Eric Schmidt Predicts Entire World Will Be Online By 2020

Google chairman Eric Schmidt has gazed into his crystal ball and boldly predicted that everyone in the world will be online by 2020.

Writing on his Google+ account (and later his Twitter feed – see below), Schmidt estimated:

“For every person online, there are two who are not. By the end of the decade, everyone on Earth will be connected.”

Schmidt‘s prophecy was met with some derision, with multiple users noting that plenty of the world doesn’t yet have ready access to food or water. User Omar Sa’d replied:

“Even the kids in Africa dying of thirst and salvation? Hmmm, let’s hope we can get that problem sorted before enabling them to tweet about not being able to find a supply of water.”

Meanwhile, Jerome Hanson was a little blunter:

“I definitely like reading these thoughts. But this is some pretty lofty s**t to say. Let’s not get too carried away here.”

However, some were in agreement. Gopinath Sadasivam wrote:

“why not… already mobile phones are everywhere including places without access to clean drinking water! Today web sites have desktop version, mobile version of their sites, now add an audio version of the site plus IBM Watson answering masses from some cloud… Eric’s claim makes perfect sense to me!”

Google is certainly doing its bit to introduce net access to more remote locations. The company’s “GEEKS Without Frontiers” project aims to create low-cost technology that can bring wireless Internet to places where traditional wired Internet isn’t possible.

What do you make of Eric Schmidt’s 2020 prediction?

For every person online, there are two who are not. By the end of the decade, everyone on Earth will be connected. #NewDigitalAge

— Eric Schmidt (@ericschmidt) April 13, 2013