Technology Is Changing Our Lives Faster Than We Think

Published: May 25, 2016, 8:47 p.m.

b"With Steve Case, Co-founder and Former CEO of AOL, Author of The Third Wave

Thirty years after the inception of the internet as we know it, Steve Case, co-founder of AOL, has written a new book, The Third Wave: An Entrepreneur's Vision of the Future, revealing a new paradigm already set into motion that will change the way we live our daily lives.
Anyone old enough to remember when you had to pay a monthly fee to get web access can understand the giant leaps forward technology has taken since that time and how dramatically the internet has changed our personal lives as well as our culture. Steve refers to this early period as The First Wave. Considering that in 1985 at the start of AOL only 3% of households were online and at the end of that period, roughly in the year 2000, that number had increased to about 51%. And that was just the beginning of The Second Wave, the time when Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, and Google became major players in our daily lives, affecting forever the way we interact, learn, and are entertained.
The Third Wave, as Steve Case describes it, will be at least\\u2014 if not more\\u2014dramatic and life-changing than its predecessors and will truly give definition to the term \\u201cthe internet of everything\\u201d.
In developmental stage already is the driverless car which will be one component of technologically powered smart cities. Transformative changes in the field of education will alter the way our children learn and study. The standards and practices of our present health care industry (the largest industry in our country) will undergo drastic modifications on both the corporate and personal levels. In addition, large banking institutions could very well be forced to redesign themselves in order to function in a new economic climate.
Of course, all of this will inevitably cause disruption in our culture. Some industries will fall along the wayside, jobs will be lost and others created, some workers will have to be re-trained, and a surge of entrepreneurship will likely occur with many people dividing their working life between two or more endeavors. Some of the nervousness seen in our current presidential election process can be attributed to these undercurrents of change already at play.
Just as the world adjusted to the shifts that occurred during the Industrial Revolution in the early 19th century, so will we regain our balance and become accustomed to The Third Wave as it moves into our daily lives and changes us one innovation at a time.
Read The Entire Transcript HereCollapse Transcript
Steve Pomeranz: You know, there was a time when one company handled nearly half of all internet traffic and created the first significant portal into the new world of the internet.\\xa0 There was a time when you'd have to pick up a free CD at the checkout line of your grocery store and pay a monthly fee in order to get access to the web.\\xa0 There was a time when that company became one of the most valuable and fastest-growing companies in the history of America.
The man who lead that company and is now leading the way toward a new phase of the internet revolution is here with me today.\\xa0 I want to welcome Steve Case, co-founder and former CEO of AOL.\\xa0 Steve, welcome to the show.
Steve Case: Great to be with you.
Steve Pomeranz: It's 30 years after the beginning of the internet, as we know it.\\xa0 The internet has integrated into all aspects of our lives..."