There is an endless amount of news and information on the Web. It truly is mind boggling and would take a small army to even try to keep up with everything.

While sipping down my fifth diet coke before 9 a.m. on Wednesday, I had an epiphany. I thought to myself, “Self, what is next after now?”

Now, of course, this is not about the afterlife or anything spiritual – this is strictly a futuristic forecast towards news, distribution and consumption.

“Good evening Mr. and Mrs. America, from border to border and coast to coast and all the ships at sea. Let’s go to press.” Walter Winchell began his radio show with this statement and is one of my journalistic heroes, an inspirational influence to pursue a career in the media. 

Winchell was an American newspaper and radio commentator who basically invented the gossip column by breaking the journalistic taboo of exposing the private lives of public figures, permanently altering journalism. Plus, he was able to evolve in a changing environment and bridge between media outlets; starting with newspapers, then radio and finally into the early stages of television. 

But, what if Winchell had the Internet? What if he had a blog? In his time, he was the top gossip reporter, whose newspaper column and radio show could “make” or “break” a celebrity. Today, in era of information overload, do you think his impact would be just as noticeable today as it was then?

Personally, I don’t think.

This is a very quick snapshot of our society’s media evolution:

1. Narrators or storytellers passing information verbally to their tribes
2. Stone carvings evolving into handwritten scrolls/books used throughout the middle ages
3. The printing press and print journalism
4. Pony express and postal service
5. Telegraph and telephone
6. Radio
7. Television
8. Computers, fax and email
9. Mobile phones
10. Internet

Obviously, there are a lot more, but this should cover mankind’s major media achievements. So, the big question is, what is No. 11?

Based on history, all forms of media have a life cycle, comprising of birth (technical invention and innovation), penetration, growth, maturity, self-defense, adaptation, and finally obsolescence. We are at a crossroads once again as our latest and greatest information outlet (the Internet) evolves and continues to impact older media in their struggle to survive.

The Internet has transformed our world, but this is only the beginning of the radical changes computers will bring to our lives.  What’s next? The next big adventure, in my opinion, is the stuff movies are made of – Artificial Intelligence.

Yep, instead of merely following human logic, I believe computers will have a form of intelligence that is significantly different from human intelligence and incomparably more powerful. As these computers literally feed on information and “grow” using a globally ubiquitous Internet, it will change virtually every aspect of our lives: business, investing, science, health care, entertainment, and more. 

Since most computing today is used merely to emulate human thought processes, the true revolution will come when computers think as humans cannot. And that, boys and girls, requires surrendering control to the machines (hopefully not Terminator style), letting them race into unknown territory.

The challenge, as it is now and in the generations before us, is to first accept and be comfortable with change and then leverage those new capabilities and technologies – and do so quickly, before the competition does.

So, what’s next after now? Only the future holds the answer to that question, but we all should be prepared for the next stage in information evolution because at one time, our society thought writing something down on a scroll and passing it off to someone was innovative.