Web operators are brain surgeons

Our increased reliance on web-based intelligence makes speed and reliability even more important.

As humans rely on the Internet for all aspects of our lives, our ability to think increasingly depends on fast, reliable applications. The web is our collective consciousness, which means web operators become the brain surgeons of our distributed nervous system.

Each technology we embrace makes us more and more reliant on the web. Armed with mobile phones, we forget phone numbers. Given personal email, we ditch our friends' postal addresses. With maps on our hips, we ignore the ones in our glovebox.

For much of the Western world, technology, culture, and society are indistinguishable. We're sneaking up on the hive mind, as the ubiquitous computing envisioned by Mark Weiser over 20 years ago becomes a reality. Today's web tells you what's interesting. It learns from your behavior. It shares, connects, and suggests. It's real-time and contextual. These connected systems augment humanity, and we rely on them more and more while realizing that dependency less and less. Twitter isn't a site; it's a message bus for humans.

The singularity is indeed near, and its grey matter is the web.

Now think what that means for those who make the web run smoothly. Take away our peripheral brains, and we're helpless. We'll suddenly be unable to do things we took for granted, much as a stroke victim loses the ability to speak. Take away our web, and we'll be unable to find our way, or translate text, or tap into the wisdom of crowds, or alert others to an emergency.

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