The 2000s witnessed an exponential growth in technology, mainly due to two factors: an explosion of the Internet, even after the dot-com crisis at the beginning of the millennium, and the development of communication networks, which went from cable to wireless in the space of a few years.
Combining this with the miniaturization of our electronic devices, we are arriving at the current situation: a hyper-connected world where, with means accessible to everyone, it is possible to do what only thirty years ago would have been impossible for anyone.
The long march of the Internet
The statistics about the web diffusion tell us that in just 22 years, we have passed from 7% of connected users to over 50%. Internet access has acted as a catalyst. Not only has it allowed access to and distribution of knowledge, but it has facilitated the creation of value. Companies of all kinds have been founded and prospered over the years, creating business and jobs worldwide. Entire industries – like all the transpositions of brick-and-mortar businesses on the net – have sprung up from nothing.
To give an example, online casinos have become dominant today. The online gambling industry has reached 100 billion dollars worldwide and is growing at 11% per year – and on modern online portals, you can find the best casino slots and classic games to choose from among thousands of available titles, so you can play whenever you want. And we owe this, as well as what happens in other fields, to the development of the Internet and its supporting technologies.
Electronic devices: technology has become portable
The portability of devices has made this revolution serve man – the individual, and we owe this to Apple. The first iPod was launched in 2001, and the first iPhone in 2007. By combining the functionality of the phone with that of the computer, we created systems that integrated internet access into everything we did, like the current smartphones and tablets. The forerunner was the iPod, but the first personal modern communication device was the iPhone, introduced by Apple in 2007.
From devices like these, we can connect to our bank and carry out our transactions rather than having to go to a physical counter. We can relate to our office, exchanging and receiving work and holding meetings virtually, without leaving home. And we can do the same with our friends: the first social media dates back to around 2004, and today Facebook is used by more than 2 billion people.
Communication networks
All this would be useless if no network structure were to support it. But whereas not so many years ago we connected to the Internet with 64 kb modems, today 5G wireless technologies allow us to reach speeds unthinkable then, such that we can download an HD movie to our mobile phones in seconds and easily manage online conversations with video wherever we are.
All this seemed like science fiction just a few years ago. Sure, we don’t have spaceships yet, but people like Elon Musk are working on it right now.