Think about the internet and then think about your daily life and the workings of society.
Maybe you wouldn’t have a problem having no access to the internet if you were away from home; or you might even be one of the 20% of people who still don’t use the internet. The reality is, however, that the people and organisations you deal with, either at home or when on holidays, rely on the internet for a range of activities that affect you. So even if you don’t use the internet you still depend on it.
So would an internet failure result in what economists call a ‘too big to fail’ disaster? In other words, will such a collapse be catastrophic for our society and the economy?
Even if we come to the conclusion that this is not the case at present – which BuddeComm doubts – then within a few years’ time we most certainly will have reached that stage.
The reality is that over a period of 60 years the population of planet earth has grown from 2.5 billion to 7 billion inhabitants and in 20 years it will have reached 9 billion. There is no way that we can manage these complex societies and economies in the way we have done so over the last 60 years. Yet our political, social and economic systems are still largely operating within post-WWII structures.
We have well and truly reached the end of a linear approach to many of today’s problems, which have become far more complex – be it in relation to climate change, sustainability, energy use, food supply or the GFC, healthcare, aged care, education and so on. Equally, businesses who are not transforming themselves to adapt to the digital economy are faltering and will eventually disappear.
This is not a prediction for the future. It is happening right now. We can no longer manage our developed societies and economies – this is measured in terms of delivery of the lifestyle we enjoy – without extensive use of ICT, and in particular the level of connectivity that is now available to us. And it is here that the internet plays its most important role. Yet technically it was never designed to take on such enormous responsibilities.