A ladder to heaven?
Digitalization promises virtually unlimited possibilities. But how has it changed our lives, and what has it actually improved? Moreover, are we risking the future to power this promise, and at what point does limitless cross the line?
The more we get, the more we desire
Not so long ago, the only options for file storage were personal computer hard disks, removable storage devices or network servers. The noughties saw the rise of a new system: Huge amounts of data could now be stored via the internet, thanks to the power of numerous computers networked together in data centers. The cloud had arrived – and with it the incredible advantage of being able to access documents, programs or artificial intelligence at any time and from any location, whether individually or at the same time as countless other users. But there’s a dark side to this cloud: its unbridled greed for energy. The International Energy Agency (IEA) predicts that by 2030, energy use by data centers, cloud services and AI will double yet again to roughly the equivalent of Japan’s current total consumption.
No more Moore’s Law?
It was an outrageous-sounding theory: In 1965, Gordon Moore predicted that the number of components that could fit on an integrated circuit would double every year. He was proved right. In the decades since, technological advances have made computer chips ever smaller and yet more powerful. This prediction came to be virtually set in stone – or should we say silicon – although Moore himself, co-founder of chip manufacturer Intel, later revised the interval to every two years. But fast forward to the present, and there’s not much headroom left. Modern chips are structured with features just a few atoms wide, and Moore’s Law is reaching its physical limits. Hence, the industry is researching new solutions, such as quantum computing. The new model: More than Moore!
The standards revolution
Is conformity accelerating radical change? It sounds contradictory, but in the case of digitalization, it’s very often true. A prime example is the MP3 format. Developed in the 1990s, it allowed audio files to be reduced in size while still preserving much of their sound quality. Thanks to this cross-platform standard, users were suddenly free to play their songs on whatever device they had – first on computers, later on iPods and now on smartphones. Digital standardization has revolutionized the way we consume music while upending the traditional foundations of the multi-billion-dollar music industry.
Unforgettable experience
Have you ever wondered what the Amazon website looked like in 2000? Or endress.com in the late 90s? Then travel back in time with the Wayback Machine, a platform that since 1996 has been crawling the internet and gathering snapshots of websites – 946 billion of them at a recent count. Enjoy your trip down memory lane, but be careful: After all, looking at old photos can be a bit of a shock!
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