by the middle of this decade, the entire world will be online
Hey. It's 2021. 20% of that half-of-decade you said has already passed. Middle of this decade is 2025. "entire world will be online"? Sorry, but that's not even possible if the whole world consisted only of copies of the USA and if the USA solved its problems :) By the end of this decade, North America won't get out of its political and cultural problems, South America won't do any better to get out of its financial crisis, Africa maybe will get some extra coverage around the few most developed cities, Europe won't be any more united and more likely will be more divided than ever, North Asia will still be ruled by the same parties and companies, Middle Asia, well, yeah, they will get more coverage and surveillance than anyone so far ever before, Australia and north and south pole and the great ocean - no idea. In just 4 years or 9 years from now, it won't be that different than it is now. 30 or 50, that's much more like it. So maybe you mistook half-of-decade with half-of-century?