Future: Utility Computing
Nicholas Carr has a book coming out at the end of this year titled The Big Switch: Our New Digital Destiny. I’ve pre-ordered the book (a bit unusual for me) because the description captures something that I believe will certainly be a part of our future.
It describes how we’re in the midst of a technological revolution that will result in cheap computing power and services delivered as a utility just like electricity. This ZDNet article expands on the thesis of the book with several quotes from Nicholas including this one:
We need to break free from the Web 2.0 world and the narrow innovation we see there. We will see business models far beyond giving away software for free and clicking on little ads. As with electricity, there will be an explosion of ideas and applications, which use cheap computing power in reconfiguring services and products in real and virtual worlds. We need to break free of the narrow blinders of the Internet itself and think about what to do with this socket that we have never had before.
Hmm.. What does that mean to the Church? Will a world where computing power and applications are delivered much like electricity change how we interact with each other? I don’t know the answers at this point, but I do want to begin the discovery and dialog.
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I viewed this technology at a tradeshow in D.C. and it is incredible. The Department of Agriculture has a pilot city where they are testing it, I think its somewhere in Virginia. It will increase the overall capacity of networks around the world and people will forever change their opinion of what we now call “broadband” internet. In the internet world we know now, only our personal computers have IP addresses, whereas with future utility networks, everything will have IP addresses. The fridge, security alarm, water sprinkler, etc., will all be on your home network and have the abilitiy to “talk” back to let you know what it needs - or better yet, the security alarm will be able to tell someone else what it needs.
The increased capacity will also change how we view applications on the web; it will allow for more innovations and uses. As for the church, I think we will skip the “virtual world” craze that is going on today and begin to see real interactions via HD video, Peer-2-Peer (notice how there was no mention of “streaming” - there will be no reason for “streaming” anything, its real-time broadcasting). Imagine if you could join a lifegroup with people from OKC, Phoenix, London, Quebec, Mexico City and Memphis but its not the 2D video conferencing we see on our Mac laptops….its full HD/3D on our Plasma in our living room - but still using common hardware such as the Mac web cam.
I agree with Nicholas Carr in his book’s assumption that “Web 2.0 world and the narrow innovation we see there.”
Ben,
Thanks for the feedback..
Obviously we (LifeChurch.tv) aren’t skipping the “virtual world”, but I do agree that the future of what will be possible will be far more advanced and “real” than what we experience today. I don’t believe that metaverses (the virtual worlds) will simply be a bridge technology to the world you describe since I think there are some inherent advantages to environments that are not physical.
I think that the vision that you descibe of a LifeGroup will happen and will be an exciting experience. Part of getting to that point will be learning and using the evolving technologies in the coming years.
A small group (what LifeChurch.tv calls a “LifeGroup”) comprised of 6 people in 6 different cities on 2 different continents meeting via 3D HDTV is interesting. I imagine that there will be some real advantages and benefits to making that possible. What might be even more unique is a small group made up of 6 different people from the same neighborhood.
Actually, the concept of computing as a service has been tried — repeatedly, by very large organizations. Microsoft has been trying for years to deliver their solutions as a service instead of as a product. But people reject it. The single most vile part of getting a cell phone in North America is having to deal with the service provider: contracts, clauses and hidden charges are all baggage that comes along with this “service” approach.
The Internet is far from being restrained by “narrow blinders.” Rather the Internet is an increasingly powerful for collaborative communication — the key to the future is that word “collaborative.” Service concepts, where an entity such as a provider control the content we consume, are rapidly becoming dinosaurs. The Internet allows individuals to make up a whole again. Churches should continue (as Life Church is doing) to leverage the Internet as a way to connect people to people — not organizations to people, not services to people. But actually connect individuals to other individuals.
Its a far scarier and more powerful concept than this book seems to be positing, but its a much better one.