Kevin Kelly (born 1952) is the founding executive editor of Wired magazine, and a former editor/publisher of the Whole Earth Catalog. He is considered by some an expert in digital culture.
In his talk at the EG 2007 Conference, Kelly estimates that today’s Web has about the complexity of a human brain and by the year 2040 it will exceed all of humanity in its processing power. His vision is that in the next 5,000 days one single, global machine will evolve with the Web as its operating system. Every bit of data will be on the Web, and the machine will be able to think by itself and know us.
Kevin Kelly points to a progression from the pre-web linking of computers to the web’s linking of pages. In the next stage, known as the Semantic Web, the machine will link data directly to other data, wherever it may be. We will link from one idea (or word) on a page to another idea or word, rather than just link from one page to another. This restructuring of the Web will lead to every noun having a representation and being supported by the entire web.
References:
- Video of the 2007 EG conference talk: Kevin Kelly on the next 5,000 days of the web. (2008, July). In TED: Ideas worth spreading. Retrieved October 19, 2008.
- The Immersive Internet and Kevin Kelly’s “5,000 days of the Web”. (2008, July 31). In ThinkBalm: Immersive Internet insights & expertise, by Sam Driver and Erica Driver. Retrieved November 5, 2008.
- Kevin Kelly looks to the next 5000 days of the Web. (2008, August 1). In ZDNet by Paul Miller. Retrieved November 5, 2008.
- Kevin Kelly. (2008, October 9). In Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved November 5, 2008.
