What is the Information Age?

Your eyes slowly open. One blink, you see a bright red-light flash. Second blink, the same red-light flashes. You hear a repeating voice, “Hold Steering Wheel, Hold Steering Wheel.” You look up to find your car has stopped in the middle of an empty intersection. Your eyes frighteningly recollects at the central control unit and the notification bar reads “Auto-Pilot is unavailable for the rest of this drive. Hold Steering Wheel” in big-red-bold-font. You press the accept button, dis-engage Auto-Pilot, and drive to the nearest hotel to rest until the sun raises. I’d like to ask, what would of happen to this guy if we did not rely on the information that surrounds us?

How are we able to effectively automate something as complexed as driving? One word, Information. In the 20^th century, we relied heavily on fossil fuels and mechanical innovation to only find ourselves in a sobering predicament, our environment. Now in the 21^st century, with modern technology, we shifted gears to The Information Age. The Information Age, broadly speaking is the societies ability to readily access and utilize information for human advancement. Since the turn of the 21^st century, there have been several historical breakthroughs in our society that has helped shape what The Information Age is today such as innovations in consumer products.

First, undoubtedly the biggest Information Age breakthrough in modern society is the release of Apple’s iPhone. The iPhone introduced a world of instant information. During Apple’s Keynote of 2007, Steve Jobs said, “This is a day I have been looking forward to for two and a half years. Every once in a while, a revolutionarily product comes along that changes everything …and Apple has been very fortunate to be able to introduce a few of these.” I believe to this day, that is exactly what Apple accomplished. With the release of the iPhone, Apple incorporated a simplistic yet sophisticated User Interface that laid the foundation for succeeding smartphones at which promoted ease of use. Essentially, Apple provided our society a user-friendly consumer device that allows on-demand access to the internet, all at our fingertips. Our ability to quickly access the internet promotes productivity, development, and efficiency.

Furthermore, tech giant Tesla leverages a series of cameras, sensors, and software to not only automate driving but also strives to eliminate society’s dependences of fossil fuels stated by Tesla’s mission: “…accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy.” Additionally, Tesla has also implemented a feature called Active Safety which uses information derivates from its technology to predict and avoid crashes which will collectivity increase human life expectancy.

In conclusion, our society has entered The Information Age with the help of several technological advances from various companies. These technological advances range in purpose, but have one a thing in common, the innovation that has access and utilizes information for the better of mankind.