The internet as fuel for the new economy

The role of the internet in transforming an economy by Samir Franciscus 

This article is a rough sketch into some ideas of the way the internet can be used to its full potential to help transform the way we look at an economy.

If we take the infrastructure of the internet, we can essentially view it the same way, as the roads and pathways we travel on in the physical world.

Modern day and ancient civilizations built roads and vehicles to travel on those roads. This infrastructure allows people to connect different geographic locations in the physical world, which in turn allows for easier communication and trade.

The internet performs this function in very much the same way but in a smarter way and less destructive way. Networks are the ‘roads’ and computers are the ‘vehicles’ that allow people to travel those ‘roads’.

Bandwidth is to the internet as fuel is to vehicles

Imagine a world where the internet is used to its full potential. Imagine a world without the internet. How can we use the internet to change the way we think about the world.

How can we use the internet to assist an economy? Can the internet be a sole point that an entire economy is based upon it?

Can we allow people and business to use the internet to help them to travel less which will indirectly help people to save costs on fuel and save the environment from pollution?

Can we introduce legislation to allow tax incentives for people to do transactions online instead of actually visiting a business location?

Delivery industries could emerge. They could run their vehicles fleets on electric power reducing the need for fuel.

The internet can be used effectively as a platform that can almost completely revolutionize the ways in which we have become accustomed to such as driving to a shopping mall and doing shopping.

It should be stressed though the function of the internet in this example is merely a convenience however it does have advantages since the more people that use it, the less people require to drive to shopping malls, the less pollution, less traffic, ect.

We should not need to physically be in a place or be face to face with a person to interact. The internet can bridge this gap and has already shown ways in which this is done.

The internet economy industry spin-offs

Electricity providers to power the internet

Fossil fuels are becoming a less viable source to provide the fuel for power stations. Mankind needs to implement alternatives to replace them.

Enough research, concepts, prototypes and fully working alternative power stations already exist to allow this to be implemented on a global scale almost immediately.

The man in the street needs to have access to this power capability. They need to be in control of this function or at least have vested interest within it.

Transport industries

A step up from the delivery industries we are used to e.g. freight, e-commerce delivery, post, etc. An instantaneous service is required that can be easily be called upon when needed.

This function in the current world is mostly performed using the public transport systems within cities, vehicles and aircraft.

Once again the man in the street needs control of or even vested interest in a public transport type of system that can be used to serve the internet.

Internet access machines

Computers and mobile phones are the primary way that the man in the street uses to access the internet in today’s world. Atm's with banks are another common example.

As the internet grows and more reliance is placed upon it, different types of machines would need to be built be required to access it serving different industries.

This industry could be extended to use robotics.

Concepts to be explored with the transformation of an online economy:

Internet infrastructural changes

Improving he infrastructure that the internet runs on to reduce downtime and increase bandwidth. The internet should be abstracted into locations just as in real life.

Real time networking

We need to significantly improve the awareness of internet systems and rapidly allow connections between internet stakeholders to easily take place.

Currently we see these concepts being applied in the trend of online social media and business networking . This will later be extended to geographical online media and networking which already exists but needs to be accessed by the man in the street.

Engineering

We need to apply engineering principles with the development and maintenance of the internet, and all the component that make up the internet.

A body should apply enforced governance to maintain a level of quality control for the building of robust hardware, software and networking components that make up the internet.

The idea is to build the internet in such a way that the only time a malfunction can occur is when the sun explodes.

Legislation

We need to put laws in place to allow people to use the internet more. Giving citizens tax reductions for using the internet could be used as an incentive to citizens.

Samir Franciscus – 13^th May 13, 2008

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To be continued...