Internet And Economy
The internet, the world wide data connection
that has caught on like a wild fire
sweeping through a parched California
forest, has wide ranging implications on
our world economy. Locally, we have
witnessed staggering swings of fortune in
more "dot-com" firms than any other
form of business in American history.
The old adage of that "American
Dream" - starting a business in the garage
to see it one day be listed on the
stock exchange is truer now than at any other
time in our short history as
well. While many still feel that the internet is
simply a "fad" that will
fade out as consumers tire of on-line shopping,
most are resigned to the fact
that the computer age is finally found a foothold
into the masses – a true
consumer product as inseparable in the modern
household as the television and
telephone. The fact that it isn’t being called
the "telenet" may be more a
matter of poor timing than a marketing gaffe. As
the data-stream ("bandwidth"
in internet parlance) becomes more efficient
– read that as "fast," other
uses of the internet will boom. No longer
will the internet be just for
buying and selling merchandise, chatting with
friends and family, or gaining
insight into the latest sexual technique, but
will become a truly real-time
and practical "multi-media" tool. Video data,
currently suited only for the
occasional voyeuristic views with choppy, grainy
images reminiscent of our
parents/grandparents 8mm movies, will one day (soon, I
predict) become a
window to the world. The video phone – a product most of us
in my age group
thought would have become reality long before now - will finally
become
commonplace. With video, audio and other input devices at one’s
disposal,
doctor’s will again make "house calls," and visits to far off
friends and
relatives will nearly suffice for the real thing (a rekindling of
the
infamous "smell-o-vision" system to transmit the aroma of Grandma’s
fresh
apple pie baking in the oven, perhaps?). The uses are nearly as endless
as
ones imagination, and is a field where current state-of-the-art has only
touched
the surface of what can and will be achieved over a very short period
of time.
So what does all this high tech wizardry have to do with the
economy? Just about
everything, actually. Already governments across the
globe are clamoring to be
the first to find a practical method of taxation
into this new world wide
interchange system. Hopefully, the Genie has long
since been out of the bottle
on that one... Shopping malls, already feeling
the effects of internet commerce,
may be forced to radically change their
business structure or face certain
failure. The parcel delivery systems are
feeling the effects as well as a
dramatic increase of flow is being realized
directly through internet sales. As
fuel prices continue to climb, video
conferencing, once reserved for the
well-healed companies will make sense for
even the smallest of companies. The
ramifications of the internet are wide
ranging and will certainly impact nearly
every human being on the face of
this planet. What a marvelous time to be living
in to see one of the single
biggest technological advances come to fruition.
While the telephone made
the world a much smaller place to live in, the internet
has taken the meaning
of distance out of the equation
completely.
Bibliography
http://www.businessweek.com/1999/99_40/b3649001.htm