Chapter I: The End Game

One of the disciplines in Stephen Covy’s 7 Habits for Highly effective people is to “Start with the end in mind”. Having a clear goal of what you wish to achieve is very important and I realize it now that I myself have been given the opportunity to see the big picture… The End Game. It is similar to reaching the top of the mountain where you are totally exhausted and where only moments before you questioned yourself why exactly are you climbing this mountain again. But then you see it; the vista; the coup de gras. And then you embark on the trip down with a smile and you know that you’re going to make it to the other side.

The end game is nothing less than the holy grail of computer science, Ubiquitous Computing. First envisioned by Mark Weiser in 1988, ubiquitous computing is the epitome of computing evolution where we live in a world where information and computing is woven into the very fabric of society that they become invisible; the norm. There is however no singular solution to achieve ubiquitous computing, but there is a singular paradigm that will be the cornerstone that enables ubicomp. Same as the wired infrastructure is the cornerstone of the phone system, and that TCP/IP is the cornerstone of the internet, a content-centric network architecture will have to be developed to facilitate the proper propagation of data in a ubicomp environment. Same as the Internet was originally an overlay of the phone system, so will Content-centric networks be an overlay of the Internet. Eventually specialized environments will be developed once the technology matures.

Ubiquitous Computing has been under research now for about 21 years, and I am 23 years of age. A daunting task perhaps for someone of my experience, credentials and resources but I have an edge: Inexperience. In the book Paradigms by Joel Arthur Barker, the highest probability of paradigm shifters are one who is new to the field; someone who is not so engrossed by the current paradigm that they are able to see past the solutions it provides and enables the tackling of problems that were previously set aside.

In order to achieve a content-centric network, the data has to be in an environment that acknowledges the importance of the data and not just the connection. The TCP/IP stack works in the area of connecting computers, same as other protocols designed for the specific network transport method such as Bluetooth, Radio networks and other networks. If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it. So if current network systems are neither wrong nor appropriate to enable content-centric networks, how then can it be achieved?

Using a threefold system that leverages the best networking overlay (JXTA), the best content delivery system (BitTorrent) and social networking theories, the new system will enable connectivity across past, current and future technologies. JXTA provides connectivity that is hardware, software and network independent, BitTorrent provides the algorithm for efficiently transferring large amounts of data, and social networking-based identity system provides data layer security.

To be continued…