George Bernard Shaw once said this: "You see things; and you say, 'Why?' But I dream things that never were; and I say, 'Why not?" Certainly, curiosity is the key to our vast and limitless innovations; children are perpetualy curious, asking the simplest question "why?". However, what Shaw is trying to say is that, instead of questioning the existence of things, why not ponder about things that aren't here yet? That is probably the main root to how things came about in the first place, and can also be applied to future technologies, things that will will change our way of life permanently.
Prof's quote of the day:
"In terms of the development and application of new and emerging technologies, we are limited only by our imagination-and, all too often, the lack thereof." -Gurinder Shahi-
Today's topic of emerging and future technology is one that interest I would say, the mass population. After all, who doesn't enjoy a dosage of day dreaming and letting their imaginations run wild? The future is ours to make, future tech holds such great potential for us to tap into. Just think back of how much our world has changed since the Neolithic times, from carvings to paper to the computer to smart phones. Now there will be a whole new realm of claytronics, virtual reality and even augmented reality.
As today's topic is on future technologies, and the future is hard to predict much less describe in words, I shall post more videos, as a picture paints a thousand words, imagine how many more words can a video speak of. I was 'youtube hopping' and found several interesting videos of future tech, none that was discussed in class. Take a look at this 'Computers of the Future' video, this technology is really cool and would make laptops and ipads seem redundant and bulky and impractical if such technology really existed.
Today's reading 4 was pretty interesting, about the Ten Most Important Emerging Technologies for Humanity.
#1 The Global Electronic Library (A Global Electronic Library would combine all the available knowledge on the planet -- all books, periodicals, newsletters, journals, newspapers, web pages, spoken word, and more -- into a single, searchable resource available to everyone on the planet.)
#2 Hydrogen Economy Enablers (By shifting to a hydrogen economy, we will solve a long list of problems resulting from the oil economy while creating a cleaner and more productive society.)
#3 Augmented Reality (Like many technologies, augmented reality holds both tremendous creative potential and a truly horrifying potential for abuse. Augmented reality can either enslave the world, or it can set it free)
#4 Practical Robots (Practical robots can greatly enhance our collective quality of life by freeing us from daily labors, serving as true companions and multiplying the realization of our creativity and intentions)
#5 High-Density Portable Power (Today’s chemical batteries are holding back promising applications for emerging technologies, and only a breakthrough in portable power can overcome those limitations)
#6 Fuel Cell Vehicles (Fuel cell vehicles hold the promise to clean up our cities, halt the chronic disease caused by air pollution, slow global warming and once again make personal transportation an enjoyment rather than a burden on society.)
#7 Genetic Engineering of Humans (With the proper technology, maturity and ethics, we could accomplish tremendous outcomes through genetic engineering.)
#8 Computer/Human Interface Systems (Breakthroughs in computer / human interface technologies will multiply the speed of personal computing, eventually approaching the speed of thought.)
#9 Vibrational Medicine (Vibrational medicine is the future of healing. While the eras of physical and chemical medicine are now fading, vibrational medicine is emerging as a far superior model for accelerating healing in patients everywhere.)
#10 Superlearning Systems (Superlearning systems will allow our civilization to take a quantum leap in the transfer of knowledge and wisdom to each successive generation.)
We had 5 presentors enlightening us on future tech today:
Presentation #1: Electronic Paper-Changing the Way we work by Yi Rong
Presentation #2: Touch Technology by Shuna
Presentation #3: Future of Biometrics in Enhancing Security by Darren
Presentation #4: Gaming as an emerging technology by Rebecca
Presentation #5: Smart Cards by Peiting
Shuna's presentation on touch technology was pretty interesting, she mentioned that in our world today, everything is gradually becoming touch screen. Majority of the population own some form of touchscreen device, be it iPhones, iTouch or even normal phones like Samsung. The QWERTY keypad days are more or less losing its phase. Even the newer malls like ION, its shopping directory is touchscreen, instead of the traditional board with all the info chucked onto it, and people scrutinizing the small words carefully to look for one shop. The touchscreen directory at ION makes our lives so much easier, as we can easily source for the shop we're looking for.
I found these 2 videos on youtube, they are ads on blackberry and apple that never came out on TV. They are pretty funny, just showing how the blackberry phone wants to take apple products like the iPhone out of the market, and apple's strategy to fight back. It is humorous as they make use of the blackberry and apple fruits literally.
Future technologies are really fascinating as we never know what the future entails for us. Who knows, 10 years down the road, we will all be using touch screen for everything, user interfaces and virtual reality; books will be replaced by electronic paper etc; the gaming technology that Rebecca showed us in her presentation will exist, and takes over playstation, xbox and even wii. That concept was really really awesome, as it allows you to play games at anytime, without a remote. All you have to do is stand in front of the screen, let it scan your data, and you can play anything, as though it is real. Our lives would really change by then.
However, on second thoughts, all these talks about future technology..none of these are in line with what we have been talking about the past weeks, about helping the developing countries catch up with the rest of the world in this global technology rat race. None of this talks about sustainable development. None of this assures us that the environment will not be harmed at the same time, that it will not widen the poverty cycle and inaccesibility cycle. Technology and World Change, Technology is rising, yes that is definite. What about the part about World Change? Is it on the rise too? Yes, only to certain parts of the world, that have the capital to allow such changes. Food for thought I guess, are we progressing in the right way? Will these changes benefit the poor, or is it only for our convenience, to make lives better for us, without giving two hoots about those elsewhere? Personally, much as I think these future technologies are really great and interesting, and would love to get my hands on one of these, I still stand for my grounds on sustainable development and helping the developing countries get back on this global technology race first. I feel that solving the issues of hunger and poverty elsewhere takes precedence over additional convenience in our already-very-convenient lives.
I would rate today's lesson a 8/10 as future technology is one very interesting topic, and the videos watched today were really an eye opener. I will definitely watch out for these gadgets and changes in the years to come. Hopefully, they will emerge within the next 50 years, so that my generation and I can still live to witness such changes. I feel that my generation is already lucky enough to be in the midst of change from the pager-era to smart phones-era, who knows we might live to be in the midst of paper-era to e-paper-era too!
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