🌊 Cambrian explosion in the internet age
What is Cambrian explosion, From land to the cloud.
This is article 5 of 7 for The Tech Progressive writers community, where we will post 1 article a day for 7 days.
Another term that I have been hearing a lot but don't really understand is the Cambrian explosion. So here I am learning by writing about it, and imagining how it is happening again in the internet age.
🐚 What is Cambrian explosion
Cambrian explosion is a phenomenon that happened around 500 million years ago (before the dinosaur age). Due to the environmental changes such as increasing levels of oxygen and ozone layer formation in the atmosphere, sea creatures rapidly evolved and adapted to live on land. For example the evolution of shells for protection or backbones (vertebrates) to stand on land.
It is a new phase of life on earth. Thanks to this, our land is full of diverse animals and plants as we know it.
☁️ From land to the cloud
I like to imagine that since the invention of the internet, we are also experiencing a similar phase to the Cambrian period.
For thousands of years we have lived mostly in the physical world, being prisoners of geography. Just like the sea creatures that move inland, we are now moving to the cloud.
Some or maybe most of our activities are now done in the inter-connected network. Here are some examples:
Diversification of life: Cambrian explosion created the largest diversification of life in Earth’s history. The internet might have created a new diversified way of life (e.g., remote work, influencers, metaverse, etc.)
Exploration: Amphibians evolved to be able to move in water and land to explore new environments. The internet enables us to learn any topic from our living room, exploring the world with our fingertips.
Mating: Sea animals can safely lay eggs after moving on land. We can now find soulmates through online dating and even stream weddings online.
Source: The new yorker
Conclusion
These are just the beginning. The modern internet has only been around for 40 years. It took millions of years of evolution in the Cambrian period to create new forms of life.
It’s a humbling experience to imagine how our life would evolve again in the future.
Thanks for reading this article and enjoy the weather ☀️.
*Article poster by Eureka alert