Convergence is the brainchild of innovation. Or sheer boredom.
Don't you just enjoy watching the home tv shopping network? Here's a food processor that slices, dices, peels, crisscuts and mashes. But wait!There's more! You can use it make your favorite egg salad without the hassle of peeling off the shell! All THAT for the low low LOW price of $4.99! The Japanese are an even more amusing lot. Which people in their right mind can think of inventing an umbrella that extends down to the ankles? A person with that same frame of mind also invented the internet.
Originally conceptualized as a defense network in the United States, the internet evolved into usenet groups for sharing information, and further evolved into the state where it is now: a global village, a world unto itself, cyberspace --- where you can do virtually what you do in real life. You can talk to people, order pizza, drive, watch your favorite show, own a pet and even... *gasp* fall in love!
Much like how cultures have a tendency to melt into each other (taglish, bollywood, latino rap, boondocks, michael jackson--he's black, he's white), convergence (in its techie sense) is an interlacing of technologies, --- a blurring of boundaries. New uses have been discovered for seemingly incompatible inventions. Take our favorite topic in class -- VoIP... calls made through phone lines from circuit switched to internet protocol. Revolutionary! Another case in point: p2p file sharing (napster, limewire, gnutella) from exchanging files to downloading bootleg music to a backdoor portal for hacking. Still revolutionary.
With the creation of a virtual world also came the infirmities of the real world--cybercrime. Despite that downside to the shiny concept of convergence, technology still evolves at a rapid pace (don't you just regret buying that laser disc player? Hehe), and its benefits outweigh its disadvantages. With the internet, we see technology imitating life imitating technology. Do you know that scientists say it may be possible for ODORS to be sent through the internet? Now THAT is convergence. Ü
In the immortal words of Madonna..."Like a virgin, touched for the very first time. Like a virgin... when your heart beats, next to mine..."What has that got to do with CONVERGENCE? Well, nothing really... at least to our knowledge. Who knows, perhaps somewhere, somehow, someone... out of sheer boredom or a flash of inspiration, may know all along.
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