Ever wondered where technology – and by extension society – is headed?

An observation: read wikipedia. Example given, landlines are on their way out entirely; they will be ubiquitously replaced by mobile phones within 10 years. A fair number of people will say “duh” but where’s the proof? Evidence: read the wikipedia landline article then glance at the wikipedia mobile phone article. You can actually read the landline article in a couple minutes – but the mobile phone article has as many links and citations as the landline article has words!

It’s not to say that landlines aren’t or won’t continue to be extremely useful, merely that their purpose or even consideration is being increasingly replaced and usurped. Imagine if you had a fire in your building, would you think first to reach for the landline where you would be stuck as the fire approached, or reach into your pocket for your mobile where you can keep moving, escape the fire, and still talk with emergency workers at the same time?

Mobility makes sense.

But the argument here is that if you’re curious where society is headed, Wikipedia can be used as an observation tool. As the trend of a tool or resource becomes increasingly popular so its Wikipedia article becomes more complex in citations and increases in length; it’s competition does not necessarily dwindle proportionately, but merely becomes stagnate, confined to historical reference.