TWC Session 9

Brief Overview/Summary


The lesson was about emerging and future technologies, we discussed about the drivers for the development of such technologies, such as to tap into opportunities and needs as well as mass media. The drivers can be divied into two groups, technology driven and market driven, while mass media has the power to influence our wants and needs. Several videos about interesting new technologies, like claytonics and plastic electronics were shown.


We could also think about sales and marketing as push and pull respectively. Sales is similar to pushing the products to the customers while marketing is trying to draw the market to you. We talked about the confluence of the 4 smarts, smart people can come up with smart ideas, but without smart money and smart alliances and partnerships(advertising and marketing people, as well as legal people for example patents), they can't do anything as well. Some sort of smart money and partnerships such as legal ones must be there in order to translate the idea to the market.

Interesting Observations/Ideas

One of the videos shown was about these two students in Japan who developed a robot in the form of a woman with artificial intelligence and was named Lisa. Lisa had vocal, tactile and visual recognition. Some of the benefits listed was that there were so many single men in the world, this can help to curb the loneliness of those men. Robots are gradually becoming more human like while humans are starting to become more machine like, it will become very hard to differentiate between humans and machines in the future. These robots with AI could even be designed to fit the tastes and whims of those who demand them, would it be possible to have virtual love in the future, where a person and a robot are both aware of the fact they are in love with each other. This idea is not inconceivable in the near future, but it is albeit a very disturbing one.

Proponents that support such an idea state that it is similar to with the idea of homosexuals, which goes against the very idea of being human and reproducing the next generation. Robot human marriage have been allowed in Massachusetts already, these changes will soon make us question what it truely means to be human since the definition of humans are going to change over time. However, I feel that there has to be a certain line drawn between what may be more acceptable as time passes and what will never be acceptable. For the instance of homosexuals, the two parties that are in love are still humans, regardless of whatever definition of humans one may use, while that between a robot will not fall into all the definitions of what it means to be a human not matter how man-like 'it' may seem. Maybe the next generation will be more open to this, just as how our generation is more open towards homosexuals compared to the previous generation.


Table 1 of Reading 2 gave a summary of the major nanomaterials currently in research and development, such as quantum wells, catalytic nanoparticles and carbon nanotubes. It is fascinating to imagine that something so small is able to impact numerous parts of our lives. Carbon nanotubes have the potential to become 50-100 times stronger than steel at one sixth of the weight. This opens up to doorway for faster spacecrafts and aircraft, since the materials used will soon be lighter and stronger. As for catalytic nanoparticles, it can draw a little skepticism since it was mentioned in class that it is better to augment our own cells to be able to perform such functions than to introduce artificial nanoparticles into our body. Why look beyond the horizon when the answer is simply right before your very eyes?

Augmented reality is where you start with reality and use technology to augment what you have so that you can evaluate how good it is. Our smart phones is one place where augmented reality could be used, imagine taking a photo of yourself and then being able to fit yourself with various clothings and items before seeing which one is best suited for you and buying it. The question then arises whether traditional retail shopping and blog shops will be replaced by shopping done by augmented reality. Personally, I feel that blog shops have the potential to complement augmented reality and even help to increase the success of augmented reality. In light of this, retail shopping certainly seems doomed, but there will be times when people just want to do retail shopping to meet friends and family or even to get some fresh air even if it is more convenient to do it at the comfort of their own homes.

Key Takeaways

Plastic electronics has the potential to shake the computer industry worldwide and trigger the next industrial revolution. A flexible display could be made of plastic instead of silicon, which is lighter and cheaper. If the development of plastic electronics is successful, every silicon material in the future can be replaced by plastic. Imagine a flexible mobile display for mobiles and ebooks, and since the plastic display is most likely less brittle than silicon ones, displays can now be used for purposes which were previously deemed unsuitable for silicon displays.

The Virtusphere is one application which can benefit from plastic electronics, and since my topical review paper is on virtual reality, rather than having the hassle of wearing head mounted displays, the entire sphere could be filled with plastic displays. Since the plastic displays will be cheaper than silicon ones, having the displays instead coupled with highly realistic graphics can really help the user believe that he is in an actual environment. This will coincide with the trend of convenience, even though it is done at a higher cost.

GPS is a blessing as well as a curse, on one hand it is very easy for a person to know where he is exactly, however it is very easy for others to track you easily. Hence begs the question of the lack of privacy. There are certain times where we prefer to be alone so that we can process our thoughts properly, and GPS will actually prove to work against us in such instances. In the future, it will certainly make me think twice before I think about carrying my phone around when I simply want some time for peace and quiet.  

Issues for discussion

The greed of man is endless, and as we continuously try to innovate based on our wants and needs, we are beginning to intrude upon the boundaries of what it means to be human. Is there a need to fall back on our traditional values and beliefs instead? To look back before we continue to look forward? Should religion step in and urge everyone to pause and think before we proceed, will the once great enemy of science become its greatest ally?

Personal Ratings

I personally rate this lesson a 9 as many of the emerging technologies that were shown have been an eye opener, it has certainly made me look forward to what is in store for the future.

"When it comes to new emerging technologies, we are limited only by our imagination (or lack thereof)."-Gurinder Shahi