crackpot prediction: globally unique person names by 2059
I see a few long-term trends potentially colliding in an interesting outcome—individually unique names for each person worldwide.
I know, I know…hear me out.
Some trends and long-term predictions:
1. The Internet is absorbing nearly every network-dependent aspect of society. 50 years from now all education, civic engagement, communication, and non-convenience or entertainment-based commerce will occur via the Internet
2. The globalization of cultures and commerce continues relatively unchecked. 50 years from now everyone will speak a single global language—probably English—with most speaking others too. This will make communicating with everyone around the world possible.
3. Open data and authentication standards continue to erode the “walls” that previously isolated communications services from one another. 50 years from now all communications services will be fully and automatically interoperable—real unified communications.
4. Mobile connectivity and communications will continue to saturate society at exponential rates. 50 years from now data connections will be so pervasive that the concept of mobile will have faded away.
So, assuming my predictions are roughly correct, it’s 2059 and we’re living in a world where every conceivable aspect of daily life is, at some point, dependent on your connection to an infinitely ubiquitous network. You do your job on the network. You do your shopping on the network. You vote on the network. You go to school on the network. And, very certainly, literally all of your non-face-to-face communication will flow over the network.
I would argue that you now live in a world where your identity on the network is as or more important than your identity in the physical world. So, at what point do the names for the biological you (the you that walks around your hover-apartment eating soylent green) and the network you (the you that votes, works, shops, etc) converge into a single you with a single and distinct name?
In some ways this is already happening. If you Google or Bing (plug!) my name, I’m the first entry and most of the first few pages. In very real terms, I’m the version of the words “Ben McInnis” the Internet cares about. That’s fine for now, the other Ben McInnis’ out there probably don’t care but, if they had to really live on the Internet, it would become intolerable pretty fast and, at some point, having your friends call you “Ben McInnis 122” might make sense.
