This is hilarious. 80% of the human population having a cell phone in 5 years is ridiculous. Look up Paleo Future on google. You'll see why predictions like this are funny.
This requires the leap of logic that a 'mobile device' equates to an internet enabled smartphone. Impossible. Many (most?) cellphones today are for voice and perhaps SMS only. The difference is as big as having TV vs having the Internet. With US monthly rates exceeding $50 for even basic smartphone plans, the divide will still be evident in the United States, much less rural India and other impoverished parts of the world.
@marktech101 Perhaps difficult, but not impossible. There are already initiatives to bridge the digital divide in 3rd world countries, so I don't see why IBM's prediction of 80% of the global population connected, in 5 years, is such a gigantic leap.
And it doesn't take that much (relatively speaking, ofc) to hack together a system to provide each small village/town/city with just one source of Internet access, and from there distribute information via voice/SMS.
" the gap between information haves and have-nots will cease to exist due to the advent of mobile technology."
Also known as the singularity--Karl Marx called it communism.
"What is great in man is that he is a bridge and not a goal: what is lovable in man is that he is an over-going and a down-going."
Friedrich Nietzsche
sevens3 2 months ago
This is hilarious. 80% of the human population having a cell phone in 5 years is ridiculous. Look up Paleo Future on google. You'll see why predictions like this are funny.
hardworker424 2 months ago in playlist More videos from IBMLabs 2
Lol what about the infrastructure? There are still places in the US where you don't get service. Sat elites maybe? But who wants speeds that slow?
Cmu6eh 2 months ago
This requires the leap of logic that a 'mobile device' equates to an internet enabled smartphone. Impossible. Many (most?) cellphones today are for voice and perhaps SMS only. The difference is as big as having TV vs having the Internet. With US monthly rates exceeding $50 for even basic smartphone plans, the divide will still be evident in the United States, much less rural India and other impoverished parts of the world.
marktech101 2 months ago
@marktech101 Perhaps difficult, but not impossible. There are already initiatives to bridge the digital divide in 3rd world countries, so I don't see why IBM's prediction of 80% of the global population connected, in 5 years, is such a gigantic leap.
And it doesn't take that much (relatively speaking, ofc) to hack together a system to provide each small village/town/city with just one source of Internet access, and from there distribute information via voice/SMS.
GeekProdigyGuy 2 months ago