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Being Digital
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Being Digital
Being digital negroponte.gif
Being Digital's front cover
Author Nicholas Negroponte
Country United States
Language English
Publisher Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
Publication date
1995
Media type Print
Pages 243
ISBN 0-679-43919-6
Being Digital[1] is a non-fiction book about digital technologies and their possible future by technology author Nicholas Negroponte. It was originally published in January 1995 by Alfred A. Knopf.
In 1995, Nicholas Negroponte outlined the history of digital technologies in his book, Being Digital. Along with the general history, he also predicted possibilities for the future of these technologies.[2] Not only does Being Digital provide a general history of several digital media technologies, many that Negroponte himself was directly involved in developing. Negroponte analyzes the advantages and disadvantages of the technologies (such as his belief that high-definition television wastes broadcasting power),and tries to predict how the technologies will evolve. The message in Nicholas Negroponte's Being Digital is that eventually we will move toward an entirely digital society (be it newspapers, entertainment, or sex). Being Digital also introduced the "Daily Me" concept of a virtual daily newspaper customized for an individual's tastes. This prediction has also come to pass with the advent of web feeds and personal web portals. Negroponte's concept of newspaper's being tailored to our specific interest is something that has been becoming more common over time. Over the years alot of his predictions have become the world we live in. It's amazing how he was able to conduct such research and predict the future, Negroponte was truly ahead of his time. Many of these things have come true and are becoming more severe.[3]
Contents
1 Bits and atoms
2 "Negroponte Switch"
3 Influence, impact, and the future
4 See also
5 References
6 Bibliography
7 External links
Bits and atoms
Negroponte discusses the differences between bits and atoms. The change is shown in the difference between atoms and bits. The atom is the physical referent such as CDs, books and letters and the bit is the digital, such as computers but now the bits are becoming the atoms. Everything is becoming digital. Decentralizing, globalizing, harmonizing, and empowering are the four qualities of the digital age. [4]When Negroponte says 'bits are bits' he's talking about the fact that bits can be used not only to create more bits, but also new modes of media. Adding bits creates a better picture, clearer sound, and instructions for devices, combining different types of bits gives us multimedia. He believes that all forms of information that are now made of atoms (books, CDs, etc.) will eventually be made into bits. He states in his book that "the change from atoms to bits is irrevocable and unstoppable."[5]
"Negroponte Switch"
Main article: Negroponte switch
In the 1980s Negroponte had originated an idea that came to be known as the "Negroponte Switch". Negroponte Switch refers to the information transmission medium used by different devices. He suggested that due to accidents of engineering history we had ended with static devices such as televisions receiving their content via signals travelling over the airways, while devices that should have been mobile and personal, such as telephones, were receiving their content over static cables. It was his idea that a better use of available communication resources would result if information such as phone calls going through cables was to go through the air, and information now going through the air, such as television signals, was to be delivered over cables. Negroponte called this "trading places," but his co-presenter George Gilder at an event organized by Northern Telecom called it the "Negroponte Switch" and the name stuck.[6]. When the book was written, most telephones were hardwired to the telephone network, while television sets received their broadcast signal wirelessly via antenna. The mobility that cellular phones provided meant that telephones would become wireless, while the increasing bandwidth requirements for television meant that they would become hardwired [7]
By the late 1980s the idea had entered common usage.[8] The idea was not coined in his book Being Digital, but the book did explain the idea and its social history.
Influence, impact, and the future
Negroponte writes about the inadequacy of the interfaces that are currently used to interact with computers. He believes that the mouse is a mediocre interface for point and click, and inadequate for drawing. He instead prefers the interfaces of touch-screen technology and voice recognition software. His prediction that touch-screen technology would become a dominant interface has been proven correct by the rise in popularity of smartphones, tablets and an increasing number of ultrabooks. Many of Negroponte predictions have been made to be true as time progresses. Negroponte's influence on this industry is undeniable. Although some of the things we see in Being Digital we're merely predictions, it's fascinating that someone was able to predict where the future was going when it comes to the evolution of technology.
In an interview in 2012 Negroponte was asked what is the next Negroponte Switch. He stated that rather than a switch it will be a merging of atoms with bits. He also stated that In the current transition, all physical things are being made smart. For everything physical thing there will be a digital copy and our need for physical things will be on a huge decline. Anybody that's in the generation where there is basically a digital twin for everything physical couldn't disagree with his predictions from the past and for the present. It's all true we now are all dependent on anything digital. For example we used to have to physically go get food from fast food lines or places, now we have an app on our cellular device called Uber Eats we don't even have to roll out of bed to receive our food. Everything is the tip of our fingers. Negroponte might need to get the credit for making a lot of his predictions come true, but there is no denying that he influenced a new evolution that we the people are very dependent on in 2019, with more evolution to come. The technology world will never be the same and we can give a big thanks to Nicholas Negroponte for that. With everything evolving and new technology we will have a profound shift in how our economy works, transportation, what our homes will look like and what it means to be human.[9]
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