Dawn of a New World Order?

A number of thoughts have come together .. and I can now present my thoughts on what the future has in store for society and government.

Media

The recent furore over illicit phone-cam images of Saddam Hussein's hanging highlighted an inevitable truth. The media is devolving. No longer are we fed news from companies large enough to place reporters in the field and publish nationwide. One man with a phone can let the world see the truth. A truth, at least.

Publishing

A similar story is can be told of the film and music industries. In the last new years, and last year in particular, these popular media streams saw successes come from nowhere - without the help of large corporations. The likes of Lily Allen and Sandi Thom rose to fame: not as a result of Max Clifford's efforts, or with the backing of EMI or whoever, but directly via their Myspace pages.

An increasing number of bands now have pages on myspace. My 15 year-old daughter is, I guess, typical. She finds bands I've never heard of, downloads their music and teaches herself to play them on her guitar. No big publishers. No copyright malarkey. Just as it should be.

Software Patents

Yesterday I read news that a once-dead company has risen from the ashes to sue Apple, Google and Napster, using its patent for a "Digital entertainment service platform". Just about everyone can see that this is not novel.

The level of software evolution at the moment means that companies are patenting the equivalent of bricks and mortar. The main problem as I can see it is that the people granting such patents do not understand the technology and so cannot understand what the patents are actually about. Anyone with a wad of cash and a good enough grasp of positive spin can get a software patent. Witness Eddie Van Halen's patent for a "Musical instrument support".

This situation has led some to call for an end to the patent system altogether.

Conclusion

All of these are trends in the world of computers and electronic communication. That's my world, and these are the trends that I can see. There will, of course, be others that I'm unaware of.

What I can see in the future is a diversification beyond anything seen before. A real democracy: right on the edges of anarchy. A much-needed reversal of the trend for fewer, large companies. The end of the world as we know it ...

We'll see.