Garrett SaundryWith the creation of the internet as a means of communication, it should have been common knowledge that somewhere, at some point, it was going to be turned in to so much more.
When it comes to finding new and novel ways to use things like they weren’t originally intended to be used, human ingenuity rules. Think that’s just an ordinary mouldy old piece of bread? Think again Captain Obvious, it’s used to treat bacterial infections! When is a drink not just a drink? When it’s left outside overnight with a twig in it and becomes a popsicle! So it’s almost like it’s been written in the stars, that as soon as the internet was created, we’d start thinking of new and unintended ways of using it.
One of the original purposes of the internet was as a means of communication between far flung university campuses. One of the great and inadvertent side effects was that after a while it seemed to make the world a smaller place to live in. If you think about it, it may be difficult to find a local chapter of the Fraternity of Swordfighting Dwarves, but if you search worldwide, you may find several, and get a job on a movie set in the process.
The world is increasingly becoming a global village, for me, I don’t think I truly understood that concept until I was sitting at home one dreary winter evening chatting with a friend in Australia via instant messenger. Not only was everything in real time, but as I was complaining about the cold and snow, he was complaining about how hot and uncomfortable it was there. Fifteen years ago, we would either be communicating over a crackly phone connection or in a letter that you had to write on pen and paper that took three weeks to get there. I know, I can hardly believe it either. It’s like when my parents talk to me about walking uphill to school both ways in six feet of snow, I just can’t bring myself to accept it as the gospel truth.
One of the other wonderous payoffs of the internet is online shopping. Where else can you buy a set of gently used Ginsu knives, the entire Disney Princess movie collection (on VHS) and a potato chip that looks like Elvis? Why the internet of course! And the best part is you can do this all in the comfort of your own home at 2am in your fuzzy duckie slippers and your jammies. I’m not sure which company embraced the spirit of online shopping first, but eBay is one of the best known. For those that are smart and willing to put the effort into it, eBay can be a legitimate way of making quite a lot of money on the side.
There are a million and one things that the internet wasn’t meant to do, that it is doing today. It’s potential seems only limited by our imagination and ability to make our ideas work in the real world. I think that much like the Industrial Revolution, this is an amazing time to marvel at the innovations and advancements that the human race is capable of.