Sci/Tech

OUR DOT COM (.com) LIVES AND 4 C's
From Altin Topi
Alb-Club April 2000

The passage from one century to the other one, one Millennia to the next one, is characterized by a major cultural, social and economical shift. This major event unthinkable only few years ago can be defined at best by the 4 C's: Compression, Connectivity, Creativity and Complexity. An excellent example of "compression" is the story of transistors. A transistor is described as a "minute electronic semiconductor device used like an electronic tube, which controls current flow by means of germanium or silicon." Within the volume of a transistor manufactured two decades ago, today many thousands of these switching devices can be placed.

The NY Times October issue of the last year announced that within the next five years the Internet will become an essential part of the way we lead our lives and the companies do business. - "Heralding an era in which computers and especially computer display, can blend into the fabric of everyday life, IBM researchers have reported that they have developed flexible transistors that can be embedded in curved surfaces or even in thin, foldable materials.
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The breakthrough promises products ranging from electronic newspapers and magazines that could be folded and tucked into the briefcase or shirt pocket to big computers screens that could unfold, from cellular phones and other hand-held devices.
Another example of compression is the case of the first IBM computer which occupied an entire hall. This was in the year 1943. Most of us remember the Tirana's famous "old" Information Center, nearby the Polytechnic "7 Nentori"(today Technical School "H. Fultz"). Only my Gateway PC is maybe hundred times as powerful as the entire system occupying the building and smaller than a leg space on my desk.

In everyday life we are witnessing miniaturization such as hand-held television sets, extremely powerful laptop computers, cellular phones, wireless communication devices and many instruments used in the health care industry such as bloodless and laparoscopic surgery. The list can go on and on and can be as long as we want to be.
The advent of Internet introduced a new dimension in our lives. The Internet is such that you really won't talk about an Internet company any more than you would have talked about a company that used electricity as an electric company at the beginning of this century. And mentioning the birth of electricity, it comes into your mind the Moore's Law. Technologies always having periods of fabulous advances at some point they plateau. How longer we will be able to keep the doubling of computer power without an increase in cost?
Previously when somebody wanted to reach us, he was able to do it by mail or by telephone. It is our choice to be or not to be listed on the telephone book - which in fact is in all cases distributed locally. As far as our address is concerned, we give it out selectively to people we chose individually.
Going back to miniaturization we are unable to imagine how far it can go. It seems almost infinite. Can you put a limit to it, what we are witnessing everyday: new computing devices, intelligence, access to the Net are being embedded in our everyday devices and every piece of paper. Especially by giants and powerful Net companies that have the means and the brain, there's a tremendous amount of research and development focused on new products. It seems no end to Moore's Law on the way that the technology can go.
The Internet enables an individual or an organization to occupy a "domain", which in effect announces its existence globally. At this point, the occupant of the "domain" is exposed to be contacted by anybody who wishes to do so, on a global basis. I'm emphasizing this "who wishes to do so" with a benign smile in my face. The reason: this reminded me of the “Alb-Club Discussion List". Most of the participants I believe have decided for different reasons to announce their "domain"(E-Mail address), but under conditions of anonymity. This is similar to the "new and old PO Box", which not necessary identifies the person receiving the mail. It is just a number. So taking into account the in-s and out-s of this intricate issue of preserving our privacy or not exposing our real identity, our previous notion of "connectivity" is absolutely redefined.

However, when we think about the "basic connectivity", the devices we use or will use to communicate with each-other, - the cell phones, the PDAs (personal digital assistants), the wireless, etc., - at some point all that will level out, it will saturate,
As far as businesses are concerned they may benefit from being able to expose themselves to as large an audience as possible. This somehow is similar to homesteading in the last century. When somebody legally occupied a piece of land it became his. The same way a company or individual registers a domain, it becomes their property. One example of an occupancy or domain is the domain that Alb-Net owns: www.alb-net.com. But let try not to mingle with the legal meaning of this occupancy and multiple forms of existing "domains" (individual or organization).
What this practically means - if somebody search for any subject which include a generic names such as Albanian history, culture, politics, the Internet search engine will connect the person to several domains, which most probably will include Alb-Net. From there automatic "hot links" will divert the inquiry to our beloved Discussion List – Alb-club. As a result Alb-Net created a new connection. Is this fantastic? Positively and definitely, we can say YES.
As we are accustomed to hear - "the world is becoming more and more like a small village". Isn’t a small village in the sense of everything ?! This wonderful gift of technology called "the Net" is transforming the world by "tumbling the walls of censure" and liberating the common folks from "controlled thinking and communication". Thomas Jefferson's "marketplace of ideas" would be most purely embodied in the Internet, an arena in which every citizen - regardless of money or connection - could have a voice, a means of distributing his/her ideas and an avenue of contributing to the nation's culture. The net in the most uncensored expression as it can be - a discussion list - can be seen as an auto selective mechanism. It is somehow a pure "darwinistic" expression of "natural selectivity" of the electronic 'populist' media. Under the scrutinizing eyes of the participants and fans, everything transcend from written words into emotions and thinking or vice-versa. It is right there exposed naked and for everybody to judge and submit his/her personal view.
A colorful range of personalities and characters! You can distinguish people in terms of ability to endure the insolence of the other, the ignorance of response and to bring the needed sense of humor. Some are unable to overcome the indoctrination, some other reflect their open minded attitude by wearing for at least one time "the different, the opposite philosophy" and walk around with it for some time. You find talented people being serious to make a difference, you find also highly educated people overwhelmingly affected by "the barbarism of specialization". For somebody it is the only tool to break "the walls of silence and solitude" and for somebody else is just "the vehicle to outwit the Creator itself", and maybe for "me" is to take the Census.


After a while you start to believe that in order for you to continue to be a participant is to self-impose a continuous challenge in regard to what mentioned above. It is an open classroom of self-improvement and development and most of us think: "I'm doing this because I really want to make a difference". Developing further the "idea of connectivity" you must think about the companies that are doing and will do well in the growing industries, those that will be really sharp, super-smart, about putting together unique services that no other company can match. And, than we are going to see layer on the top of layers and instead of "Basic Internet Connectivity" we will experience the "New Connectivity" on the top of the "Old One" which until now enable everyone to announce globally his/her "domain" and start a E-business in his/her basement and to present it as an established entity.
"New Connectivity" is pushing closer and closer towards something more significant. It is that "New Edge" which will replace the saturation of the Internet market. This is the "new connectivity of latter day Leonardos (da Vinci). The "new connectivity" means that creativity will overtake capital which is the main constrain in the commercial life. So, the real added value increase will come not from people who can get the money together, but from those who can bring the "brains" together.
The "mystique" of software-coding in the future will dissipate, and its tooling will be better and better, easier and easier. The libraries of software coding will get more and more complete and much easier to interface. We already are witnessing armies of software developers who are elbowing each other to get to trade schools to learn about the coding tools and create programs and applications. But learning the codes is not the end goal itself, it is just learning the tools to operate and surf in this new high-tech world. Even stretching away into the future, it will be the need for creativity what will matter most. There is a creative aspect to software development that many people are not aware of. In fact many people that are successful software developers are also musicians, artists, architects, engineers, businesspeople, movie directors and producer, etc. And this because it's all spatial reasoning, it's pattern, it's fluidity. The creativity of thinking about the architecture of a software application, device or network is a lot more to it, than just sort of cranking out boring code.

We will see a whole generation of musicians, artists, traders, engineer, architects, a whole generation of Da Vinci in software development, the creative part. It is about envisioning patterns and architecture and the way the networks work together.
Did I leave something out? Oh, yes, I think I know what! Technology that supposedly should make possible for us to live anywhere and work anywhere doesn't ring true for me and for many of us yet. We still see people jamming the concert and theater halls, meeting in soccer games, restaurants, coffee shops, groceries, bookstores. We still see people getting together physically. Why? Because is the need for physical human interaction. It is in these places, where "the real deal" happens. You cannot do that through the Internet, wireless or whatever. "The deal" happens especially where the stakes are high when real human interaction is. Nothing will replace it!
As far as "complexity" is concerned, in the good old days if an inquiry was made by telephone a human voice was on the other end of the line. These days, a recorded human voice on the other end will prompt you to press 1, 2, or 3 which in turn will result in additional recorded messages. If you lucky and patient enough, you may reach a live human on the other end of the line.
Our lives today are much more complex than they were for our predecessors. The developments of technology created many new facets for our lives, many products and many choices that didn't exist before. As an example, when we grew up we had rotary telephone, machine washers, TVs, and so one which were simple and we didn't need to read a manual to teach you how to operate them. I use a telephone that has a build in recorder, two display windows and fourteen buttons in addition to the 0 to 9 digits. It is programmable and memorizes 20 names and numbers. It is, however, imperative that a new owner reads the instruction; otherwise he will get lost and never will get it going.

These “4 C’s” describe our lives today. Is this good or bad? No question - we enjoy the benefits of the new technologies: however we have less and less time for things that we "used to do". In the process, we lost a great deal of privacy and intimacy. Therefore, each of us has to navigate these fast moving times trusting his or her values and intuition.