|
Spent several days last week researching and writing about Global Warming, Peak Oil and stuff, and because of this, I also spent the corresponding number of nights reflecting on how humankind seems to be headed for the dumps. Crops worldwide are failing, Fuel prices have gone through the roof, banks are failing, bank owners are running (he he he), stock markets are crashing and sometime soon, the size of pandesals will shrink down to the size of cotton balls.
Of course, the daily dose of brain frying heat doesn’t help. I thought the summer months are over! It’s already August for God’s sake! No wonder PAG-ASA gave up trying to predict our country’s weather, delegating the task instead to Sulpicio Lines and the likes while they concentrate on finding rabbit or elephant patterns on the cloud formations over our country.
It’s a shitty time all right - made even shittier by presidents who are claiming that the economy is improving and that the EVAT is helping us a lot. That giving away a part of our country is called peace. That selling off our claim to the Spratleys is called progress. Why don’t we just print the SONA instead of broadcasting it and place it right below the daily horoscope and right beside the feng shui section of our newspapers? That way it could more or less fit in the overall theme of the page – alternate realities and the unexplained mysteries of life. He he
On the other hand…
I’ve been recently watching the Visions of the Future Series in YouTube. The videos were about recent medical, scientific and technological breakthroughs capable of transforming our world 20 to 30 years from now. Don’t get me wrong, these aren’t Star Trek or Star Wars technologies we see only in the big screen, these are technologies that are here today, technologies that are already being used, being improved and pretty soon (unless it all goes downhill from here) will transform the face of our planet.
Biological Solar Power Cells
We’ve all heard about the silicon based solar or photovoltaic cells. In fact this is old news and one that has proven too expensive to use on a large scale. What’s new in this field however is the recent move to combine electronics and cellular biology. Instead of using unwieldy and expensive silicon cells, scientists are now trying to hijack the very cells in plants that convert sunlight into chemical energy. Instead of those chunky blocks of glass-like cells, the biological solar powered cells can be applied much like regular paint.
Imagine a world where all our household energy needs can be derived from the painting material we use on our roofs! No blackouts and no electric bills! Unlimited aircon use, unlimited TV time, unlimited hot water from our showers! Yahoo!!!
Medical Nanobots
Imagine little robots coursing through your body, looking for telltale signs of cancer, accumulating cholesterol on veins, or preprogrammed viruses and zapping them as soon as they are detected. Imagine little robots capable of repairing the damaged cells and tissues deep inside your body – much like constructions workers repair a damaged part of a building. Weird as this may seem, this is actually one of the current projects of the medical field today. In fact, scientists have already successfully designed a tiny microchip that uses bacteria as propellers, much like horses are used to pull a cart. Although the nanobot is not equipped with the zapper, it is designed to carry a payload of medicines or stem cells to specific parts of the patients body. Like it or not, pretty soon, nanobots will be a part of our daily vocabulary. “Here, take two nanobots and call me in the morning”
Military Nanobots (motes)
Of course, it can be expected that nanobots would not be possible without military funding. These little critters were initially designed to kill before they were designed to heal. Remember the little spider like robots in Minority Report? Well, just like those creepy spiders, these military nanobots or motes can also communicate with each other, coordinate their movements (in fact their program is derived from how a school of fishes behave) and share data and processing power over an adhoc network (much like P2P sharing programs like limewire and the Herd computing network setup of SETI over the internet). It doesn’t end there, some of these military nanobots are also designed to replicate themselves much like the viruses we encounter in our computers or real world viruses like aids or the avian flu virus.
Genetically modified humans/ Organ Grafting
It wasn’t thought possible at the time but the Human Genome Project was successfully completed at the start of the century. Think newborn screening, paternity tests or DNA matching moves in CSI and you’ll see that the applications of this remarkable technology has already started to permeate our society.
Today, scientists are starting the next phase of the human genome project which is mapping out the DNA of the common types of cancers in a project called the Cancer Genome Atlas – a project equivalent to more than 15,000 human genome projects done during the 1990s. They have already successfully replaced rogue genes in some simple diseases during the past few years. Next, they are planning to eliminate cancer, find the longevity or aging gene, and set the foundation for intellectually and biologically enhanced humans. This may be the century where we’ll see the first species to evolve from homosapiens with lifespans of 150 years or more, perfect health and enhanced muscular and mental capacities.
Scientists have also already found ways to duplicate some of our internal organs through a process called organ grafting. Forget The Island and how organs are farmed from human clones, organ grafting clones your internal organs externally using your stem cells as its foundation. This means no long waiting lines for heart transplants, liver transplants, kidney transplants, etc. Just get yourself to a hospital, order a new kidney with extra large fries to go with it, throw in a couple of new lungs and you’ll be good as new. So instead of quitting smoking, you might like to save up for a new lung instead. He he
Speaking about cloning, remember Dolly the cloned sheep? Well now, cloning is a regular process in some animal farms. In fact, the beef you may have eaten yesterday might come from cloned cows. Maybe in the end, we’ll just clone our endangered species.
Water Fusion
Forget nuclear power plants and uranium atom splitting. Forget nuclear wastes and radioactive fallouts. The new generation power plants will not be fission but FUSION reactors. And the fuel?, one of the most common compounds in earth – WATER. Water Fusion Technology involves transforming simple water into plasma where the hydrogen atoms can combine to form helium atoms releasing tremendous amounts of energy in the process. A prototype fusion reactor already exists capable of doing this for short bursts of time and a larger fusion reactor is under construction in France.
Imagine unlimited, clean and ultra-cheap energy and what it could do to our planet. Of course, knowing the Philippines, it will take more or less 150 years before we start seeing this technology on our side of the planet.
Carbon Fiber
Yes, I know, it’s only a fiber or a material after all but imagine a material that is stronger than even wolverine’s adamantium, a material made of pure carbon and is as strong as diamond. Steel transformed the face of our planet through the skyscrapers, gigantic ships, new generation cars and equipments made possible by it. Imagine what carbon fiber would do. Carbon fiber is already being produced in laboratories all around the world. The trick is finding a way to manufacture them in mass quantities and large volumes.
Flexible Electronics
Electronic circuits not bounded by the rigidity of silicon chips. Imagine motherboards or circuits that can be bent to accommodate any shape. Imagine laptops that can be rolled to fit inside your bag. Imagine cell phones that can be stretched out into wristwatches. Imagine T-shirts with videos flashing on the front or books that can be loaded with Ebook downloads. Flexible electronics will literally stretch our imaginations as man and machine are welded even more closely together.
Quantum Computers and Immune System Based Security Systems
The use of light to transmit signals through optical cables in our communication systems today is only the first step. The second generation computers and internet will be powered by particles in the quantum level and protected by a security system based on our own immune system. Instead of transistors, capacitors and electrical circuits, quantum computers will harness the power of the atoms and molecules themselves to perform calculations and to serve as memory. These computers will be millions of times faster than today’s fastest supercomputers and will be capable of processing 10 teraflops of calculations per second (today’s computers are only capable of processing several gigaflops of computations).
Quantum cryptography is already used in military and some government networks. New internet security systems already use photons of light as guards for sensitive data. The uncertainty principle of quantum mechanics makes sure that should a hacker try to read a photon protected data, the act of reading the data and the photon itself would ensure the loss of the whole data being sent – in this case multiple streams of data will be used. Just last year, a Canadian company D-wave successfully demonstrated their 16 cubit quantum computer. In time we will see a new breed of computers capable of making calculations that would take a human being billions of years to solve. Moreover, these computers will be capable of designing the next generation computers that will succeed them.
In a sense, the use of photons in protecting data streams is much like the function of phages in our bodies. Just as digital viruses and worms act much like real world viruses and parasites, new security systems are tapping into the intricacies of our immune systems to protect the internet, our networks and our PCs. Firewalls acts much like the filters in our nose and throats, real time anti-virus and anti-spyware systems acts much like the white blood cells in our bodies – patrolling our systems looking for anomalies, Spynets and other intrusion detection systems patterns itself from the danger principle of our immune systems, just as dendritic cells in our body serves as front liners in protecting us from harmful foreign bodies, dentritic structured networks will be used to recognize and respond to attacks on any computer in distress within a network.
Internet Based Entertainment, Commerce and Communications
If you think EBay, Yahoo Messenger, YouTube and WarCraft are cool, wait till you see the next generation developments that will find its way into the World Wide Web.
Think of 3 Dimensional shopping websites that you can explore just like real world malls, this is of course without lugging those bulky shopping bags around. Think of internet based schools where you get to learn just as if you were inside a real classroom with students and teachers around – think of virtual fieldtrips and hands on experience when learning about different planets, virtual hospitals and underground mines. Think of internet based work where you get to sit around a virtual office and gets harangued by a virtual boss. Hehe, Think of virtual family reunions and virtual tours. Think of matrix like environments when playing counterstrike or WarCraft. These technologies are just around the corner. Already Moscow used a virtual reality presentation when it bid to host the Olympic Games – where the judges got to walk around a virtual Moscow transformed by new buildings for the Olympic Games. The US military uses a virtual reality interface complete with haptics to train some of their special units. Second Life has more than 3 million members living their alternate lives in cyberspace. Architectural firms are already using virtual houses where you can explore your house before the first brick is even laid.
YouTube will be replaced by E-TVs – TVs connected to the internet. Our telephones are being replaced by VOIP phones – an internet based telephone where you can transmit not just voice but graphics, video and data as well. Business conferences are already being held online and real world people are slowly being replaced by digital avatars in the internet.
Networked Home Appliances
Your laptop communicates with your printer, your PDA, cellphone, Ipod and digital camera communicates with your PC. Pretty soon, all the appliances in your house will be communicating with each other and even through the internet to serve your needs. This will be done through picanets or localized networks much like your Bluetooth network. Trashcans will communicate with your ref as to what product you have just thrown away, your ref in turn will communicate with an online grocery store to request for deliveries, your TV will learn your viewing preferences and communicate with your recorder to download similar programs, a network guard will communicate with all the network appliances in your home to prevent them from being stolen and so on and so forth. Heaven on Earth indeed!!
Advanced Robotics
Even human made machines are getting smarter. Several years ago, we saw our first robotic pet – the Sony Aibo. This was followed by a robot that could walk, act and talk like a human – The Mitsubishi Wakamaru and Honda Asimo. Some of these robots are already being introduced to hospitals – to act as nurses, homes – to act as maids and battlefields – to act as robocops he he. Some robots are designed to act as modular bots – capable of communicating and coordinating with other bots transforming themselves to any shape to do its job – a snake for tight spots for example, a wheeled bot for long distance travel or a robot with legs for rocky ground. These robots however are severely limited by their programming and processing capacity.
However, at the rate our computers are evolving today – from single cores to multi cores to quantum computers, combined with new programming approaches wherein instead of programming a specific set of commands, robots are given the capacity to learn, it will only be a matter of time before our robots reaches the intelligence of those we see in our cinemas. In fact, it is projected that by the year 2050, robots will have rights.
An interesting footnote though, the pron industry is one of the most active and heavy contributors to the development of robotics. hmmmmmm... does that mean i'll be seeing hentai call girl robots walking the streets in my lifetime? he he he
Cyborgs
If machines are increasingly becoming more human, humans are also increasingly becoming machines. The destiny of our species may even be something like a cross between humans and machines as we adapt and improve ourselves to future challenges.
Scientists have succeeded in breaching the neuron – silicon interface. This means that now, our bodies can communicate directly to computers using the same electrical impulses that drive them. Remember Luke Skywalker with the robotic hand? Well, now this robotic hand is not sci-fi anymore. Remember the holes in Morpheus’ and Neo’s head they use to jack into the Matrix? Now, some brain surgeries for mental ailments like Alzheimer’s and chronic depression involve the installation of microprocessors and silicon chips inside human heads. Remember IronMan? Now, scientists are using exoskeletons to enhance human strength and endurance. Believe it or not, our class reunions someday may see us comparing not just cars and gizmos but cyborg elements in our bodies – much like guys used to compare dynamos and interior parts of their Tamiyas.
It simply boggles the mind that these technologies are just around the corner and may even become commonplace in our lifetimes! I remember when I was just a kid and the cutting edge technologies then were Tetris, ATARI and remote controlled cars. We used to play with marbles, sand castles and water guns, now kids are growing up as if they were born in the internet playing MMORPG games like counterstrike, WarCraft and Ragnarok. We used to throw stinky eggs and wet tissue paper in our neighbor’s houses, now kids are hackers messing around with government sites and private networks. I still remember going to the post office to mail my letters, going to photo shops to have our films developed and payphones in Sari-sari stores to call my friends, now kids are strolling around as if email, instant messaging, digital cameras and cell phones were always there.
Sometimes I feel as if I’ve lived in a completely different era. How much more our parents who have memories of kalesas, black and white TVs and telegraph lines? He he, Well here’s to the shitiness of our present and the promise of the future! I Hope humankind gets through the next few decades intact, he he.
50 years from now we'll either be Gods or Stone Age savages! As for me, We're raising piglets and hoarding rice just in case. ^_^
|
|
|
|
|
0 comments:
Post a Comment