Brief Overview/ Introduction
This week’s
session was on emerging and future technologies, where we viewed a few of the
interesting and potentially revolutionary new and emerging technologies in
today’s market. Prof reminded us that it is important to keep in mind the
possible implications, social or ethical, of these technologies, and whether
the benefits that will ensue from them are worth risking the negative
implications that they could bring. Some of these technologies pose very
promising solutions to several pressing global problems like rising carbon
emission or finding alternative energy sources.
Interesting Observations & Ideas:
We started today’s exploration of
some of the numerous emerging technologies with Claytronics, which is a
technology that combines nanoscale robotics with computer science to create
individual nanoscale computers called claytronic atoms or catoms. These catoms
can interact with one another and be programmed to form tangible 3-D objects
that humans can then interact with. I found this technology really cool as it
can really change the way we communicate our ideas with one another. Imagine
being able to design and invent whatever you want, transferring all your ideas
into real-life. I think this would be extremely helpful in eliminating language
barriers in communication, or for handicapped-persons such as deaf persons who
have trouble speaking. Such people can better communicate their ideas in their
daily human-to-human interactions, and help loved ones to understand the personality
and needs more. This would be especially useful for parents, whose
hearing-impaired children have yet to master the art of sign language. This
technology would be extremely useful for personal security too! Clothing made
from catoms can be programmed to become as strong as steel while maintaining
its light weight in times of danger. They can be programmed to ‘sense’ danger
and act as a shield from bullets from example, or they can even become like
cushions to protect us from car accidents! Claytronics definitely has the
potential to greatly affect many areas, be it in business transactions or daily
life, it’s simply amazing, and definitely one I can’t wait to see happen.
Another technology which caught my
interest was plastic electronic as this technology holds the promise for a more
sustainable tomorrow. Someone in class asked whether the use of plastic here is
sort of contradicting our goal of sustainable development and cutting down the
use of non-biodegradable plastics that pollute the environment. However Prof
explained that the potential low-energy production that will be brought about
by it through printing press can ultimately reduce our reliance on precious
earth-mined resources.
The
area of robotics also piqued my interest…especially when Prof showed us a video
on a female robot that can basically be your ideal romantic partner. Woah. Although
I feel it’s really creepy (especially when the robot in the video Prof showed
us has eyes like those … :S ahahha I wouldn’t want to wake up in the middle of
the night and come face-to-face with them when I turn over in bed. Scarreh. ), I
do acknowledge the pros of having a robotic partner…they won’t argue with you,
cheat on or divorce you…they could very well be the ideal partner. Robots have
greater possibilities other than being the perfect companion, they can be
programmed to fight wars too for example, instead of humans, however, as robots
are increasing built with in-built knowledge and decision-making capabilities,
it gives rise to the possible threat of their having information and knowledge
that surpasses that of humans, and then potentially turn against us, just like
in Will Smith’s I,robot.
The
global electronic library from reading 4 is really promising too, as it could
potentially change our perception of intelligence, from being able to memorise
the knowledge and information we see, to being able to retrieve information the
fastest. It may seem as though we are close to this amazing technology, with
information from google or whatnot, but with copyright and intellectual
property issues, we cannot be more far from attaining a global electronic
library, where all the information is available online. I feel that this
technology can be one of the major solutions to achieving one of the MDGs of
education for all, although it has to first achieve the goal of allowing
everyone to have access to the internet.
Key takeaway points:
I feel that
not only is it important to understand some of those new and emerging
technologies that are potentially revolutionary, and how they can possibly
raise the quality of life and eradicating inequality, it is always important to
keep in mind the potential implications that they could bring when evaluating
them. All this while we have been taking a passive stance towards dealing the
ethical and social implications of technologies. However it may be more
effective to take a proactive stance instead, by predicting the implications of
new and emerging technologies before they are implemented on the mass scale, instead
of waiting for problems to develop before seeking solutions. This would help to
increase the positive implications of the developing technology when it is
finally available in the market, and we would then be able to appreciate it
even more. This is especially since many of the emerging technologies are
promising solutions to sustainable development, or eradicating inequality,
capable of improving society’s overall quality of life. One prime example would
be surveillance technologies, which would inevitably bring about implications
to personal privacy and even security. It is important to think of such
possible implications and develop effective or rigid rules of usage or policies
which will prevent users from using the technology immorally.
There are a
lot of different drivers of the development of technology such as unmet market
potential or modifying and building on existing technologies, however I feel
that the common factor in most, if not all, of them is the ability to think of
new ways of doing things, be it from standard protocol. The one thing that
differentiates leaders from followers would be their ability to innovate and to
think of limitless possibilities.
Session Rating: 8/10
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