Cornell Business

Issue date: 5/3/00 Section: Johnson News

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Jay Walker, founder and vice chair of Priceline.com visited the Johnson community on April 13th. His speech, part of the Park Leadership Speakers Series, was attended by a packed house full of netizens eager to get a glimpse of Mr. Walker's view of the wired future.

He began his discussion with a summary of the five great network grids of the past century. First, the electric grid brought electricity to society. Second, the transportation grid altered society's perception of distance and travel. Third, the telephone grid changed relationships within society and business. Fourth, the broadcast grid has created a new centerpiece in the home, as the television becomes the center of attention. Lastly, and perhaps the most powerful, the computer grid or internet has connected silos within the public and private community. This network is "reinventing the environmental DNA."

Mr. Walker stated, "The challenge of our age is to determine the power of this new grid." The internet presents seemingly limitless opportunity to alter society as we know it. Commerce is evolving from seller-driven to buyer -driven as the interent places power in the consumer's hands. He further added, "We are watching an emerging power and the programming of society." In his view, society is like a newborn whose cerebral cortex is being programmed by the new wired network. The industrial model of society with repetitive learning will be lost. In its place we will have first hand, instant and complete knowledge of all individuals in society. We will have instant access to each other and limitless amounts of information. The very nature of learning and understanding will be changed as all information moves to the information grid. The fabric of society will be in effect "turned around." In this new world, the traditional sense of censorship will be changed forever. As we begin to wear the internet in the form of glasses or microphones, we will have access to the world and the world will have access to us. In this manner, Mr. Walker believes that all forms of traditional privacy and space will be eliminated.

In conclusion, Mr. Walker stated that "The great challenge of the interent is harnessing the power to discover new models of the information age to improve life." He encouraged the attendees to stop and think about not just technological advances of the interent age, but how the internet age is affecting how we live. The affects of the internet age are just beginning to take hold. Productivity improvements and global connection are merely portents of a new altered society.

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