The future of networked individuals

We were asked in June by the comments editor at New Scientist magazine to “finish” the final chapter of Networked. And the new issue of magazine has just been issued with our conclusion under the thunderous title, “The battle of freedom and control in a networked world.”

In that book chapter and our New Scientist article, we outline two scenarios about the future of networked individualism in an ever-more-technology-saturated world.

In one scenario, we sketch a vision where technology mostly advances the the well being of users: “Virtual assistants operating in a semantic web – one in which machines can better assess the ocean of information – seamlessly mesh a user’s life logistics and interests, allowing people to be more productive and more effective at integrating their needs. The merger of data and the physical environment, especially in augmented reality apps, enriches people’s experiences …. In this benign world, the challenges of information overload are reduced as these smart agents perform filtering and relevance tests. This lets people interact with their social networks and growing information stores in productive and socially beneficial ways.”

The other scenario is more dystopian. Is is “a walled online world of tight corporate permissions and Big Brotherish surveillance by business and the state limits networked life. Personal agents turn out to be double agents, feeding back information on users that can be sold.”

Jon pressed us to write which version of the future we thought would most likely occur.

We split the difference by noting that elements of both future scenarios are likely occur and we concluded: “The world will fragment, with some parts moving towards the brighter side of networked individualism and other parts moving towards gated communities and more tightly controlled information flows.”

We noted that “networked individualism is tightly tied to technological changes” and the world of networked individuals will be shaped by 1) the architecture of the internet itself; 2) emerging legal strictures on information; and 3) evolving social norms.

• “Lee Rainie and Barry Wellman have combined forces to become the new Marshall McLuhan!”
  
  Vint Cerf
  internet pioneer

• “...Lee Rainie, and his co-author Barry Wellman build on that analysis to explain what we already know about technology’s impact on our lives, what we can see coming, and where the biggest surprises and uncertainties still lie.”
  
  James Fallows
  The Atlantic

• “Lee Rainie and Barry Wellman have woven three enormous changes in the ways we connect – the spread of the internet, mobile tools, and social media – into a single clarifying story of our present and future life in the 21st century.”
  
  Clay Shirky
  author

• “Just as I would not let my child loose in traffic before I taught her to look both ways, if it were up to me, nobody would be let loose online until they read Networked.”
  
  Howard Rheingold,
  critic and author

• “This is a well-documented, well-thought, clearly written text that will become indispensable reading for professionals and students alike.”
  
  Manuel Castells
  University of Southern California

• “This book – by two leading authorities – should be required reading for courses on the Internet, new media, and society.”
  
  William Dutton
  University of Oxford

• “With flair, and a dash of wry humor, they provide keen insight about how this phenomenon affects all aspects of our lives. Anyone looking to gain deeper understanding about today’s social world should read this book.”
  
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  Rutgers University

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