Notes on Collecting in the Digital Future
摘要
This chapter explores particular IT-related developments that may have a significant impact on collecting. Thus, while Icons, Displays, and Digitisation are likely to stay pretty much the same, the latter two may become more powerful. Virtual Reality will continue to increase in affordability and effectiveness. Such systems may enable digital collections to be viewed and described in great detail and remotely. However, the need to wear a helmet may prove to be a drag on widespread acceptance. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is already having a huge impact in all fields, as well as generating significant concerns about its long-term safety. For collecting, AI may both create new objects for collecting, and also significantly improve the searching and management of collections. Should the internet eventually morph into something like a Metaverse, collecting organisations are likely to take their place within it. Unfortunately, the risk of wars, climate changeClimate Change and other disasters, affecting the supply chain of computers, will remain present, with a huge potential impact on collectors. Beyond this, at some point brain-machine interfaces will probably become feasible, and AI will have become a commonplace and powerful adjunct to the human. At that point the impact on collecting is difficult to foresee, though it will doubtless continue in some form.