The drivers behind emerging technologies
Emerging technologies do not surface without a reason and Prof shared with us some of these different drivers or push factors. They were unmet opportunities and needs, advancement of technology, the concept of supply creating demand and mass media. I find the reasons below particularly useful because i feel that's probably what is happening in modern times.
1) The advancement of technology have to be the most, if not second most important push factor. In the past, man can only dream beyond their present situation because of the non-existence of technology to realize it. In their days, these geniuses were labelled 'dreamers' because of that. But now, we can safely say we are at the brim of entering a new era of science and technology. Genetic engineering, cloud computing are just the tip of the iceberg, with such a rapid rate of development, who can predict what our future would be like? And all these are possible now. If it is one thing that man have been good at throughout the ages, it is the dreams we make and realizing it eventually. Absurd concepts are no longer out of our grasp and we are slowly but surely moving towards fulfilling more dreams everyday. As quoted from Steve Jobs, "stay hungry, stay foolish'.
2) Supply and demand have always been the foundation of our society and economy. We didn't need a bigger television set, but manufacturers give us 48-inch plasma, then 3D function and now a computer-cum-tv. We do not need a music player, but we still got the iPod, a mp4 and now a phone and a mp4 all in one a.k.a iPhone. All these inventions never come across to us as a commodity but yet now we need them more than ever. Supply of these inventions have instilled wants in us, making us hungry for the latest and coolest gadgets. The pc tablet is a classic example, it was a hybrid of a mp4 and a laptop. Who needs a tablet if you have a laptop? But this logic is thrown out of the window when Apple announce a grand total sales of 11.1 million iPads. We consumers subconsciously get sucked into this marketing trap and manufacturers know that. And that is why they will never stop trying to create the 'next big thing' and pump up the hype about it.
A change in labour
One interesting takeaway was the mention of robots as our future labour. Japan was the pioneer in this field and has successfully created robotic sweepers and companions. But the debate was on how robots are going to replace our current human labour and what the society should do about it? Should we spare a thought for these menial labor workers and discard the idea of robots replacing their livelihood? Or should we instead educate these workers and allow robots to replace them completely? A loss of jobs is something a government cannot afford but at the same time the resources used for educating workers have to come from somewhere. This is an inevitable dilemma for world leaders if we are going to advance further in this field.
Creating the Unknown
One salient point in the readings given this week is man venturing into the unknown with every new creation. Prof mentioned that throughout time, man has unleashed the unknown, not sure of the repercussions arising from it. With nanotechnology, the writers agree that it can be used in many fields but at the same time there are drawbacks such as the invasion of the so-called 'nanobots' into our body. Hopefully, we can draw lessons from past experiences and advance with a little more caution.
Augmented Reality
The interesting takeaway from the "top ten emerging technologies" has to be augmented reality. The writer strongly recommends it for education because he strongly feels that education has to involve all five senses. I agree with him in a way that I myself feel that i learnt more from videos and pictures and it can relieve the boredom in reading books. Education should be interactive and stimulating, it should not be so rigid and 'dead'. Although my education should end before the start of this technology, I am 100% behind this emerging technology.
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