Racing ahead with technology.
When I was talking to one of my very good friends, he pointed out that a lot of new technologies have been coming up, things we never thought we would see within the span of our lifetime. Being a computer science engineer himself, and a great techno-guru, I probed him further to help me shape my article. And the following article is the result of my discussions with him. As obvious as it may be, he was the one with more tech-info bubbling out of him, so the article is written by me in first person, as him being the speaker.
The biggest problem with having tech savvy parents is that you are heavily limited. There’s nothing you can do that’s even slightly illegal in the hope that they won’t find out. Downloading even a 2 MB song was recognized explicitly and all downloads would be monitored.
But there’s always a good side to all of this. You get to come face to face with all the latest developments in technology when they are launched, because your dad brings home every new gizmo.
Regarding this practice of dad introducing us to all new technological developments, there’s a set standard conversation which follows. It started way back with floppy disks.
Once, dad came home with a floppy disk that stored 1.44 MB, and that was shocking. It was 1/3rd the size of the original floppy, which was as big as a record.
When this came along with the reader, dad said “This is the future of tech. One day, everyone will use these floppies”
To this, I scoffed, “Sure, like that’s going to happen.”
And we all know how it was after that. Before the introduction of CDs, floppy disks were as common as computers themselves. It was a wonder storage device, much in use way into the 21st century.
This trend continued on to CDs, and then DVDs – both more unbelievable a change in technology than the other. Then there was a monumental leap to “memory stick”, commonly known as “pendrive”. Dad got the pendrive, and, once again I dismissed it as something too farfetched to be a commonplace technology.
One of the most interesting conversations was when the iPods were introduced. You could play music from an iPod!
“See these? They are iPods. This is the future. Someday, this will be very very common”
“Sure, that’s going to happen.” My sarcasm always got the best of me, and I never got tired of disregarding my father’s prophecies.
Every futuristic technological dream was slowly coming true. And slowly, I realized the difference between “unbelievable” and “futuristic”. As a general trend, the two have always been synonymous with each other. But lines are always blurred when innovative minds come together and churn another unique piece of technology.
Here’s a relatable example. All of us have seen The Jetsons on Cartoon Network in our childhood (and loved it!) Floating locomotives in The Jetsons was a “haha!” but now, there’s Maglev running. Presently, there are two commercial maglev transport systems in operation, one in Japan and the other in Shanghai, with two others under construction in Beijing and Seoul’s Incheon Airport.
At this rate, who’s to say that Peter Weyland’s talk on 2023 won’t be possible?
Peter announced his intent to build the first convincingly humanoid robotic system by the end of the decade.
This gets you thinking, and isn’t that what technology is all about?
Not long ago, the U.S. Epiphany labs invented a “Temperature based Mobile Charger”.
http://m.mygadgetsinfo.com/2013/02/charging-mobile-with-hot-coffee-or-cold.html/?m=1
Then there is Microsoft’s vision for technology.
http://www.istartedsomething.com/20091106/microsoft-college-tour-09/
And how can I forget about the Microsoft Surface, a technology which we imagined, and lo and behold, here it is!
Early this millennium, we would have looked at the technology we have today and said “Now that’s futuristic“. Technology of today is unique because it connects all spheres of human lives. It’s not just there to make our lives easier any more. Your social, personal, professional lives are becoming better. Nobody would have even fantasized an entire relationship happening over phones and video chats, a serious one at that. Distances have essentially become nullified.
Bill gates had no idea about the future when he said, “No one will need more than 637 kb of memory for a personal computer.” Nothing we see today is impossible. When we look at futuristic ideas, what we should infer is that it’s coming. Some day.
So, what did I learn from all of this?
“See this, this right here, it’s called project glass or google goggles. There will be a time when everyone has a pair of these”
“Haha. Right. Sure. That’s happening.”
Nothing.
Ayushi Trivedi
Image Source [http://www.ashleyellis.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/itindustry.jpg]
[http://aborovkoff.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/floppy_disk.jpg]