Re:Revolution (Score 1)

Well, by that standard neither the Industrial or Agricultural Revolutions are actually revolutions. Sometimes you've got to step back and realize that technology really changes things. Can you honestly tell me that the political, cultural and social landcapes of the 20th century would have been anything similar to what actually happened if not for the Industrial Revolution? Not only did the new technology alter the way we work, it altered the way we think. It allowed some people to affect others in radically new ways. The whole idea of communism sprang up as a byproduct of the amazing amounts of wealth that industrialists were getting and the abysmal conditions that they ground their workers into in order to get some more money.

The Information Revolution is the same way. On the surface its just software. The real impact will be the way its used. Stanislaw Lem wrote a great story about the history of 21st century warfare. In it he describes weapons made up of tiny (millimeter to micron scale) semi-intelligent robots that can be easily transported into enemy territory where they assemble themselves into the real weapon. Imagine a nuclear bomb made out of thousands of nanines that are for the moment peacefully embedded in your soil. Or imagine nanites blown in on clouds that cause acid rain to ruin your harvests. At some point governments are unable to tell if the disasters befalling them are natural or the work of enemies. The above is about as realistic account as any I've heard of the future of warfare. Within the next 50 years we will be in the posession of the necessary technology and then the political systems of the whole world will change, with society and culture in quick pursuit.

If nothing else, the very idea that information is a thing in its own right is an important byproduct of the past decade that really will affect the way most people think. Yeah, in a lot of ways this stuff is just computers. However, there is a point when the power for change becomes so great that the new kid on the block needs to be classified as a revolution. Linux is not a revolution. Its just software. Open Source is not a revolution. Its a big sideffect. The Internet is almost a revolution. Put it all together and you have the potential to change the world in some pretty fundamental ways and for better or worse, that's exactly what's going to happen.