I was at
the 2012 NDTV Gadget Guru Conclave attending a session on the future of
technology and that set me thinking. The way i see it, one way to predict the
future of technology is to study the way our lives itself will evolve in the
future - what will be the demographic changes, the climatic disruptions,
or even the way today's technology will impact the way we humans exist and
the way we act.
Secondary research almost always suggests that the future of technology
will be fancy and beautiful in design and in aesthetics. Some design
artists predict that that our lives will be surrounded by various glasses, each
of them as intuitive and intelligent as the other and will be truly mobile. The
hardware is another matter of contention - recent consumer devices like tablets
and ultrabooks are catching everyone's eye and they most often constitute the
future that people conceive in their minds. But will technology always be this
progressive?
Will there be a day when the processor speeds will be intentionally withdrawn
to a lower level to reduce the speed of doing things? Or will we see a section
of people going back the feature phones for simplicity?
As weird as it sounds, it could definitely be the
case. An unrelated example is the way more DTC (Delhi Transport Corporation)
buses were barred from exceeding a particular speed limit as a last resort
to their reckless driving styles that affected citizens. So some devices were
installed in the buses that prevented the buses from exceeding a particular speed
limit. The population of social media citizens could also rise to a scale that the most use of networking sites, like Facebook and twitter, will be for customer complaints. This could then necessitate the need for a social media constitution and thereby reduce the frenzy for this medium. There would be a natural impact on the sales of mobility devices like tablets and smartphones.
Today's digital lifestyle could potentially also alter the physical
structure of humans. With more time spent in front of different screens -
smartphones, tablets, TV's, laptops - some natural side effects will be our
eyesight and increasing waist lines (because of
the sedentary lifestyles we lead).
There are many possibilities wherein we may have to pull back our technology escapades, but the point of mentioning this is to realize that everything comes at a cost and the future of technology will not only, always, for all purposes, be progressive.
Very interesting questions raised here. The need to use prudence in choosing and promoting new technology is of utmost importance. We have seen the cultural and ethical vacuum that we have inherited as a part of our obsession with consumption-driven lifestyles. It would be a shame if we did not learn a lesson from that and temper our future choices with that learning. We have to seek true value in the technology we adopt and promote. Enjoyed reading your post. First visit here, will be back for more, I think.
ReplyDeleteHi Subhorup. tks a lot for your comments and am glad you liked my post.
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