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 Singh-”
True as this quote may be, we still need to have much more in order to develop and apply new emerging technologies. We then talked about the “4smarts” to kickstart future technologies. Namely: Smart people, smart ideas, smart money, and smart alliances and partnership. Hence, besides having smart people to have fertile imagination, and feasible ideas, we need investors and often the government’s support to carry out the ideas.
Reading 2 then gave a little insight on the different government spendings in nanotechnology and AI. It gave us an idea about how nanotechnology, AI (Artificial Intelligence) and biotechnology have progressed together. As AI can be boosted by nano technology, and nanotechnology may converge with biotechnology as it uses the structures of biological system to manufacture the tiny nano machines.
It is interesting to note on how they try to foresee the near future and where we could be going in terms of the nano tubes. It mentioned that instead of using carbon fibre, there will be nanotubes, which boast of being light weight, yet stronger than steel. Such new materials can be used in many forms and will open a whole new industry in terms of material engineering.
However, one point to take note is that this article was written in the year 2003. 7 years have past and the development of such nanotubes have yet to be seen.
Another quote introduced to us in class was: “You see things; and you say, ‘Why?’ But I dream things that never were; and I say, ‘Why not’” –George Bernard Shaw-
Basically I feel that it portrays the same message as the electric car and smart efficient energy grid video, which ended with a phrase, “The world is going to change, let us change the world!” Basically, we have to be different and stand out in order to lead change and lead the development of new technologies. Instead of accepting things the way they are, we must stand up and ask why can’t it be different?
This ties in with Reading 4, which talked about the top 10 emerging technologies we can all look forward to. The part that stood out most to me was about genetic engineering, where we can “rewrite our own software”. There has been a lot of debate going on recently regarding this issue as many opponents will condemn the proponents as trying to play God and going against Nature. While the proponents argue back that it is only for the better of the human race. Genetic diseases such as blindness, and cancers can be prevented and humans can live longer lives. Then again, it links it to reading 2, which brought in the whole issue of genetism and medical ethics. It talked about how instead of racism, humans now discrimination one another in terms of their gene pool.
Therefore, I feel that there must be a balance in everything that we do and as we develop new technologies in the future. To please both sides, genetic engineering could be done in a way that it is only used to prevent genetic diseases, but not to enhance the human nature. One problem is that this is a very fine line that we are threading on. Who will be monitoring the changes and the development? And more importantly, how?
As we further analyze the article, we realize that we are already on our way to the future technologies as mentioned in the article. For example, we now have 3D display on flat screen monitors. The challenge now is how to make it like a holograph and have a true 3D display system, like that in Iron Man, which wow-ed many viewers.
Also, reading 1, a website that talks about all the interesting stuff that is going to be developed. It mentioned about upcoming technologies such as robots becoming more and more humanized. These robots are able to adapt and respond to the environment and surroundings around us, just like humans.
Another future technology which I feel is already nearing is augmented reality. It is exciting to see how it is slowly being incorporated to our daily use and people are slowing learning how to use the technology. Now, whenever I try to look for the cheapest parking space in town, I turn to my iPhone, which tells me all I need to know with the right app. Also, I am able to find out where sells the same product the cheapest by merely scanning the barcode with my phone’s camera. To sum it all up, augmented reality is basically adding many layers of information to our current reality. With such technologies, life has been made so much easier and has made information so much more accessible.
Our classmates then shared about the new exciting rising technologies namely:
Presentation 1: Electronic paper
Presentation 2: Touch technology interface
Presentation 3: Bometrics in enhancing security
Presentation 4: Gaming technology (about kinect)
Presentation 5: Multi card
I felt that all these technologies are already in the pipeline and I am really excited to begin using these technologies when they are made available. Changes and developments are inevitable and in order to keep ourselves on top of things, we have to embrace these changes!
Today’s lesson was really interesting, where we uncovered many new forms of emerging technology and were fascinated at what could be made available to us in the future. Hence, I rate today’s lesson a 9.5/10.
See you guys next week!
-Thong Yong Sen (Matthew)-
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