Could there be something that can beat the internet?

[cider float 2,538]

I've been thinking all the new inventions like social media and google search engine were just mere upgrades on the internet, they never went beyond anything more than that. But what if something goes beyond the internet? This is some abstract thought but what if there was a higher level of communication and acquisition of information we never thought of?

Edited October 14, 2016 by cider float

[They call me Loyalty 1,948]

You'd be surprised, if you only looked the other way around. Mmmm.... no, no, no, too vague.

What I mean is, it already exists. But you're not using your whole processing, due to some fine tunning done by the royal families a long time a go. Only a small percentage of your organic computer is put to use. And that's good!

Trust in the process, you are the highest creation.

Sigh, I really love you behind your many impersonations. Perhaps one day the veil on the sky will fall apart, and you'll realize why such an advanced creation, is unaware of so many things.

[Guest]

Doubt it's gonna happen anytime soon, though I'm 100% positive that there will be a LOT better ways of communication rather than our typical internet.

[Invincible 2,091]

Truthfully, the internet is a medium, a communication infrastructure between computers that, using various protocols, allows us to experience recreation, search engines, message exchange, etc.

 

To "beat the internet" would be to invent something that communicates better, and offers more applications (as well as better experiences on existing ones!) than the current internet offers. I'm not saying it's impossible. Future technology that relies on newer methods to transfer data with a wider variety of options would obviously allow such things.

 

But look at it this way, wouldn't that simply be another generation of "the internet"? 

[cmarston1 5,959]

As of right now, I can't see the internet being replaced or beaten by some other form of technology or form of communication.

[PonyMage 228]

Honestly, the only thing I can think of at the moment to improve upon the internet is if we found a way to technologically give ourselves a sort of... psychic power.

Think about it. With phones, almost any information is just a search away. Any person ready to communicate can easily be reached, texted, voice called.

The only way to beat that, so far as I can think of, would be to give ourselves the ability to access it faster. As fast as thought, and without any cumbersome physical objects to carry around. AKA, more or less telepathy and an ability to tap into a vast database with our minds and have the info we want instantly transmitted directly into our heads.
 

[Dreambiscuit 10,094]

Honestly, the only thing I can think of at the moment to improve upon the internet is if we found a way to technologically give ourselves a sort of... psychic power.

 

Think about it. With phones, almost any information is just a search away. Any person ready to communicate can easily be reached, texted, voice called.

 

The only way to beat that, so far as I can think of, would be to give ourselves the ability to access it faster. As fast as thought, and without any cumbersome physical objects to carry around. AKA, more or less telepathy and an ability to tap into a vast database with our minds and have the info we want instantly transmitted directly into our heads.

 

This is true. I would imagine the highest level of communication would be instantaneous thought transference. It's certainly not computer based and that's a good thing; less glitches and dependence on faulty technology. If we could tap into all the abilities of our own brains, there would be practically no limit to the possibilities. 

[Sunny Fox 5,952]

I would guess that transhumanism is the next step. Probably everyone will eventually have brain interfaces that allow instant communication. 

[Luminance 2,186]

Physical teleportation.

[Anneal 2,197]

I would guess that transhumanism is the next step. Probably everyone will eventually have brain interfaces that allow instant communication. 

 

That's actually...not that far off. Within the next five years we'll see the introduction of the revolutionary 5G standard, which allows for higher network capacity and increased Internet service; devices would be more personalized and interactive. Around that time we'll have the capability to text or type by simply thinking about it. A few years ago we already had something called the "Brain Twitter Interface", and while we haven't seen any public trials yet, it's very much expected that these devices will function fast enough to make words within seconds (though it still requires some mental concentration). 

 

With that kind of technology at hand within five years, imagine how close we are to instant communication directly from the brain. 

[Techno Universal 2,575]

Or if we manage to gain access to the DATANET the system that controls everything. It would be good as you can do anything you want like even creating completely new universes. But if it gets into the wrong hands it could delete everything in existence leavening nothing but infinite void.

[Guest]

Talking to people, face to face in real life? lol

[Jokuc 8,174]

Not really. There might be some sort of technology to communicate with other people through thought, but I really don't think anything will come close to becoming as good of a resource as the internet is. At least not within 500 years.

[gamecubeguy214 2,512]

Conversing through the internet is nice and all, but it's all about talking to tomatoes. All this time I've said my time offline is playing Smash Bros is a lie. My time offline consists completely of communicating with solanum lycopersicum. I wouldn't say so. The internet is an amazing thing and I don't think we need anything better than it.

[zerox 1,144]

I don't think that anytime soon anything will come close or be better than the internet

Edited October 17, 2016 by zerox

[-Deleted- 25]

Nothing can beat the internet, the internet is life xD

[Glacies Frost 428]

Since the beginning of the industrial age, with rare exceptions, most innovations brought about by mankind were improvements upon already existent systems or creations. In the technological age, this is more true. Look at Windows as a system. It still relies on the original base kernel that MSDOS was run off of. As far as replacing the internet, I think the closest we can get to that is something along the lines of the way that Frequency Modulation (FM) Radio ended up usurping the then-dominant Amplitude Modulation (AM) Radio.

 

I don't think we'll get a replacement for the internet so much as a more functional and widely accessible version that will allow more and more people to communicate than ever before... or... you know, we could make the internet a VR Experience like those chat rooms in Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex.

[Concerned Bystander 2,903]

It's hard to imagine anything that will be better than the internet without simply being a better internet, that is to say merely an improvement of the existing systems to make them faster and more easily accessible rather than being a separate creation.

 

Brain data interfaces have already been mentioned, but that is just another way of accessing that which already exists.  The internet will certainly evolve to keep pace with advances in technology, but I doubt it will ever be replaced outright by anything entirely different.

[Kenshiro 13,493]

I believe there are still some techs that more powerful than the internet but we haven't discovered it yet. Some people say that internet is an extraterrestrial technology..

[Radiance64 7,053]

The only thing more powerful than the internet for communication would be straight up mind reading

[silvadel 1,393]

Wetware will connect you directly via a brain to computer interface.  You will have the answers to your questions at the speed of thought.  May they be right, and not messed with.

[EpicEnergy 23,224]

I don't think something will beat the internet anytime soon, but maybe sometime way into the future something will beat it.

[TBD 17,256]

Me when I ruled the world? 

[Olly 1,011]

Perhaps some form of sophisticated virtual reality, or a "super internet" something that capitalizes on the strengths of the internet but does it better.

[Luna the Great of all the Russias 2,998]

Somehow I am not exactly fond of the idea of a machine capable of logging every single thought you ever thought and transmitting that to some other party.