Have you ever read The Last Question by Isaac Asimov? If not please do because I think Asimov is describing the not so far-off future there.

The point is humanity is changing right now - fast. Some 20 years ago the Internet wasn't much more than a dream of some computer geeks and today it changes humanity itself. How you ask? I do think a lot about things like Wikipedia, Cloud Computing, Online Communities and Open Research these days and it dawns on me that this is where the future is.

'Duh!' I hear you say. But I might have a bigger scope in mind than just some mid- to long-term business plans and social changes. Give the Internet a few years time and we will become part of it - not just as part takers but as a real part of the net. The net will grow smart over time and it will be all around us and we will all be in it.

My humble opinion is that we will merge with the net at some point in the future. There won't be a Internet and a user but some kind of hive mind that we all are part of.

This might sound like freaky stuff and totally science fiction like but even Stephen Hawking hints in that direction: "Humans Have Entered a New Stage of Evolution"