own civilization? It's true, The Weapon of the Future
Is Not Nuclear. Its Social Media.
