In my inaugural lecture at the Collège de France in January 2008, “Why and How the World Is Going Digital,” I predicted that informatics would soon be everywhere, that its expansion into all sectors of society and science was only just beginning. This was precisely the time when society was beginning to perceive its impacts, especially through observation of the dizzying expansions of the internet and mobile phones. Many already saw that both interpersonal communications and the structure of labor would be profoundly changed, but few were yet interested in other, less visible aspects, such as the inevitable massive computerization of objects – whose great long-term importance I have stressed – or the problems that would arise from computer security and the collection of personal data. Many talked about it without quite knowing whether to take it seriously. I also mentioned a situation that astonished me, one that remains largely unchanged today: most of the political, industrial, medical, administrative, and legal players I met seemed constantly surprised by developments that were entirely anticipated, planned, and announced by people working in informatics research and the IT industry. Isn’t it surprising to be constantly surprised by explicitly planned predictability? Fortunately, in any case, curiosity was beginning to appear.
Ten years later, I continue to see the power of the constantly growing computerization of the world. Alas, however, I also note the persistence of permanent surprise, now combined with various fears: some rational, others less so…