Eric Schmidt, Google's executive chairman, has forecast that the Internet would soon "disappear" from our lives.
On Thursday, Jan. 22, speaking at the World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland, Schmidt revealed that the Internet would become omnipresent in our lives, so much so that it would effectively vanish into the background.
"I will answer very simply that the Internet will disappear," averred Schmidt.
So why would the Internet disappear? Before your mind races off to imagine apocalyptic disasters, hold your horses. Schmidt believes that the presence of a gamut of IP addresses, as well sensors, devices and things one interacts with would become so commonplace that one would stop sensing their presence. In other words, these things would be taken for granted as part of our daily existence.
"It will be part of your presence all the time. Imagine you walk into a room, and the room is dynamic. And with your permission and all of that, you are interacting with the things going on in the room," explained Schmidt.
What then happens if the Internet disappears? As a result of the Internet "disappearing," according to Schmidt, a "highly personalized" and extremely interactive, as well as incredibly interesting world would emerge.
The World Economic Forum also saw heads from Facebook, Microsoft, Google and Vodafone allay fears that jobs were suffering, owing to the stupendous pace of technological advancement in our society.
Facebook's COO Sheryl Sandberg acknowledged that the "transformation" was happening at a greater speed than the past. She also agreed that while people were "worried about jobs," technology was a double-edged sword. It is not just restricted to creating jobs in the tech space but beyond it as well.
According to Schmidt, each tech job is instrumental in creating nearly five to seven work opportunities in different economical areas. To illustrate, Schmidt cited the example of Europe, which has high levels of unemployment.
"If there were a single digital market in Europe, 400 million new and important new jobs would be created in Europe," noted the Google boss.
Schmidt also averred that the debate whether the job market is being destroyed due to the onset of technology has been raging for "hundreds of years" now. The only difference between the past and present is the pace of change.
