This week's session discussed emerging and future technologies and all the individual oral presentations introduced a new kind of technology... it would be very interesting to see how these new technologies become common in the future.
Well, the session started off the usual introductory remarks on drivers of emerging and future technologies, it is important to understand what 'drove' the need to develop new technologies. Some of the examples given unmet market opportunities, supply creating demand (example:iPod), increasing knowledge of technological know-how which creates more possibilities for humans. I felt that this week's session simply brought us to the 'realm' of possibility... possibilities that were deemed impossible in the past. Some of the interesting examples of emerging technology that the class discussed were, 3D printing, augmented reality and brain computer interface.
The session also included a short discussion on robiotics and the age old debate on will robots ever take over the world and disobey us humans. We had this discussion in one of the earlier sessions but some new points were brought up in this week's class.
1. One of our classmates felt that robots wouldn't outsmart us as we are the one who program the robot! I completely agree with her... We could always program the robot to do what we want, for example, robots in the assembly line and etc.
2. Yet, it seems as thought people would abuse the 'rules' of robots for personal gains - for example, ordering a robot to 'harm' some one and such.
This discussion also led to how Japan is driving the development for robiotics in order to tackle the aging population problem. It was brought that robots can easily take over menial tasks that border on demeaning - such as factory assembly line work. Some may argue that the manufacturing industry is labour intensive and we wouldn't want many people to lose their jobs to robots, yet it forces people to upgrade and improve their skills instead having a 'safe' menial job in the factory.
Personally, I felt that this session was wonderfully interesting. To be honest, I couldn't really 'grasp' the concept of 3D printing until I did some extra reading. It was inconceivable to me that it was possible to PRINT a hammer or a hot dog or something... yet it is possible.
Another future technology that got me really interested is augmened reality. It also gave me an idea to research augmented reality for my individual review paper on technology and courtship. Imagine seeing the world with a layer of HELPFUL information. It'll be similar to your personal tour guide. This would be one technology I would welcome with open arms and a red carpet. Augmented reality would be a really great addition to education and retail. It would be nice to walk into a shop and use my smartphone and point to a piece of clothing and let the digital information flow in... I would be able to see photo reviews, ways to wear it , price comparison and similar options in other stores. I think that would be super wonderful. For now, I would just need to wait for the technology to be adopted on a broad scale.
I would rate this session 8/10. I had a great time listening to all the presentations and discussions on our future and emerging technologies..
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