KUALA LUMPUR: People will be living lives on the Internet in about three decades, said Google’s chief Internet evangelist Dr Vinton Cerf, who is also one of the Web’s founding fathers. He said that by 2035, about 5.7 billion people will have access to the Internet, accessing it from desktop devices and ultra portables.
Usage will go beyond surfing sites, communicating and online transactions, according to Cerf. Instead, we will have online lives, like how there are online communities now in Second Life, a virtual world that mirrors the real world and even has its own currency.
This will evolve further and bring much benefits. “The Internet of the future will enable school children to experience real-life science in virtual labs. They will be able to interact with scientific research objects remotely, such as a telescope at a planetarium,” he said.
“Children will be able to learn about the planets and constellations in a way that is better than any science book can deliver today.”
Cerf also forsees that the World Wide Web will become a repository of the knowledge of humankind, and will be a source of know-how that can be tapped by all.
“Many more people will be going to the Net for answers,” he said, adding that the trend would grow and allow countries to improve their industries, the environment, and the health of their communities.
“For example, authorities will be better able to predict disasters and keep epidemics from happening,” he said.
He was speaking at a press conference during the World Congress on Information Technology 2008 at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre on Wednesday.
Cerf tested the first Internet hookups in 1969 when he was a graduate student at UCLA. Then, as a professor at Stanford University in the 1970s, he led a team that invented the protocols, known as TCP/IP, which now serve as the Internet’s basic communication tools
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