Flying cars, the hadron collider, cyborgs etc and now as I look back these things don't seem to be futuristic anymore. A couple of months after I read about the cyborg robots, the first humanoid robot Honda Asimo came into existence, the case of the first human cyborg kevin Warwick also came to my attention during that time, The CERN Collider also started up in 2009, flying cars don't seem to be so far away either.
This all brings into question as to where is this future leading to. Man seems to have no bounds to both imagination and determination in terms of pushing the boundaries. I keep wondering what would the world of tomorrow look like, the world inhabited by our descendants, would it be like the stories I read in Isaac Asimov's Foundation series, which to me seemed surreal then, but now so very achievable. A thought to ponder.
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I agree that tech. is increasing at a rapid pace.
ReplyDeleteI never read Asimov's foundation series, so I can't comment on that part.
I don't think that a world where flying cars are common occurrences is possible though. The introduction of tech. like flying cars at a low cost for public transportation would probably need a complete overhaul of the transportation system.
As for cyborgs, there probably are thousands worldwide...(artificial limbs, etc.). Also, cyborgs are not necessarily futuristic because doctors have been 'creating' cyborgs for centuries... You should specify
If you look back in history, the railway system has undergone several complete overhauls when they change their gauge system. That calls for laying of all tracks all over again. I dont believe man will ever give up on such projects just because of some extra works. After all it is these projects that keep them dreaming ad hopeful of a better tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteAs for the cyborg I was talking about, is more like an autonomous stand alone like Honda Asimo or Sony Qrio. Prosthetic limbs with AI have been in existence for past 5 years only and even the ones used now are prototypes. Kevin Warwick is the first human cyborg, having successfully integrated microchips and other electrical devices in his body so as to control various electronic components around him.
I would also beg to differ on the existence of cyborgs in the past, the term was coined as a word to explain a cybernetic organism in a science fiction. The application of it started with the C-Leg, a prosthetic created in 2002.
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ReplyDeleteWell, the thing is that laying the tracks again is doable, because there is already a sort of infrastructure for it. We are simply improving it. But personally, I think that a change as drastic as letting flying cars become a common mode of transportation won't happen. I mean, controlling airspace right now is already difficult because of the different flight levels(altitudes). If flying cars were to become a common mode of transportation, monitoring, protecting, and enforcing air traffic would be nearly impossible due to sheer volume to cover.
ReplyDeleteAlso, climate change is one of the hot topics today. Airplanes are know for its high carbon emission. Due to the bad rap it is taking in terms of environmental consciousness, I think that the focus is going to be more on trains and cars. In my opinion, I think that in future, efficient land transportation is going to remain the priority. But who knows what the future holds...
Oh ok I was basically speaking of cyborgs as simply a being with biological and machine components. In terms of cybernetics, you are right. And I agree that it will play a large role in the future.
What are the technologies of tomorrow? That's a big question!
ReplyDeleteI must admit that I too am a very avid reader of Popular Science. I always like to read them, especially when I was a kid. I liked to look at the pictures of the crazy gizmos and gadgets that engineers and inventors came up with.
As far as what we will see in the future is anyones guess. But I may be able to shed some light on who may bring such technology about. I think that in the future we will see a lot of small startup companies and organizations create some awesome things. If we look at the car industry there is a lot of comotion about going green. One of the biggest things is electric cars.I think you all may have heard of one particular car company named Tesla. Telsa has been in the news a lot recently. They are a small upstart company designing sporty electric cars. They look just like luxury cars today but are faster and run on batteries. The company is small and has big plans for the future. Currently they have famous people on their waiting list for when they are able to deliver their new cars.
Another example of big things coming from a small few is google. Who would have known that today we would be using google for almost every part of our life. We need to look up a recipe we use google. Get directions we use google. Check our gmail we use google. And most importantly when we try to find articles to english paper we use google. Google was started by just two people, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, in the late 1990's and now has products in a lot of different field. Google and Tesla have many things in common, but the most important is that they have something that everyone wants. I think that in the future will be a lot like this. Built by the inventor and engineers who can give people something fun and exciting, and now with the globalization brought about by the interent I think we will see this start on a very small scale.
In my closing thoughts I think that tomorrow's technology is dependent on the biggest dreamers. And with that I will leave you with a little song by my friend Willy : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0sgwz-f-u4