Week 2 Reading

The article on Moore's Law interested me in its implications for narrowing the technology gap that we discussed briefly in class. The National Science Foundation has a nice, short article that links Moore's observations on the exponential increase in complexity and performance of ICs, the decrease in their cost, and the increased prevalence of Information Technology. While the article points mainly to the spread of IT into new industries, the obvious implication is that IT is reaching more people. While it's true that access to technology does not necessarily mean an erosion of the digital divide, it does provide some hope.

One thing that surprised me, though, was that while the number of domains and information storage capacity seem to advancing at the same rate that Moore observes, the increase in the amount of information on the web is growing much faster. I'm curious as to what is driving that growth, if not technology. Perhaps, as more people and industries are being connected though IT, there is an accelerated drive to record information to the internet (personal, social etc.) that didn't have any real home except for in our heads. It's possible that the growth of recorded information could eventually fall back in to line with Moore's Law.