Baby Internet

The person credited with inventing the internet is still alive. That tells me the internet is still very very young. We're still trying to figure it out and we likely haven't tapped anywhere near 1% of its full potential. Not that such is a completely bad thing because a fully grown internet is sure to be a scary thing (The Matrix comes to mind).

We haven't seen anything yet. The oldest people who have had Facebook present all their lives are only seven years old! These are people who will have so much to deal with that they won't have time to be saddled with old technologies that we have held on to simply because they were ingrained in our culture. Soon all generations who have lived a day before Facebook (yes including me) will be gone. The lifespan of technology (and I dare say, cultures) will be much shorter. Any invention or way of doing things we have held on to for centuries (because they 'work') will be replaced. Sorry newspapers and movie theaters but I just can't see a post-Facebook generation having the patience to bother with you.

The only company that I can think of that has consistently invested in profiting from a more mature internet is Google (I know, I know, by now it sounds like they're paying me right? I soooo wish). They are the only visible company who consistently make business decisions based on what the internet will be in the not-too-distant future, rather than what it is right now (yes that future is highly predictable, maybe I'll post more about that someday). They will likely be the largest company in the world in a few years but I cannot guarantee that even they will be perpetually invincible. Just as certainly as your folks' Volvo station wagon looks old-fashioned, the latest hybrid car (the iCar if you must) will look old-fashioned to your kids. That's something we hardly think about because, frankly, it's quite a challenge to see that far.