The Internet and the Human Brain

It sounds like a bad joke: What’s the difference between the internet and the human brain? But the truth is the internet may be closer to merging with humans than we think. The internet has progressed from Web 1.0 to Web 2.0 all the way to Web 3.0 (also known as the semantic web), which is the defining version that contributes personalization and a sense of AI to the mix and makes this hypothesis clearly possible within the next fifty years. Kevin Kelly, an acclaimed writer and editor for Wired magazine, is one of the most renowned believers of this theory. Kelly relates the complex network of the Internet to humans and their emergence with references to the semantic web that some may find to be the premise for a science fiction film. However, in reality, this flight of the imagination may actually take place within the next 5,000 days.

Initially, this is because of the exponential rate at which the internet is growing. However, the human brain is not exponentially advancing. Kelly states that “the machine that we have created right now is about one human brain…if we look at the rate this is increasing, thirty years from now there will be 6 billion human brains.” The human brain cannot possibly keep up with technology’s advancements, and this may result in the internet outgrowing human beings and their intelligence. The internet also contains many relations to the human brain, such as its structure and processing capabilities.

The amount of links on the internet is very close to the number of synapses within the brain. There is an out sized difference between the number of transistors and neurons. However the brain is once again not expanding every few years. Not to mention there are more than 600 billion web pages, equaling one hundred pages per person. It is noticeable that the internet has already outgrown us in assured customs. Kelly also states that within the next five thousand days, we will embody, restructure, and become co-dependent upon this “machine” in which we call the internet. Instead of using certain software such as Microsoft Word or Excel to create documents, the internet will provide this service. And this will also happen to any device that is/will be created.

The internet is a black hole that will eventually grasp everything and create one titanic body of networking. Soon we will become dependent upon the internet. But this is not necessarily a negative aspect. We have been co-dependent with the alphabet for hundreds of years, and it has unlocked positive elements of communication. Kelly’s views may be seen as irrational but in fact are very probable. Soon humans will be living within this machine and will encounter it 24/7. His relations of the internet and the human brain bring feelings of horror and optimism at the same time.

Chances are the internet will exceed the abilities of the human brain, but will not acknowledge the fact. Its structure and processes resemble our procedures and arrangements, and there is theoretically no way to stop it. This occurrence is just a part of technological evolution that people need to accept.

TEDTalksDirector, “Kevin Kelly: Predicting the next 5,000 days of the web,” www.Youtube.com

Kelly, Kevin, “Unto Us the Machine Is Born,” The Sydney Morning Herald


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