Cyberverse: Reflections, Expectations, and Supranets
By Joseph Andrew Settanni, CRM, CPC, RMO [professional biography after end of article]
The now parallel digital universe of computerized and ever expanding data, facts, and knowledge, the cyberverse, will seek to compete, more and more, with the physical universe, as virtual reality becomes so emotionally and psychologically seductive, as to then surpass mere human reality itself.
After all, the binary language has been the epistemological way in which digitization, as an axiology, has become key to the “virtual” in virtual reality, in the hyper- or, better yet, para-ontology being established, as such.
Supranets, as supremely logical adjunct features, will increase and penetrate throughout the cyberverse; this is as the “connected” people both simply expect and crescively, in fact, do then demand enhanced functionality, operability, and mobility of what should be advanced “cyber-communicational-ability” or “cybercomability” as it might better be denominated, for empowering the resulting omni-computers.
Eventually, all the old-fashioned, transistor-based antiques will be, necessarily, replaced by the cyber-directed photonic/optical computers, meaning, in essence, the cutting-edge omni-computers, as had been just mentioned.
But, what is the foundational background of this seemingly ever-exploding digital universe, with its growing multiplicity of digital devices or, perhaps, “digivices,” as they may be called? It may be good here to have a related discussion, therefore, of the history and projections of various transformations or evolutions of the Web, from Web 1.0 to Web 5.0 at a maximum, (for now).
Web 1.0 had, as is known to sophisticated internet users, just covered the fairly primitive origins, circa 1979 to 1990, with relatively simple websites and mostly, e. g., non-dynamic or fixed information/text available; as of, say, 2011, few people under 30 years of age are, supposedly, going to really remember what had once existed in that now, seemingly, fast retreating past, with its often bulky PCs, lack of good technical support, over-promised or generally deficient utilities, proto and real computer viruses, etc. In a manner of speaking, this was the pre-Cartesian Era of the Web.
The once amazing Web 2.0, roughly circa 1991 to 2010, had then seen increased media formats and mobile devices, with enhanced international connectivity, at an exploding rate of usage, once thought to be incredible. One wonders, e. g., if Marshall McLuhan’s “global village” seemed, at last, to have been functionally achieved on earth. And, more chic and virulent viruses, nasty hackers, cyberterrorists, and the rest had, often chaotically, added to the mixtures of LANs, WANs, etc.
Web 3.0, from about 2011 to 2020, is often, intriguingly, called the “Semantic Web” or a "web of data" that creatively and operationally facilitates machines, empowered increasingly by artificial intelligence (AI), to understand the intricate semantics or meaning of information streaming across and on the World Wide Web. For (advanced) computers, it has, e. g., been a “learning” process, indeed, which enhances the capacities and capabilities of the supranets to help organize the cyberspace better.
The crescively hyperlinked, human-readable, web-pages network is, appropriately, extended by inserting machine-readable metadata about pages and how they are functionally correlated to each other; this empowers, consequently, automated agents, therefore, to properly access the Web more intelligently and, moreover, perform multiple tasks for the users as needed.
Thus, Cloud 3.0 will, in addition, lead to the eventual Cloud 6.0 and, of course, beyond many present limitations. Records, then, are to become dynamic entities pertaining to diverse media formats; they will, surely, range well beyond DVDs, SDs, MP3s, holograms, etc.
Formats and technologies, aided by AI’s progressive development, do then encompass the Resource Description Framework (RDF), a variety of data interchange formats, such as RDF/XML, and interesting notations such as RDF Schema (RDFS) and, by the way, Web Ontology Language (OWL). [And, there are too many other acronyms that cannot be covered here in this very brief article.]
They are meant, therefore, to cogently render a formal description of concepts, terms, and relationships within, as should be understood, what is called a given knowledge domain. Virtual reality, consequently, will expand constantly across various realms of cyberspace as virtualization, thus, becomes the future techno-norm, not the exception for the adaptive cyberspacial realm.
The future is, thus, the (parallel) cyberverse as the digital era’s para-ontological order of the digital reality itself, of the digital universe existing for itself. How so?
Web 3.0 is, in effect, to be constantly restructuring the current Web, as should be known, by allowing increasing numbers of users to find, share, and combine information more and more easily. The quite creative notion of this semantic web is, moreover, an image of information-in-process that can be readily construed and empowered by machines well adapted certainly to AI-enabled environments.
The computers (or other such intelligent devices) can, thus, facilely execute more of the often too monotonous work involved in finding, combining, and acting upon the ever growing web-source information/media. One should understand and comprehend that, e. g., records as information and information as records will become totally interchangeable concepts within the scope of virtual reality.
Web 4.0, from, say, 2021 to 2040, has been, e. g., called a Symbiotic Web needed for a projected new level of human development and cognate cyber-consciousness. Through a basic projection of current and anticipated progress, it should be able to both consciously span and better incorporate all of Web 3.0, with its multiplying metadata that are to be prearranged for a rather dramatic synthesis of (Human) Mind & Machines (Binary language) that can synergistically interact, in symbiosis, using this Web 4.0 technology concept and, also, logical means of cyber-decipherment and connectivity.
In effect, the dynamic fullness of a mind-machine techno-symbiotic relationship is expected to both substantially and substantively occur. Various advanced media/records formats, subject to a form of techno-evolution, will be, increasingly, deciding upon their own destinies on the Web. Photonic/optical computers will, in addition, be “thinking” for those human beings who may wish to be relieved of the often daunting and awesome burden of thought, (which is not being praised here).
In more plain language, a machine-cum-computer environment will exist that will become increasingly adroit with the reading of the contents and animations; it will interactively react, moreover, in the form of executing and, also, deciding what to execute first to enrich websites faster with enhanced superior quality and hyper-performance; this is, certainly, to be done with the inherent capability to construct more commanding and dynamic interfaces.
Today’s most advanced websites will, therefore, seem as if they were (supposedly) constructed by mere kindergartners; the cyberverse, thus, should see its basic para-ontological completion by about 2040, if all goes as expected, including the proliferating creation of supranets.
A digital spatial-object science (DSOS) should be pursued for helping to interpret the diversity of data and other objects to be found on the future Web, as to the greatest extent of what might be known of the informational media going across cyberspace, especially when entering into transitional modes of digitalization experiences.
DSOS will, one hopes, provide the requisite methodological and procedural techniques whereby the cyberverse can, therefore, be properly interpreted for yielding more elaborate layers of knowledge extracted from masses of data, of mere facts and information.
Cybertechnology, as a related feature of all or any digitally expansive constructability, must, thus, energetically expand toward the furthest horizons of computer science, if cyberwarfare can, however, be held in check or, at least, have its worst effects and affects somehow mitigated.
Otherwise, the overarching technostructure of the future world can become endangered, though no Utopia is being posited here, which needs to be understood; a technocratic elite, e. g., even now wishes to control any resulting technocracy in the modern, postindustrial world.
Nonetheless, the 21st century’s culmination of computer science may very well be keenly visualized, by DSOS, through its integral formative capacity to allow for thought about the self-actualization of the cyberverse, as to its creative techno-realization of the outermost limits of digital para-ontological development. Such will relate, of course, to the best fulfillment and conclusion of the presumed and best advanced capabilities of Web 4.0. Admittedly, all kinds of speculation exists in advance of much of scientific technology, as it has and always will.
On the other hand, it is hoped that, perhaps, the technocratic elite will not seek excuses for instituting an ideology of “Technicalism,” as yet another harmful ideological ism, for the heinous sake of having power and control over nations or entire continents.
Lastly, WEB 5.0, years circa 2041 to 2050 is, currently, only in the rather ethereal realm of just pure science fiction (for now).
For Reference:
1 Bit = Binary Digit 1024 Terabytes = 1 Petabyte
8 Bits = 1 Byte 1024 Petabytes = 1 Exabyte
1024 Bytes = 1 Kilobyte 1024 Exabytes = 1 Zettabyte
1024 Kilobytes = 1 Megabyte 1024 Zettabytes = 1 Yottabyte
1024 Megabytes = 1 Gigabyte 1024 Yottabytes = 1 Brontobyte
1024 Gigabytes = 1 Terabyte
Increasing numbers of computers now, routinely, have 1 or 2 Terabyte hard drives. But, a Petabyte is about 1,000 Terabytes, i. e., one million Gigabytes. It could, thus, be said that, e. g., 1 Petabyte could hold approximately 20 million 4-door filing cabinets full of text or, perhaps, about 500 billion pages of just standard printed text.
Beyond the level of Terabytes, it is seen that the ever expanding numbers do become, increasingly, rather hyper-astronomical in their, thus, crescive numerical scale.
Over 30 years ago, it once was “reasonably” thought that it would, certainly, take several human generations before (common) computers would actually have Terabyte drives. No less an intellect than Albert Einstein himself had expressed his opinion, in the mid-1940s, that only about 5 computers would be needed in the entire world. Amazing, isn’t it?
When optical computers do, as is expected, totally replace the present transistor-based ones, the latter will then seem, however, to be very primitive, antique machines of a merely or quaintly bygone era. And, as a logical consequence of importance for DSOS, the cyberverse will then have manifestly left behind its period of infancy. The past, as has been said, is prologue.
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Professional Biography
Joseph A. Settanni, CRM (Certified Records Manager), CPC (Certified Professional Consultant) attained his BA in Teacher Preparation, with scholarships, at Manhattan College, magna cum laude; being awarded the McGoldrick Medal for History, 1976, NY, NY; academic honors included memberships in: Phi Alpha Theta, Kappa Delta Pi, and Epsilon Sigma Pi; he went on, with a university scholarship, to get his MA in (American Urban Cultural) History, 1977, at New York University; then, obtained his Archives Management Certificate, NYU, 1978.
Settanni took some graduate Library Science courses at Queens College, City University of NY; earned two Data Communications Certificates at the Technical Careers Institute, NY, NY; he has had an extensive not-for-profit, corporate, and government records work background covering over 30 years. He is listed, of course, in numerous Who's Who books.
He has done paid records management consulting work for both a Federal District judge, concerning the NYPD's Special "Red Squad" Files, and, also, a labor union president, besides doing pro bono consulting work.
His talks, in past years, had been, e. g., before a local ARMA international Chapter, meaning the Mid-Hudson Chapter, and once at a MId-Atlantic Region Archives Conference (MARAC) meeting. The most recent presentation, on the topic of Risk Management, was on May 11, 2011, given before the Ark-La-Tex Chapter of ARMA International, during its monthly meeting.
He has proctored ICRM examinations and was on the 1985 Arrangements Committee of the ARMA Annual Conference that was then held in New York City. Settanni has been an ARMA member since 1983 and a CRM since 1985. He once also had been, for over 10 years, a Certified Archivist. Archives Seminars were held, by him, at the Jewish Historical Society of MetroWest, Whippany, NJ.
Current professional memberships: Association of Records Managers and Administrators (ARMA) International, Ark-La-Tex ARMA Chapter, Institute of Certified Records Managers, Society of Southwest Archivists, and Smith County Historical Society.
Past memberships have included: AIIM, Society of American Archivists, American Management Association, Mid-Atlantic Regional Archives Conference, Long Island Archives Conference, American Consultants League, International Records Management Council, and other organizations.
Past published writing, in print, has included, as main examples, such publications as: Journal of Information and Image Management, Office Systems, The Office, Administrative Management, International Records Management Quarterly, Modern Office Technology, IMC Journal, Document Management, Bulletin of the American Society for Information Science, and the JHSMW Newsletter of the Jewish Historical Society of MetroWest, where he had been, for slightly over 12 years, the Archivist/Project Manager.
More current, online writing is, e. g., found at www.associatedcontent.com and on his blog, etc. Just type in both: Joseph Andrew Settanni and records management, as the combined search terms on Google, and a whole lot of writing, over many years, will be easily seen in the many links listed.
Scholarly or other writing has appeared in such publications as: The University Bookman, The Chesterton Review, New Oxford Review, Faith & Reason, Chronicles of Culture, and Modern Age.
Past Positions held: (in advancing chronological order) Associate Archivist, Salvation Army Archives and Research Center, NYC; Assistant Chief, Records Management Unit, NYC Department of Records and Information Services; Records Manager/University Archivist, New School University, NYC; Records Management Consultant, Helena, MT; Archivist/Project Director, Jewish Historical Society of MetroWest, Whippany, NJ; Archival and Records Management Specialist, Optimus Corporation, Fort Collins, CO; Records Information Manager IV, ASRC Management Services, Denver, CO; General Schedule Records Analyst, Archives and Records Management Division, Office of Secretary of State, Olympia, WA; and Records Management Consultant, Oakville, WA.
Currently, he is the Director of Record Services and Records Management Officer for Smith County, Texas.
