Developing Critical Thinking Techniques through Journaling Learning Activity

Journal Entries
Student’s Name
Institution
Journal Entries
Review of Karpf, Dave (2018) ’25 Years of WIRED Predictions: Why the Future Never Arrives’, WIRED, 9 October. /story/wired25-david-karpf-issues-tech-predictions/.
David Karpf, an associate professor at George Washington University, read every issue of WIRED chronologically to unearth what the magazine’s authors right from the past thought about the future in regards to technological advancement. Karpf’s analysis is phenomenal primarily because he examines the predictions made in the magazine’s issues and reflects on how they came to pass or not. The author’s in-depth analysis can yield an understanding of how humans can observe technological trends and make bold predictions.
An interesting prediction mentioned by Karpf is how the economics of advertising, promotion, and sponsorship will shape the virtual realities that humans inhabit. This to a great extent describes what the current digital economy is all about. The revenues of the companies that control the modern digital economies largely comes from advertising. Technology companies such as Google, Facebook, and Twitter primarily get revenues from selling adverts on the different platforms they own and control. In fact, according to DeNardis and Hackl (2015), social media platforms share data with third parties to maximise advertising revenue generation. Therefore, the prediction about advertising and promotion shaping the virtual spaces we inhabit to a great extent came true.
Another interesting prediction covered by Karpf in his article revolves around fake news. The concern about fake news escalated during the 2016 U.S. election that pitted Donald Trump against Hillary Clinton as well in 2020 when the world experienced the Covid-19 pandemic (Pennycook & Rand, 2021). In 1997, one of the authors wrote about how the internet was opening to information that looked and sounded real but was not. This describes what fakes news is, a menace that the modern internet environment has had to fight in the recent past. In the months leading to the 2016 U.S. election, fake news was shared millions of times on social media platforms (Pennycook & Rand, 2021). It is thus interesting that while the issue of fake news started a long time ago, it was heightened by major events such as the U.S. elections and the COVID-19 pandemic.
In regards to open source, WIRED correctly predicted how the concept would revolutionise innovation in the technological industry. It is important to recognize that originally, open-source software projects were not business-based, they were revolutions against big companies that reaped profits from software (Volpi, 2019). The fact that open source projects are handled by a community of developers who share common interests contributes significantly to its success.
I found this article to be extremely insightful given the predictions that came true. While some predictions such as the demise of traditional media did not come to pass, WIRED provided readers of the past with a great insight into the future. I am confident that the predictions of the magazine influenced some investments into the digital economy.
References
DeNardis, L., & Hackl, A. M. (2015). Internet governance by social media platforms. Telecommunications Policy, 39(9), 761-770.
Karpf, Dave (2018) ’25 Years of WIRED Predictions: Why the Future Never Arrives’, WIRED, 9 October. /story/wired25-david-karpf-issues-tech-predictions/
Pennycook, G., & Rand, D. G. (2021). The psychology of fake news. Trends in cognitive sciences., 25(5), 388-402.
Volpi, M. (2019, January 12). How open-source software took over the world. Retrieved from Tech Crunch: https://techcrunch.com/2019/01/12/how-open-source-software-took-over-the-world/
Review of O’Hara, K., & Hall, W. (2018). Four Internets: The Geopolitics of Digital Governance (No. 206). Centre for International Governance Innovation. /publications/four-internets-geopolitics-digital-governance
Kieron O'Hara is an associate professor from the University of Southampton, UK, and Dame Wendy Hall is a Regius Professor from the same institution. Both authors are computer science professors, and this makes them qualified to write a piece revolving around modern technology. While O'Hara focuses on the politics and philosophy of digital modernity, Hall has carried out significant research in multimedia and hypermedia. In this issue, the authors focus on how four internets are existing concurrently and uneasily.
The four internets as described and discussed by O’hara and Hall (2018) are easily conceivable as one can see their participation in trying to set standards for the internet. While it makes sense to foster internet openness where information across the web is available and free, each of the four internets as postulated by the authors seem to have reasonable justification for their stances. It is true that the four internets are prevalent and have significant control over ...