Brief overview:
How have we changed over the past 9 weeks? From asking “Why” to “Why not”. Opening our eyes and possibilities and take advantage of innovation to change the world. We re-visited the concept of rising/falling star and derived a conclusion that in order to constantly stay at the top, it is long and arduous journey to innovate and asking “why not?” constantly. Innovation itself is not enough, leaders of innovation must be supported by believers, backed up by good management and should have the insight to deploy the 4 smarts in developing their ideas.
We discussed some of the drivers for the development of Emerging and Future technologies, such as:
– Unmet opportunity and need
– Growing body of scientific and technological know-how. New insights and discoveries lead to previously unimagined needs
– Supply can sometimes create demand
– Mass media and advertizing – changing perceptions of needs
– Confluence of the 4 Smarts – smart people, ideas, money, partnerships.
Bottom line of today’s lesson is: If you can imagine, you can make it happen with the confluence of the above drivers.
Interesting observations:
– AI Robotics – Perfect woman -Lisa. Imagine having a female partner to take care of all your needs. It was noted that AI has suffered in funding because according to researchers, the hype generated adversely affected advances after delivery did not live up to expectations. Should the media be blamed for creating high expectations in scientific research? Is every viable new idea a “breakthrough?”
– Augmented Reality / Facial Recognition – Layers of new information displayed on reality. There will be alot of information on the web, and the pertinent question is how do we maintain our privacy? In my individual report, I touched on this topic and concluded that we should manage our online privacy more vigilantly so that we do not share all of our personal information on the digital media. To many of the younger people, privacy involves carefully managing the disclosure of our private data – what is shared, how it is presented and who can see it, rather than concealing information all together. Hence it is important we safeguard our personal data by being more cautious in putting things up on the web.
– More technologies: Biotech, nanotech, surveillance tech, biometric, fuel cells, computer-based simulation tech, knowledge management etc.
– Wireless Transmission of Electricity- Originated from ideas from Tesla, who was a genius that was undermined by the world. It dawned on me that his failure could be due to the lack of support and confluence of the drivers of Emerging technology during his time. However, with support, funding, resources and information so readily available now, it is definitely worth it to revisit some of the greatest ideas that were buried with time and re-shape them to fit our modern context.
– Electric cars – multiple sources of sustainable energy, cars can be lighter etc. Many possibilities in moving towards fully electrified system that requires less energy and more efficient. Smart homes to receive and generate electricities.
Key takeaways:
Jun Kai talked about Nuclear Fusion and the viability of this piece of technology. I feel that instead of spending astronomical sums of money investing on a technology that has yet proven its viability, we might as well spend money on existing technology that will solve the same problems and put more effort and creating a supply and demand for such existing technologies. For example, solar energy, wind energy etc.
Ratings: 6.5/10
Personal Bookmark:
Technology and World Change 2013 