Dreaming in the Cloud Part 2

Are we special?

Consider the time starting from the late 90s to today. I imagine my peers look at these last few decades and think themselves in a golden age. The advent of fast computing, the information ‘super highway’ (now reaching Terabytes of speed), smart phones and advances in Search Engines must be sure signs of a golden age for technology. I imagine social media will be the main ingredient in defining our age, the age when my generation bloomed onto their mid-30s. Many will argue, to good effect, that this particular period of time has been the real paradigm shifting one.

Our ease of passage onto the present stage of information is in itself nothing short of a marvel. This some say is a new paradigm: Social networks are going to forever change the fabric of socialization, therefore the technology that has allowed it to be so pervasive is the technological ‘rift’ that matters –this strata has the most significant impact. Hence, ours has not just been ‘an’ age (for telecommunication and technology in general) but ‘the’ age.

Thus goes the conventional wisdom. I have to admit I cannot fully agree with the conventional wisdom. If there is an age that has mattered more, has had more impact, it is the age preceding ours. 

Our true golden age belongs in a few decades of our past, not in the few decades of our present and future.

Next week: Dreaming in the Cloud Part 3: The rise of the Rise