Converging Technologies
The Future of the Global Information Society
Christopher Altman, Chair Report to the General Assembly,
UNISCA First Committee on Disarmament and International Security
Recipient – 2004 RSA Information Security Award for Outstanding Achievement in Government Policy
Abstract.
The complex web of the global information grid will undergo explosive changes over the coming decades. As advances in science and technology converge, a myriad array of discoveries in biotechnology, nanotechnology and information technology will produce unpredictable effects that must be accounted for in any estimate of what the world will look like in this future.
A strategically important feature of this world will be the emerging trend of information warfare. Though still immature at present day, this trend will become increasingly dominant in the years to come. The information warfare of tomorrow will be radically different from its prototype today. No longer will it be confined to the mainframes of the Internet or to corporate databases – the battleground of the future will draw into its scope scientific advances being made today in bio- and nano- technologies. The divisions between man and machine will blur.
When networked technologies are ubiquitous, a state-sponsored attack on the Internet can have far-reaching – and devastating – widespread physical consequences. This UNISCA First Committee briefing examines the confluence of factors that have contributed to shaping this most unique of times in human history.
Alvin and Heidi Toffler’s Third Wave is being realized. We live in an increasingly information dominated world – vulnerable to attack from the very features that give it its power and versatility. In digital space, location no longer bears any meaning.
