The Network Society
The expansion of networked digital information and communication tools has caused significant changes in politics, culture, society, and the economy, and this transformation is known as the "network society." Castell claims that networks contribute to our society's new social architecture. He also makes the point that social media or networks by themselves cannot have a significant positive effect on society if they lack the ability to manage and process information using microelectronic based technologies.
Technological Advancements in Networked Systems
Castell also pointed out that the development of GSM networks, which led to the discontinuity of 1G and 2G models in many parts of the world, was a recent example of how technologically networked systems developed systemically but punctuated by significant discontinuities. These discontinuities heralded a new wave of technological advancement in GSM innovation following the deployment of 3G, 4G, and 5G models with higher capacities. With advancement in digital and communication technologies, Castell suggested that the political, cultural, social, and economic aspects of the society are impacted positively.
The Concept of Rhizome and Technological Advancements
The concept of rhizome as depicted by Deleuze and Guattari shows that recent technological advancements have made a big paradigm shift from the past, and most of these advancements are standing-alone innovations. A good example is the research currently being done on Light Fidelity or Li-Fi, which is a Visible Light Communications (VLC) system running wireless communications traveling at very high speeds. Li-Fi doesn't use the conventional electricity as most innovations do.
Future Implications
In conclusion, new innovations have self-expanding capabilities, higher communication abilities in terms of speed, volume, and complexity. The past deployment of 4G (LTE) networks led to higher transmission speeds in terms of voice, data, and video, and we can just expect more from recent testing of 5G and Internet of Things (IoT) technologies. GSM technology has impacted positively in the network society as it has completely reduced the geographical distances in terms of information transmission; this has also resulted in profound socio-economic benefits.
