Vitaliy Katsenelson on 5G technology

The transition from 4th-generation (4G) wireless to 5th-generation (5G) is about a lot more than just the ability to download Netflix movies in seconds rather than minutes.  5G is a transformational technology that in coming years may turn our global society into either a utopian or a dystopian sci-fi movie.  5G uses much wider wireless spectrum, drains a fraction of the battery power, and has lower latency.  The combination of these factors will result in a hundred- if not thousand-fold increase in internet-connected devices.  Streetlights, trash cans, cars, cameras… cows; all will be connected through the wireless grid. 

Here is one example from 2020 that popped up as I was writing this. Amazon has announced that you’ll be able to pay for goods at its Amazon Go stores by scanning your hand. In other words, you’ll no longer need your smartphone.  Your personal data will change its main residence from the personal comfort zone of your smartphone to the cloud. 

We are a few years away from it, but the amount of data created by the 5G network will increase exponentially.  It will transform the internet of smartphones to the internet of things, where smartphones are just a small fraction of those things.  And the potential for abuse of this power to monitor and control people will grow exponentially, too.

~ Vitaliy Katsenelson, "U.S. and China: In the Foothills of Cold War," ContrarianEdge, October 29, 2020