Blog Entry #9

Lesson Overview
Today’s lesson was on new and emerging technologies. Some technologies discussed during the session were claytronics, plastic technology, wireless transmission of electricity and artificial intelligence. We looked at the drivers of the development of emerging and future technologies.
- Market-driven innovation (where there is a clear need for a solution)
- Technology- driven innovation (we need to educate the public that the technology is necessary)
- Supply can create demand (Prof mentioned that we never knew we needed the Iphone until we experienced it!)
- Advertising
- 4 SMARTs – Smart people, Smart Ideas, Smart Money, Smart Alliances

Interesting Ideas / Observation

Vibrational Medicine
I found most of the readings very interesting and exciting this week. A reading that particularly intrigued me was ‘The 10 Most Important Emerging Technologies for Humanity”. The article touched on vibrational medicine – an area that I feel could improve modern day medical techniques by leaps and bounds. A few weeks back, one of my classmates presented his IOP on NOTES, a surgical method to remove kidney stones from the human body. He mentioned that this surgical procedure could be the least invasive procedure in the future. But we can see that change is always constant, and already a new, more improved technology is emerging. With vibrational medicine technologies, there is a possibility that by using two sound sources and coordinating their configuration of standing waves, doctors and surgeons can manipulate internal organs or biological structures with precision without the need to slice into the patient’s body at all. If brought into reality, this technology would be completely non-invasive!

Augmented Reality
Another technology that amazed me in this article was augmented reality, a live direct or indirect view of a physical real-world environment whose elements are augmented by virtual computer-generated imagery. Prof showed us a video of how our Iphones, or any camera phone, could be improved with this technology. Imagine being able to view data about a certain item simply by looking at it through your mobile phone camera. This article talks about the application of augmented reality in the area of education, where students are provided with imagery, sounds and a user feedback mechanism (like being able to control virtual objects that appear to be floating around).

The below videos are just some other applications for augmented reality. (I particularly liked the app that made trying out new clothes so simple!)

Other applications for augmented reality that may exist in the future:
- Contact lenses with augmented reality apps
- Cars that have augmented windshields displaying directions, time to destination, Internet access?

Wireless transmission of electricity
Last week, we learnt that electric cars would be the ideal, green future for transportation technologies. The shift from fossil fuels to electricity would reduce overall CO2 emissions and reduce our dependency on fossil fuels. However the infrastructure to charge these cars would be a major challenge in the implementation of electric cars. Wireless electricity can solve this problem. Prof mentioned that we could fit all roads with this technology such that there is no need for recharging stations and cars can receive electricity ‘on-the-go’. A classmate proposed an even more interesting application of this technology. What if we could transmit electrical energy to developing countries where they lack the proper electrical infrastructure to make use of advanced technologies? This would enable them to leapfrog upon the technologies of developed nations. The results would be better standard of living, higher productivity and economic development in developed nations.

Claytronics
Defined as the concept that combines nanoscale robotics and computer science to create individual nanometer-scale computers called claytronic atoms, or catoms, which can interact with each other to form tangible 3-D objects. This concept has the potential to change many areas of our life. For example, being able to see a 3D figure of your friend, while communicating with him from abroad. This technology could also be implemented in the media industry. Imagine doing away with 3D TVs or Television sets all together and having claytronics in our homes where we can watch 3D figures move around as if the action was really happening in front of us. Imagine being able to watch a football match as if you were actually a spectator at the stadium.

Driver-less Cars
Google has already started on their journey in making this technology a reality by test-driving their first driver-less car. I can definitely see this technology becoming a reality in the next 2-3 years. Such a technology would firstly lead to fewer accidents. With an intelligent computer with programmed commands and route data, cars will be able to intelligently drive their riders to their destinations in a safe and swift manner. By programming a speed limit in driver-less cars, we can effectively reduce the accidents caused by drivers exceeding speed limits and drive dangerously. Although this technology is great with all its benefits and improvements to society, it will still not be welcome by people who love driving, people like me.

Optical Camouflage
One of the Individual Oral Presentations was on the topic of Optical Camouflage. As interesting as the technology sounds, I feel that there is little to no market for invisibility apart from the military. To maintain stealth in covert or undercover missions, commandoes or spies could make use of this technology. Apart from this, however, I feel there the only other market for this technology would be the filming of wildlife, like someone mentioned in class.

It was also mentioned in class that there are some issues that we may need to look at during the advancements of certain technologies.

Falling in love with virtual people
This is an interesting concept in which future men can program artificially intelligent robots to be their perfect partners. I, however, feel strongly that such a future would bring us more harm than good. In this concept, robots are programmed to like their partners / owners. This eradicates the need for men to meticulously build a good relationship with their partners. Consequently, this may bring up a generation of socially handicapped people.

Genomic Sequencing
Genetics is merely a start-point, what you do with it is what really matters. This ideology was clearly not existent in the movie Gattaca, where the ability of people was judged solely on the quality of their genes. Imagine a future where your resume comprises solely of your genetic makeup. Would this technology not be detrimental by bringing about discrimination against people with poor quality genes? Also, if a person finds out when he is young that he has a gene that makes him highly susceptible to getting cancer in the future, what is he to do with this information? I feel that such a piece of information would only serve to make him bitter and sour during the period of time he has to live. I feel that if this bit of information was not given to him, he may live a happy life before succumbing to cancer. Of course, we have to look at the flipside of the argument. Knowing that he will get cancer in the future may lead one to be ready for the disease. For example, he may decide to save up for chemo treatments in the future to combat the disease at an early stage.

Key Takeaways
Like Prof mentioned, “In terms of the development and application of new and emerging technologies, we are limited only by our imagination – and all to often, the lack thereof.” – We need to be open to new ideas, however outrageous or infeasible the idea is. We need to stop being limited by our lack of imagination and simply allow our ideas to roam freely. If you can imagine it, you can make it happen! Like Einstein mentioned,” The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge, but imagination.”
Innovations require the 4 Smarts – Smart people, Smart money, Smart ideas and Smart Alliances. I feel that the most important ‘smart’ here is smart ideas and smart people. Smart people will naturally come up with smart ideas. Smart ideas need to be beneficial and practical to society. Although I agree that for some extremely beneficial technologies, there need not exist a market for the technology to become a reality. However, I feel that looking at the society’s needs provides a good guideline for one to judge whether a new technology is worth implementing and investing in.

Issues for further discussion
I would have liked to discuss more on wireless electricity. What further benefits could the ability for developed nations to wirelessly transmit electricity to developing countries bring? Is it even feasible and if so, how long down the road will such a technology take to be commercialized? Will developed nations agree to such a concept knowing that developing nations have little to give them in return?
Since my topical review paper is on biometric technologies, I would have liked to discuss more on this area. Where are we today in biometric technology? In my research, I have read about a technology that is able to retrieve your identity by 3D Body scans. Below is a video of this technology used in airport security.

Personal Ratings
9.5/10. On the whole, this TWC lesson was the most interesting to date! I feel that the topic on new and emerging technologies had a big part to play, as I managed to envision what the future may be like with so many new and emerging technologies. I certainly look forward to experiencing first-hand these technologies in the near future. A message to innovators out there, “Please don’t make us wait too long!”