November 15, 2006

Waking second life

Posted by Kate Sheppard at 12:26PM

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A few weeks back, I made reference to Google attempting to tap into the powers of YouTube in order to reach a fuller potential of online social networking. This week, while trawling around, I found this somewhat creepy yet also utterly captivating piece in the New York Times about some of the potential directions the web might go. And though I find online programs like Second Life and Teen Second Life to be evidence of the privileged portion of society growing ever more myopic, this Times article alludes to some real, exciting possibilities in evolutions of the internet. An example:

But in the future, more powerful systems could act as personal advisers in areas as diverse as financial planning, with an intelligent system mapping out a retirement plan for a couple, for instance, or educational consulting, with the Web helping a high school student identify the right college.

Simply put, one day the web could actually let us share human knowledge with the depth and intuition of actual humans. What right now is a somewhat loosely arranged bunch of information, or a series of tubes, if you prefer, might one day be smart -- smart enough to plan a vacation or answer direct questions even. Right now I'm all ooohy and ahhhy over this, but my next post will delve into some of the potential ramifications of these developments.