Google's Eric Schmidt & Jared Cohen Think Virtual Reality Will Become More Commonplace, Online Identity Less Anonymous - They're Half Right

This is a thought-provoking trailer to The New Digital Age, an upcoming book by Google execs Eric Schmidt and Jared Cohen, and it's very interesting that they describe the future of the Internet as a "virtual world":

One point seems off to me:

Five billion people are expected to come online during the next decade as information technology becomes even cheaper and more widely available. At the same time, virtual reality will become more commonplace and online identities will become less anonymous and more valuable.

Emphasis mine. They're probably right that VR will be more common, though my money is on technology like the Oculus Rift versus the augmented reality of Google Glass, which still has the a-hole problem to contend with. In any case, the idea that online identities are moving toward more anonymity seems wacky on its face. Here's why:

Let's just look at two growth points:

• Facebook, which relies on real world identities, is plateauing.
• Twitter, which encourages pseudonymous/anonymous identities, is growing.

Of course it's not totally fair to judge a book by its cartoon trailer, but I'm skeptical Schmidt and Cohen can make a convincing case this particular trend will shift.

Hat tip: iO9 via Cube Republic.

Please share this post with people you like:

Tweet

Comments

[Wolf Baginski]

I think there is a useful distinction that can be made between anonymity and traceability.

My Second Life avatar is practically anonymous. I am careful not to attach obvious real world info. But I have paid money to Linden Labs, and that leaves a trail which can be followed.

Data privacy laws are in part, an effort to keep such trails from bring too easily followed and, here in Europe, there is the distant thunder or artillery in the conflict between the opposing interests.

And so this book might be Google, or a faction within Google, firing a ranging shot in that battle.

[Iggy]

The A-Hole problem already exists with Smart Phones. Or maybe you don't hang around with enough Millennials.

Glass has a different issue: the "I look like a Dork while wearing Glass" Problem.

I do suspect that we'll see a breakthrough product like the Rift for VR gaming. As noted in an earlier comment, we won't, luckily, see folks walking or driving with a VR set blinding them.

[A.J.]

Interesting.

Being less anonymous doesn't necessarily make a person more honest. That's been my observation in FB and SL.

When people are anonymous, at least there is a 50% chance that they will develop a new persona that is a lot more appealing than the egocentric, boorish one that they've been grooming their entire life in the real world.

[Madeline Blackbart]

A.J. I've found the opposite is true. That the less anonymous the person is the less they are like to say and do things they wouldn't want people to know about. While perhaps not making them more honest to much it does make them more bearable.