Chapter 4: Convergence

Overview

Everything Is Wired to Everything

In a word, this book is about convergence. Convergence is the next killer app! Convergence means different things to different people, which is why it has become such a popular buzzword . My definition of convergence is very simple:

Everything is wired to everything!

This means your television, telephone, cell phone, fax machine, satellite dish, mailbox, computer, PDA, e-mail, ISP, Web browser, cable box, Xbox, lunch box, TiVo, SUV, wallet, and God only knows what else are all wired to a supercomputer that keeps track of your every move! Convergence permeates everything. It is the bastard child of advertising and technology. It was born of fear and confusion. I wrote about convergence in my last book before I even knew what it was called.

I had just attended the Internet World trade show. It was the spring of 2000, the last gasp of the dot-com boom, although nobody knew it yet.

"What planet is this," thought I to myself , as I wandered down the aisle in the first of several huge exhibit halls. This was the biggest, splashiest, richest computer show this side of COMDEX, and I couldn't figure out what the hell half of these companies were selling. I was somewhat relieved to discover many of the exhibitors themselves couldn't explain what they were selling!

It took me a little while to figure it out, but now I know. They were selling convergence! Technology designed to spy on us, predict our needs, and fulfill our fantasies by selling us the appropriate products. Marketers want to march into our living rooms like some digital Dutch uncles and tell us what to buy. This is no news flash. Advertising has always pushed our buttons to sell us products. What's new is the implementation of converging technologies that spy on us as a marketing tool! Advertising, or "badvertising," as I call it, is turning each and every one of us into a human cookie!