In many ways, I believe we have only scratched the surface when it comes to how the Internet can change our lives overwhelmingly and forever for the better. Many of these benefits of the Internet are a direct result of The Challenge Dividend. For example, the Net makes it easy for companies to launch and exploit innovation niches. We have a more vibrant, global economy that is continually working harder to make our lives better.
I am also continually amazed that the Internet brings the power of easy access to information. Through the Net, we are able to uncover the best and worst companies, products and people. The Internet gives anyone a voice, and through search and cache, the stories are saved forever. The challenge of this open, eternal information is pressuring people and organizations to be better and more honest, a dividend for both the economy and society.
In recent weeks, I have discovered three specific, unfolding examples of how the Internet is further opening up the world to the challenge of public exposure.
First, Google's Eric Schmidt announced back in October that the Internet could soon serve as an instant lie detector for politicians' statements. According to Schmidt:
"One of my messages to them (politicians) is to think about having every one of your voters online all the time, then inputting 'is this true or false.' We (at Google) are not in charge of truth but we might be able to give a probability."
Second, last week Slate magazine highlighted new claims of plagiarism that are resulting from comparing passages within Google Book Search. New authors are now subject to a instant comparison to millions of pages on file, and even historic authors are not immune. Herman Melville, for example, seems to have borrowed several naval technical passages from Henry Cheever in Moby Dick more than 100 years ago.
Third, the Internet is becoming the ultimate hoax buster. Yes, in some ways it has increased the spread and awareness of hoaxes. I remember first going online in 1995 and receiving emails about vanishing hitchhikers and free money from Bill Gates. But today a more sophisticated online populace is more apt to check facts and less likely to forward unproven emails. Urban legends and rumor busting sites are quick to get the real facts. There is even some data to suggest that the rise of the Internet has been a direct cause of the decline in UFO reports - as millions of skeptics are unleashed to dig into the real truth of doctored photos and questionable stories.
Information is power. And absolute information challenges absolutely. Once again, the dividends of challenge improve our economy and our society.
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