Perils of a Hyper-Connected World

What is a hyper-connected world? It is the accelerating inter-connectivity between people globally at all time. This increasing connectivity has in so many ways made our lives so much easier and has also improved the standard of our lives greatly. This inter-connection has virtually managed to influence every aspect of our day to day lives. Social media, e-commerce, smartphones, healthcare – you name it! Digital connectivity has permeated it all and in fact our dependence on it is growing exponentially. We now rely on each other as a result of a greater reliance on networked information. But it is not devoid of certain systematic risks associated with hyper-connectivity.
Many of the global challenges that we face – like climate change, stability of stock market, depletion of resources, world poverty – often appear to entail the impenetrable webs of cause and effect. Hyper-connectivity could exacerbate inequality in the world, both through differing access to digital technology as well as rapid changes in skills required to survive and thrive. Hyper-connectivity is also creating a new level of security risks, from accidents and “flash crashes” to cyberterrorism and increased surveillance. Digital technology has the potential to lead to a world in which individuals face data and decision overload, and a marked change in the very nature of human social relationships. Perhaps the biggest risk is getting hyper-connectivity wrong and ending up with inadequate solutions for the future.
These risks can be broadly classified into five global risk categories: Economic, Environmental, Geopolitical, Societal and Technological. Some of the risks include:
Critical Systems Failure: It is a technological threat. The central point for this threat is single-point system vulnerabilities trigger cascading failure of critical information infrastructure and networks. Respondents consider the risk ‘that a single vulnerability could trigger cascading failure of critical