'fillasophy' on Tomorrow
This piece was written in early 2001. By 2004, the principles in this philosophy have begun to come to fruition, so much so that I recognize that it is no longer as advantageous as it once was to have the title web master, application developer, network engineer, or any tech related titled. Sure, these careers still exist, but much of the work has begun to dissipate to foreign countries who "can do more for less". In 2001, I called myself a web developer with a communications art background. Now, I am a communicator with some background in technology. The changed hasn't cost me much money or maybe it has. The intent remains the same - to understand how to corraling the
'communications revolution' that will shape world history.
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From the outset of his "The Road Ahead", Bill Gates
refers to the beginning of another great journey - a journey he calls
the 'communications revolution'. Coming from the father of the 'PC revolution'
and akin to the 'internet revolution', you would think the world's industries
would listen.
Certainly, the telecommunication and computer markets are raising the
bar of economic growth and prosperity throughout the world, but this growth
is coming during what Gates describes as the 'early stages'. Today, finding
employment as a computer programmer, web master, application developer,
network engineer, or telecommunication specialist is as easy as browsing
the web or reading the Sunday career section and picking which position
you want.
With the internet in every household in the world, careers in technology
will always flourish as careers in nursing, law enforcement, and teaching
do today. Certainly, each of these are honorable careers just as the computer
programmer of tomorrow will be; however, careers aimed at corraling the
'communications revolution' will shape the next 20 years of world history.
Early Americans moved west to run their farms and to hunt for natural
resources on the new found land. Today, we have San Francisco and Los
Angeles as a result of this migration - all the land is populated, farmers
make up less than 3 percent of the population in America.
The World Wars brought about an industrial stage in World history. For
the most part, the 20th century economy was propelled by this industrial
plight (steel workers, car and aircraft manufacturers, and the like).
Today, the steel industry has rusted; and we find ourselves looking at
ways to get across the Milky Way and not across town or the Atlantic.
The 'communications revolution' is at its early stages. My work on this
site, while recognizing the value of the technology, will attempt to bring
attention to Gates' foresight. Certainly, this is a site about web development
from a web developer, but this web developer is eyeing the end -communications-
and not the means -technology- for eXpressing information in the next
millenium. - written sometime before May 2001
