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One of the megatrends of the 21st century is networking. It is hard to think of another word which will change our social framework as drastically over the next years as "networking".
Jim Robertson, former mayor of the Town of Inuvik on the Canadian Arctic Ocean, came to Canada from Scotland as a "Bay Boy" in the post-war era. When his father passed away in Scotland, it took many months for the sad news to reach Inuvik on the next postal shipment.
Back in 1973 one of our colleagues worked at a University of Toronto cafeteria for CDN$ 1.85 per hour. A three minute phone call to Germany around Christmas time cost $5.55 for three minutes. Today one can call from Europe to North America for under 2 Eurocents per minute. Using email, messenger or VoIP an Inuk in Thule can communicate with an aborigine in the Australian outback real-time or time delayed completely free of charge.
Networked computers are the central element of this communications revolution.
As recently as the turn of the millennium, virtual private networks (VPN) were the domain of large corporations. Today a VPN can be built up between any two computers anywhere in the world for a few hundred dollars and the prices are bound to fall even further.
VPN and VoIP are like seven league boots, which melt away distances like magic. All of a sudden the need for knowledge workers to gather together at a common physical location has completely vanished. The hurdles towards a completely virtual world are now no longer technical, but psychological.
The potential ramifications are enormous. Glass skyscrapers can be converted into luxury apartments. The daily rush hour will be greatly reduced with dramatic positive impact on the environment. Women no longer have to choose between kids and career. The depopulation of the countryside in favour of cities will turn in the other direction. Companies can hire the best heads for their staff without geographical boundaries or limitations.
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