Ericsson’s vision of a “Networked Society” is beautiful, terrifying

There’s a fine line between technology that enables a better world and technology that makes us head in the wrong direction. Movies like The Matrix, Terminator, and iRobot have given us a fiction view of what could happen if technology connected us all and eventually had the ability to take over. Such a vision has been a distant whimsical threat until very recently. Today, it all seems possible.

We’re On the Brink of amazing things in society, as Ericsson puts it.

The telecom gear maker has put a lot of effort into communicating their dream of the near future with their Networked Society website. The documentary they had created below tells the tale of a potentially beautiful string of technological advances that will completely change the way humans do, well, everything. Meanwhile, their Facebook page for the project is part advertisement, part educational. Even their To-Do List of Tomorrow advertisement asks questions that will make you think.

Why doesn’t our shopping cart know what items are in it?

Their Networked Society City Index pictured above is disappointingly clunky (it’s made with Adobe Flash, for crying out loud!) but the statistics are strong and it seems to be a work in progress.

“The Networked Society City Index interactive tool lets you explore and compare the effects ICT has on society, people, and business – in major cities all over the world. Learn about a city, drag-and-drop two cities and compare, or discover initiatives happening in the cities right now.”

Here is the documentary and 2 other advertorial-style videos that tell us the direction that Ericsson is heading with this as well as gives us insights into where society itself may be heading in the near future.

According to Stacey Higginbotham of Gigaom, “The 20-minute documentary looks at the past, present and future of connectivity and technology, and the impacts on people, business and society.”

20-minutes may be considered long for an online video, but it’s well worth your time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7cuatm_bqw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pzmvjf88Sfw

[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/30848566[/vimeo]