Digitized Lives, Ch. 1-3

It is always incredibly interesting to find out how things transform through the ages. It is also intriguing to see how things end up being used even though they are created for something completely different. When the internet came out, it was intended to be used strictly for military and scientific purposes. This is a prime example of how through time and creativity something already big can be transformed into something even bigger with several unintended results.

The internet started with smaller intentions of just reaching two specific groups of individuals, but now it has grown to something much larger than ever anticipated. "The internet, to take a pertinent example, was designed with the needs of a small number of military personnel and scientists in mind" (Reed, 11). However, these intentions soon expanded due to a group of "geeks" in silicon valley. These "geeks" created user friendly internet browsers, which over the years ended up giving billions of people the opportunity to connect to one another. Internet was once though to be a phenomenon, yet now it is here to stay.

Internet has changed the way we do everything. It has changed the way we talk, network, spend our time, and one of the biggest things is that it has changed how we shop. E-commerce has decreased the number of people that physically go into stores. Fortunately enough, thanks to the internet we are now able to sit back at home and thoroughly enjoy shopping from the comfort of our La-Z-Boy recliner.

Further, it has completely altered the world of logistics. Before the surge of e-commerce retailers would have to have stock stored away at a fairly close location in order to restock certain items at a fast rate. Now manufacturers are basically making items by the order. This reduces storage fees and the item can be shipped directly to the consumer once the item has been created.

An invention once just created primarily for military and scientific purposes has transformed into a land of endless possibilities. Not only that, has had several unintended results. There was no way that the inventor of the internet could even possibly imagine completely changing the world of logistic and how people do their everyday shopping. The internet has grown into something bigger than ever imagined.