Social Ramifications

For most of us, we cannot imagine a daily existence that lacked basic necessities such as electricity, hot water, indoor plumbing, natural gas, and so on. However, people living 100 years ago would have considered these modern conveniences to be a luxury. Nowadays, we take these things for granted. Can you imagine living in a world without them? That sensation—a bizarre and barbaric “how could you live like that” feeling—is the way that people will view our lives 100 years from now. Bandwidth is quickly becoming a “fourth utility,” comparable to electricity, water, and gas. In the future, people will just expect it to be there… anything less will simply be “uncivilized.”
Many decades ago, computers were thought of as stand-alone tools. While first used as business devices, they eventually filtered into home life for utility and recreational purposes. As computing evolved, the idea that computers could interact and “network” together grew in popularity. Before the advent of the Internet, computers were networked to share files and devices, such as printers. Early networking attempts were focused on lowering hardware peripheral costs. For example, by networking an entire business you could
deploy a single printer for a group of people to share, instead of having to install a separate local printer on each person’s desk. Also, these people could now share files (such as word processing or spreadsheet documents) without having to copy them onto floppy disks and carry them from one location to the next. While this added some convenience, most applications remained “stand-alone” in their functionality.With the advent of the Internet, computing has taken a radical shift in usage patterns. Modern-day computing power has shifted from the desktop to the network. Sure, a stand-alone PC can still do word processing and spreadsheets, but the network-centric paradigm of modern computing has increased the value of the network exponentially. Nowadays, when people walk up to a computer, they just expect to be able to open a browser and launch Google, check their e-mail, or get directions from MapQuest. Not being connected to the network is tantamount to the computer being “down” or inoperable. Even in an enterprise context, most modern business applications have a browser interface or some networked component. Centralized databases, information warehouses, and intranet applications have become the mainstay of any contemporary business.
From a community wireless networking perspective, delivering bandwidth to individuals is the true definition of “bridging the digital divide.” Some years ago, we might have said that just putting a
computer in every person’s home was the key to advancing society. Now, clearly, a computer without an Internet connection is as good as a paperweight. Bringing bandwidth to the masses is the key to
creating opportunities to learn, grow, and thrive.Wireless technology is just one of many ways to bring that bandwidth into homes and businesses around the world. It just so happens that wireless is also the easiest and most cost-effective transport method to accomplish the goal of delivering the bandwidth.