Monday 24 February 2003

Pic of the day: Electronic day of a Sim - who himself exists only in a computer. And this, to us, is no wonder, it is an everyday thing.

The electric country

I heard on the news today that Norway's state-owned Postal Company had a reduction in the traffic of addressed letters by 9% this last year. It was none too early, if I may say so. E-mail is virtually free once you have Net access, which a large majority of the population now has. In contrast, a letter costs about 75 cent, and isn't delivered until a few days later. It makes no sense to use letters for ordinary communication anymore, though it is still preferable if you want to include stickers, perfume or other physical embellishments.

Already, Net banking is taking over the market. While many elderly people still go to the bank, most others prefer to avoid the place. (It helps that the pure Net bank Skandiabanken has around 6% interest on deposits (no minimum, no binding time) and no cost for paying bills or transferring money within Norway, nor for withdrawing your own money. The traditional marble banks usually cost more to use than the symbolic interest you may be lucky enough to get.)

As I thought about this, I considered that we might be considered an Internet country. And then I thought, are we considered an electric country? No, we are not, even though electricity is used in every home at all times of night and day, and even the cars would not work without their electric equipment. We are surrounded and augmented by electricity, but we don't think of ourselves as an electric country. Precisely because it is everywhere, electricity is taken for granted. And in the same way, I believe, will it be with the Internet when it reaches the potential we can already see in it. We will be immersed in it, but like the air around us we will see through it and pay it no notice unless it for some reason becomes scarce.

There will be no Net banks, because all banks will be Net banks. In the same way, all shops will be Net shops if appropriate. All homes will be Net homes, and we won't even notice. We are already cybernetic organisms, depending on technology for our everyday survival. And we don't even know it.