Technological Innovations
April 21, 2009 by ithinkthereforeib
MSN posted an article on the 20 most important inventions of the next ten years today. Although I didn’t quite understand all of them (in part, because I had a hard time imagining them), it did make me think that these are excellent examples of how science involves creativity. I mean, how do you think of a pill that “can be unloaded with mecidine and programmed to travel to a specific part of the body to unload it”, treating different diseases as is needed? The “3D printing” also seemed intriguing (though I don’t quite grasp it), particularly its application to “reconstruct human tissue”.
Though not mentioned here, I have also heard that the technology for an “invisibility cloak” is nearly complete at this point. I find all that fascinating, though I also have moments where I think we are lacking behind with tech development. Just like Slate’s tech writer, I wonder why downloading any movie at any time isn’t a possibly (hence the flourishing of many illegal downloading sites) and Manjoo’s following observation makes me shake my head (I mean, why make the same mistake twice?):
Just like in the music business, eventually the entire home-video market is sure to move online, and many consumers will abandon pirate sites in favor of easy-to-use legal services. The music industry lost a lot of money when it dithered over this transition, and now the movie business seems to be making the same mistake.
Similarly, I frequently wonder why wireless internet isn’t yet available everywhere for free – at least in developed nations? It’s certainly possible, but we are being ridiculously slow here. And why aren’t all mobile phones multi-application devices like the iPhone? I mean, we know that that is where it is all going to go. (Remember when cameras on phones where a novelty? Long time ago, wasn’t it?)
Yet, at the same time all the technology advancement is speeding away from us. I tweeted for the first time today (Manjoo has a recent article for the uniniated of you.). I’m semi-familiar with stumble it or stumble upon, but there are also other internet applications like “DIGG”, “LINKEDIN” and “MIX” which I know only by name. Familiar with any of these? Just hop over to the New York Times, click on any article there and note a box on the side that says “share”, providing you with all these options (and more). And surely, there are other applications I’m not even aware of….
So, how are you all feeling about our light-speed advancements in sciences and technology? (-:
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I only saw this article after posting the above:
Take 1 Recipe, Mince, Reduce, Serve
….. but I found it fascinating. Simply because in one way applications such as Twitter seem predominantly like exercises in narcissism, but then one discovers other individuals that are way more cleverer than oneself and come up with entirely different applications that convey the ingenuity of humanity. Yes, these are only recipes, but could you write a complete set of directions as short as this:
kashgar noodles mix3.5c flour/2egg/t salt; knead+12T h2o. Cut4; roll30×10cm/12×4″. Cut crosswise cm/.5″. Cvr30m.Pinch+stretch dbl. Boil6m.
It definitely takes some skill. Additionally, I am utterly convinced that our online communications are going to have a significant effect on how we use language (hence carefully tracing the phenomenon). The above is not how we have used language in the past, but something intriguingly unique that is developing. Allright, I’ll contain my gushing for today…… (It’s just that some many things in this world are so spectactularly amazing!!!)
Signed,
your easily mesmerised tok teacher (-:
And another application of Twitter:
Mind-Reading Device Sends Twitter Messages
(There are a lot of articles on Twitter on the web this week.)