Peoples Republic of South Devon

Web 3.0 – The Evolving Net

April 11th, 2008

Welcome to the new weekly technology column from those good people at Plymouth’s Orange Crate

The latest in media-friendly web-speak, Web 3.0 is billed as the next big step in the continuing on-line progression. Over three years ago we were wowed with ‘Web 2.0 – the www of the people’ which heralded a revolution in on-line collaboration, sharing and networking. Sites such as MySpace, Facebook, and Flickr started popping up one by one, changing our personal, on-line presence from a profile on Friends Reunited to a constantly updated news feed. Suddenly I can find out my cousin’s wife’s brother’s latest mood with a couple of clicks of the mouse! I don’t want to, but I can.

“So how much better can it get?” I hear you ask. Well, apparently there are big ideas being transformed into reality as we speak. Web 3.0 has been described as the ’semantic web’ – a platform for intelligent software to learn, reason, adapt and communicate with other software, cutting out the need for human oversight. It has even been predicted that an organic intelligence will eventually emerge, based on collaborations between thousands of systems.

I’m far from being a technophobe, but I have to question whether we or the internet are ready for such advances yet. This third web generation is widely predicted to kick in at the start of the next decade – that’s not long folks. What about the security risks? Are you ready to share your bank details with a system which could technically have absolutely no human input? After all, as soon as any new security system is developed, some 27-year-old hacker is already sitting in his bedroom at his parents house going to work on it. Sad but true.

But either way, the path is becoming clear and it’s by no means all negative. With faster internet connections becoming almost universally available, grid and cloud wireless networks increasing daily, and the improvement in mobile connectivity, the world is truly opening up. Just remember Skynet, and if your name’s Sarah Connor – change it…

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Entry Filed under: Society