The Future Of Technology Is…

Bernard said about the new TV show Caprica, I think that provides at least a glimpse of what future could look like. (Oh I'd love to get some holobands on :D)

In the coming 20 years, the Moore's law is still going to prevail. I think that could be applied to the intelligence of the devices we are going to have. They will know when they are lost and alert the owner immediately. Our personal device will eventually unify into our implants in our body. And no more disabled people! For all could be healed through these devices.

The status of Cyber world will alleviate to a near parallel status to the current world we are in, and a regulatory board is liked to form, regulating the various activities in the cyber world so as to allow people work in the cyber world to earn a living.

Games will be a dominating force on cyber activities.

Too bad I didn't watch Caprica, but holobands sound cool!

I agree with you that Moore's law will still prevail and your idea of devices alerting the owner immediately when they are lost is almost here already. The thought of implants is pretty scary but prosthetic healing sounds like a good thing.

Like your thought about governance and regulation in a cyber world that will be parallel to the real life and obviously, games will always rule :D

Nic, i like how you did not just focus on just technology but the benefits to its users. And that's is what is really critical in this new social media space. we are swarmed with new applications, tools, communities and social networks - typical for any industry in its infant stages. But what that means also is replication, confusion and disconnect with the real world.

what will eventually happen, and hopefully soon, is consolidation. where it's not about the latest applications and gizmos, and all of which aren't converged into a single sign-in or platform. Simplicity is the name of the game and that is one of the key words in your deck. As Seth Godin says : "Over and over again, connecting people with one another is what lasts online. Some folks thought it was about technology, but it's not.“

Great job! :)

Hey Adrian, thanks for swinging by, and I must congratulate you on the launch of Pepperconn's Social Media for Enterprise Groupware. Looking really good, about time someone makes it easy for the enterprise to understand and engage social media.

Yeah, to me, it's never been about the technology. I've seen the best technologies come and go because they did not hit the critical mass. And then we see technologies that doesn't seem very innovative spread like wildfire (NOT talking at Twitter LOL).

Thanks again for your thoughtful comments and all the best to Pepperconn!

The Future Is - fast, light, mobile and seamless.

Fast - where people can communicate with each other thru amazing connection speeds, and in future we'll have technology that makes picking up your phone and calling someone troublesome and slow.

Light - we've all seen Geekonomics's 400gb thumbdrive, we've seen browsers do amazing stuffs, we've seen the latest Quake Live played directly via a browser with no need for a monster gaming rig. it's exciting to anticipate what will technology give us in future.

Mobile - moving around (in the world) and still connected to everything, with no hassle, been able to do whatever you are doing in the office and at home like fire up the rice cooker or run your laundry. we've all seen that in movies and IT exhibitions but who really has that at home and can afford it? The Future will tell.

Seamless - a world with no passwords and security risks is probably what I would think The Future will be. No need for remembering 101 passwords and security questions. No need to manage your multiple emails. You are YOU, when people wanna look for YOU, they email YOU, they send YOU text messages, they ping YOU.

I guess you are saying the future is FLMS or MLFS? Nice one. I can't imagine, what's fastest than picking up your phone to call!? But intriguing thought. Love your thought on LIGHT, especially since you made direct reference to my 400GB thumbdrive! ROFL.

Like your take on Mobile where home automation technologies, which are already here today, becomes mainstream through the use of your mobile.

On your idea of seamless-ness, yes I totally agree and can't wait for that day coz my head is about to burst with my 101 passwords! Your idea of :

You are YOU, when people wanna look for YOU, they email YOU, they send YOU text messages, they ping YOU.

sounds like what telnic is trying to achieve with their .tel domains!

The future will be a day of reckoning when:
1) Cool IT trends from China makes it way around the world, which will happen soon after the population proficient enough in english reaches critical mass
2) Singaporeans realise that our neighbours, and China, have stopped desiring to learn from us, cos we aren't too advanced vis-a-vis them, contrary to what their teachers in school, or the local press, may be saying

Sounds bleak....? Ya...but let's hope pockets within the tech community in Singapore will rise to the occassion and churn out trendsetting ideas....just like how our forefathers did at HDB, JTC, SAF, EDB etc etc. when they were faced with a terminal situation. Ok, i'm old enough and have lived through those turbulent periods, so i know...

Look. The future of IT has to one where what we do benefits the economy value-add. If the IT scene in Singapore is confined to geeks lapping up cool gadgets from overseas, then... there's no future in IT:-P.

Hey Simon, thanks for swinging by! I like how you think about cool gadgets and technology being developed out of Singapore just like how our forefathers innovated.

For cool IT trends from China to make their way around the world? I already see it happening. For example, the accelerometer in the iPhone? I first saw it in a mobile in a China-made mobile, about 1-2 years before the iPhone came out. There's a lot of other cool technology in China now which they are putting into their mobiles!

Hey Bernard,

Thanks for sVinging byE. LOL just kidding on that V and E there. Lemme see:

BUBE FUSEV (not sure not to pronounce that)
VUBBE FUSE (this might work)

I agree with you that the future is efficient. I really like that thought. But Virtual? Augmented reality yes, which I talked about. Matrix reality is a pretty scary thought, if you ask me. But is it possible? Anything is possible in the future :)

Nic,

Probably, I think that you have missed out on two letters: "V" and "E". First of all, the future is virtual, meaning that there is a possibility where our consciousness can move from the real to virtual world and back. It's like the matrix reality or till recent, if you have started watching Caprica, the prequel to Battlestar Galactica series. Second, the future is efficient. It is likely that we will discover another way of dealing with renewable energy given the amount of money pump into solar tech, wind power and etc.

Hmmm.. does V and E have a place to your word?

@kicktheball - LOL good one. I think the commenting engine here is less robust. Like you leave a comment and I don't really get notified. Quite a few people told me they saw this discussion and wanted to comment but the discussion got too deep for them and they took too long to formulate a thought and gave up. LOL but thanks for contributing to a great discussion here! On your point of ADD/ADHD, I like the idea of the 'attention economy' where attention seems to be a rare commodity in this future world of distractions catalysed by technology. In the future, he who controls attention controls the moolah :)

Where'd everybody go? no comments in 5 days? I think that may be interesting statement about the future as well. We are so distracted and competition for attention is INTENSE. Are we creating ADD/ADHD? We sample something for a while and then something newer comes along. We find a funnier, more helpful, more interesting whatever and off we go. So there you have it, diversity, hope, connected (but not too deep?), fantastic, mobile, personalized, and wonderful in many ways. That seems to be our future.

thanks for kicking off a stimulating discussion, Nic and good luck.

@kicktheball - that explains why one of my customers have been buying up dried up oil fields in Texas for a song. I once judged a MBA business plan competition where the idea was to go all around India to collect used cooking oil from households, restaurants, etc to make bio-diesel and mix it into your normal diesel. The maths didn't add up after we considered the cost of driving around in lorries collecting the used oil! And this is before processing and mixing! You raised an interesting point about the food crisis being deepened by bio-diesel. I remember this was one of George Bush's last declaration before he left office.

In IT, we always have a saying "user problem". Today, I played with a Segway and while marvelling at what a great device it is, I also noted that it was almost totally intuitive with your body movement. So end of the day, it's not about the technology but about the user, going back to your point about "inability as a species to overcome our greed and prejudice".

I think this is where the line is drawn for technology innovators and device makers (currently as least), that they can make devices to be as usable and intuitive as possible, but they will not be able to develop technology that can make humans better and overcome our "greed and prejudice". Who knows if this will change in the future?

p.s. The Segway is a great device by the way, one of the truly disruptive technologies that will change the way we get around in future.

Welcome to the dialogue, Prescious (great name for MANY reasons, no I am not flirting) I couldn't agree with you more. Nic, did you know that thanks to improved technology coal burns virtually clean? also, oil field thought to be dry have apparently refilled and oil harvesting technologies along with fuel conservation means we have access to oil that will last hundreds of years. It is staggering. The greatest irony of the last year is that biodiesel and corn based fuels actually pollute more than petrochemicals and by turning corn/food into fuel we managed to deepen existing famines and create others!

We have the technology to clothe and feed the world, but we don't. In the US farmers are actually paid to NOT grow food!? Equally amazing developments have occurred in the medical field. We have the technology but we don't use it? Sad.

The future is rife with potential and truly incredible advancements but I keep getting hung up on our inability as a species to overcome our greed and prejudice. If only technology could do that!

I received some emails saying that they can't drop a comment here. Will check if there's anything up with the commenting system

New search always gives new way to human life and make it more easy to solve problems.

I guess you mean "new scientific discoveries"?

Hello
This is a good post about the future of technology.I have also checked that video and slide show which you have given.Its really good.Thank you very much for showing that video to us.

@carte memoire - thank you for your kind comments. Which is the part about the future of technology that resonates most with you?

@Precious - So you think that green technology will grow at a rapid pace in future despite the recent fiasco? That's good to know coz I agree that the way we are taking resources from our planet is definitely not sustainable. What do you think about @kicktheball's comment on researchers making computer memory out of fungus or algea (Univ. of Connecticut)?