Will we consider ourselves better off?

A Moore´s law “technology generation” is 18 months; an “Internet generation” is comparably short. Thus, over the next decade (2000-2010), we will experience perhaps six generations of technology change; a substantial amount considering its implied exponential character. The cumulative effects of such changes in information technology will be comparable to what earlier might have required a century of human events. Some straightforward predictions of what is likely to occur, include a continuation of current trends in bandwidth and connectivity. In technologically advanced societies, most people at work, at home, and in between will be equipped with powerful but widely affordable hardware. Moreover, they will be online with access rates that will put most quality-of-service complaints to rest. Benefiting from the goods and services available on the Internet will no longer require struggling with computers and software. A variety of information appliances will integrate the Net into the fabric of life, much as with transportation and entertainment today. Less advanced societies will also make substantial progress in these directions, and given time, a rough global technology equilibrium will ensue. But will we consider ourselves better off? What “better off” means depends on what we want the technology to do for us and what kind of world we want to create