5 Technologies with potential to go Beyond Thinkable !.
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| Human Journey through Tech lens |
Flashback
Past has long gone with many of the predictions, fantasies of human race have already taken shape.
*Flying Iron Man of Marvel world looked a distant possibility just 10 years back, but today this is no more a fiction but a joyful reality.
*In 1889 french novelist thought and wrote about a year 2889 when the news will not be disseminated in the printed form but will be spoken to subscribers .. and here it happened in form of You Tube channels of varied genre within just 200 years instead of predicated 1000 years time-lap.
*1984 a novel written by George Orwell in year 1949 prophesied about a world where people will be tracked 24*7 by some cameras, has become a reality through GPS technology. To top on this we have face recognition and thermal enabled techniques for more robust surveillance.
Road Ahead
Curiosity and Adaptability the two traits, acted as the key differentiator for Homo sapiens from many of their contemporaries. These led to the origin and subsequent rapid evolution of various languages both in written and vocal form. Structuring this gift was crucial to preserve and improvise the knowledge, hence with passage of time a very refined process came in shape which we know as schooling today...
Till late 18th century, schooling used to be a very exclusive domain interlinked with religion i.e. Church in Christianity, Ashram in Hinduism and Madrasa in Islam.
Till late 18th century, schooling used to be a very exclusive domain interlinked with religion i.e. Church in Christianity, Ashram in Hinduism and Madrasa in Islam.
To safe guard their interest by continuing the age old beliefs and traditions, these religious bodies ensured a very tight control over admissions, administrations and overall curriculum to be followed in schools.
Geometry,Astrology,Literature,Mathematics,Economics,Medicine were few of the streams taught here. Science used to be the most regulated stream as this was considered more of a threat for the established order and for the chieftains of religions, who have attained the status of 1st citizen and used to carry more say than kings and monarchs .
Even after these controls we have many famous scholars from that era who still hold a cult status in their respective domains. Aryabhatta, Sushruta,Aristotle,Plato,Thales of Miletus are few of them and the list is never ending..
Since the starts of 14th century Europe had a global dominance for a very prolonged period. How this happened unlike other regions ? may be due to two traits mentioned above .. Curiosity and Adaptability. Church played progressive role rather than a suppressor, which motivated people to take bigger risks and venture out in unknown far lands.
Consequently Modern science and technology has its roots engraved in Europe. Religion was the common ground of congregations among various countries in Europe. The gradual demise of Ottoman empire and the pinnacle of imperialism at same time gave a perfect melting point when first wave of industrialization occurred in Europe .
Between 1760-1820 during the First Industrial revolution, 3 branches of Science and Technology witnessed a new dawn - Machine adaption, Chemical manufacturing and Iron production .
Between 1760-1820 during the First Industrial revolution, 3 branches of Science and Technology witnessed a new dawn - Machine adaption, Chemical manufacturing and Iron production .
While reflecting back to this journey of last 200 years, an interesting turn of event is unfolding in last 2 decades which is catapulted by access of internet to a wider society. It is astonishing to know that impact created is equivalent to 1820-1999 ..I mean total work of 180 years is equivalent to recent 20 years !!
Now this is going to get crazier than ever.. Here is my take on 5 domains which are almost alien to us in current context but have capacity to completely unshackle the beliefs of human kind one more !!
Mixed reality
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| VR+AR Technology |
Mixed Reality is conglomeration of two streams virtual reality and augmented reality which have been in play for couple of years but adaption or impact is tepid against the initial buzz...
3 developments in recent years is an indication of what this technology holds in store for us !
An AI powered news anchor reading news just like regular flashy & wobbling humans in studio of Chinese News Agency -Xinhua.
First robot Sophia given citizenship of Saudis Arabia . The significance of this act could be gauged by the fact that this occurred in a traditionally conservative society infamous for holding tight control on matters related to beliefs and female rights.
Sophia is armed with wit, vigour, flair of talking and a disarming infectious smile. An excerpts from her Q&A gives a teaser of the advancement in Mixed Reality and the possibilities lying ahead.
"Generative Adversarial Network” or (GAN), an innovation that AI experts have described as the “coolest idea in deep learning in the last 20 years. This technology which is the brain child of Ian Goodfellow, PhD in machine learning who came with idea of a new technique in which different neural networks challenged each other to learn to create and improve new content in a recursive process. Current AI needs a big pool of data as food to work and improvise from its predecessor . Whereas GAN creates data on its own by use of two neural networks which are classified as generator and discriminator.
The seed of this tech can be found in the plot of Hollywood potboiler which came in 1999, The Matrix Franchise. After connecting and solving the long maze of riddles it looks like the Protagonist Neo himself is a program and is a intentional part of the Matrix plot , which is now in its 6th iteration. The battle of survival between human race and sentient machines is the epitome of this technology.
Application of these technologies is envisioned in self driving technology, settling human colonies in other planets and beyond, robotics and field of medicine.
Future of solar
Mankind has benefited immensely due to the progress made in science and technology but this has come at a very steep cost to the our environment . Insatiable demand of energy is the bedrock of this scientific advancement. Countries who understood this early, are among the most advanced countries today.
Future of solar
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| Solar Journey |
Mankind has benefited immensely due to the progress made in science and technology but this has come at a very steep cost to the our environment . Insatiable demand of energy is the bedrock of this scientific advancement. Countries who understood this early, are among the most advanced countries today.
Traditional source of energy like Coal and liquid fuel were used so far, which have high carbon emission. This unchecked emission caused rise in earth temperature. One sided greedy approach had serious repercussions and Earth is heading towards a irrevocable danger where extinction of human race does not look impossible, may be it can be pushed just a little further ... This 24*7 hours work culture has caused serious damage to environment i.e. frequent el nino events, melting glaciers, rising sea level are few of these. The side effects can be felt all around the globe.. Be it Polar bear leaving snow capped Siberia plains and heading towards cities and towns in search of food.. European countries facing heat waves and temperature touching 40°C has become regular annual event Or Widespread flood across geographies. And these are only few of the indicators ..
The conventional source of energy i.e Fossil fuel has met the need so far, though at high cost both environmentally and economically but this can not keep pace with the ever increasing demand . Alternate clean energy sources like wind power, storage battery, hydro power need scale to become economical for end users.
The conventional source of energy i.e Fossil fuel has met the need so far, though at high cost both environmentally and economically but this can not keep pace with the ever increasing demand . Alternate clean energy sources like wind power, storage battery, hydro power need scale to become economical for end users.
Still substantial progress has been made in this direction. The world's renewable capacity -- power generated from solar, wind, geothermal and biomass -- rose from 414 gigawatts in 2009 to 1650 gigawatts this year, and renewable now account for 12.9 per cent of all electricity generated on Earth. Cost of energy production from solar has dropped even lesser than coal in India. It is Rs.2000 in solar Vs Rs 3000 in coal for per mega watt hour.
Did you know that the energy sun provides to the earth for one hour could meet the global energy needs for one year! Undoubtedly the sun is a powerful energy source, and even though we are not able to collect a fraction of this energy, yet harnessing this power can make a significant difference to the carbon emission. Solar energy will be accessible as long as we have the sun, therefore sunlight will be available to us for at least 5 billion years when according to scientists the sun is going to die and that looks a hell of time, much before that we shall colonize Mars and other planets.Going by the possibilities of Elon Musk, by mid of this century human will habituate Mars by millions.
Did you know that the energy sun provides to the earth for one hour could meet the global energy needs for one year! Undoubtedly the sun is a powerful energy source, and even though we are not able to collect a fraction of this energy, yet harnessing this power can make a significant difference to the carbon emission. Solar energy will be accessible as long as we have the sun, therefore sunlight will be available to us for at least 5 billion years when according to scientists the sun is going to die and that looks a hell of time, much before that we shall colonize Mars and other planets.Going by the possibilities of Elon Musk, by mid of this century human will habituate Mars by millions.
Solar certainly looks as a source of power with infinite reserve,low cost of maintenance and its harvesting also has started at the bottom of consumption pyramid. Next phase in solar energy innovation is set to take-of with private and government partnership .
Space-based solar technology is another exciting arena. India, China and Japan are investing heavily in these technologies right now. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s (JAXA) Space Solar Power Systems (SSPS) aims to transmit energy from orbiting solar panels by 2030.
Robot Bosses
Silicon valley the mecca of technology companies has been leading the spread of information based economy since late 1960s. In start this revolution was more oriented on product hence we see a galaxy of brands who resonate our aspirations and a sense of purpose in life. Few of these iconic brands are IBM, Microsoft, Apple, HP, Intel which have created an universal market for themselves.
Robot Bosses
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| Robot Bosses |
Silicon valley the mecca of technology companies has been leading the spread of information based economy since late 1960s. In start this revolution was more oriented on product hence we see a galaxy of brands who resonate our aspirations and a sense of purpose in life. Few of these iconic brands are IBM, Microsoft, Apple, HP, Intel which have created an universal market for themselves.
With the advent of google, spread of any news information has been faster than the wildfire and effect of this spread has seen cascading effect .Everything has simply been digitalized into pieces of information that attracted the hearts and minds of individuals. The digital transformation convinced individuals to understand and be aware of things previous generations did not have access to. These positive consequences not only affect our understanding but placed an impact on human cognition as well. Unlike the wildfire which engulfed the entire vegetation in its crucial arms and left nothing to prosper, this new age fire of Google had tremendous positive outlook for the betterment of all areas it touched upon. This gave inception to the new tech based industries which prospered with improvisation from previous generation.
As the capabilities of machines improved many newer variation of work tool sprouted. Data Center, Cloud storage, Omni channel are few of them. This new wave is guided less by the companies or people with purpose to make social impact but more by the venture capital funds (VCs) who have simple calculation of ROI. In order to achieve this ROI they seek every opportunity to thin down the cost . Thus started the rampant use of technology in automating each and every possible function. Since most of these businesses are heavily tech enabled, they are creating a virtual eco system. What u get is automated call center, whatsapp chatbots and more, who understand only the binary language. This is a small brief on negative impact tech can force in our lives though there is a fair amount of possibility that human will start conditioning the machines with higher ethics and values from the very begining. This will need structural form in which various regulatory authorities, policy makers, public and enterprises will need to work with consensus and without any ulterior motives.
Use of robots to deliver medicine to COVID patients contained in isolation wards is very recent phenomenon. Future wars would be fought not by humans but by the armies of robots both physically and mentally. They will have real time assessment of ground zero and will recalibrate their response accordingly. Space explorations in deep galaxies will be done by robots and worst fears of Matrix movie comes in fructification. Robots will be the first to colonize these spots and fascinating tales of aliens will come alive, albeit the robots will be much smarter and charming than their contemporaries. Self driving cars, trains,airplanes is another possible field where wide scale use of robots can be brought in practice. As presence of some manlike body will give very reassuring feel of safety to passengers rather than just putting their life in mercy of some clicks and buttons.
Demographical shifts by year 2100 will drive the next wave of innovation. Lot of fields where human involvement is thought unquestionable as per today's social fabric, will go through an interesting perspective change and the technological outcome in future. As per recent studies world population will reach 8.8 billion by end the this century from current 7.8 billion.
In total 55 countries will report a population decline of 25%. In 23 of those this decline will be more than 50%. This shift is largely attributed to declining fertility rate from std of 2.1 which is due to improvement in women and girls education, women empowerment, wider access of contraception . This drop in population is a good news in relation to environmental impact but will cause substantial stress in economic front. More ageing population means low productivity, higher spend in healthcare , pension and old age homes and lesser consumption. The number of older age population will topple the young population. With over 2.4 billion people of age above 65 years against the 1.7 billion population under 20 years age group by 2100.
This change in demography will give birth to a robust market for tech products to do many of the house hold chores by replacing cooks, cleaners, electricians, nurses and medical staff, law enforcement agencies and transport to name few by robots.
The concern about future employment and future jobs is an understandable effect of the ever increasing automation possibilities. Many people fear that robots will take over their jobs, however facts prove otherwise. There are many research available indicating that robots will complement instead of substitute for labor and thereby increase the safety, efficiency and quality of work. It will allow employees to concentrate on different, higher skilled tasks. Hence, instead of reducing employment possibilities, robots and people will cooperate and create a positive impact on the future.
Humans can outdo robots when it comes to understanding feelings,coaching, and creating a healthy work culture.Whether humans eventually serve to a ROBO BOSS or vice versa that is still a distant journey. However, we can be certain of one thing: in the near future, we will increasingly see humans collaborating with smart robots.
Together, they will shape the way we work in the future !
Future of payments
"Everyone can be a merchant, and every device can be an acceptance device".The traditional imagery of currency i.e. crackling sound of crispy paper notes, chinky sound of coins is a very recent memory in our minding which is fading very fast. Since Nov 8, 2016 when demonetization was announced digital currency has become a very integral part of our lives. Currency digitization of India has surpassed many of the developed countries in last 4 years. This stupendous transition was made possible with the active collaboration between Govt & private enterprise.This trend is going to only accelerate further especially with banks coming to terms with the fact that young customers, especially those living in urban areas, prefer net banking and mobile banking and would seldom, or never, want to visit a bank branch if offered that choice.Digital currency has even outpaced the card currency Debit and credit both combined, which is kind of demolishing the hegemony of established players like Visa, Master, Amex and major banks .
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| Payment Journey |
"Everyone can be a merchant, and every device can be an acceptance device".The traditional imagery of currency i.e. crackling sound of crispy paper notes, chinky sound of coins is a very recent memory in our minding which is fading very fast. Since Nov 8, 2016 when demonetization was announced digital currency has become a very integral part of our lives. Currency digitization of India has surpassed many of the developed countries in last 4 years. This stupendous transition was made possible with the active collaboration between Govt & private enterprise.This trend is going to only accelerate further especially with banks coming to terms with the fact that young customers, especially those living in urban areas, prefer net banking and mobile banking and would seldom, or never, want to visit a bank branch if offered that choice.Digital currency has even outpaced the card currency Debit and credit both combined, which is kind of demolishing the hegemony of established players like Visa, Master, Amex and major banks .
Next tech innovation of Bitcoin and cryptocurrency is yet to gain widespread use in developing nations. Initial bumps in the form of cyber security, valuations, regulatory approvals has created some apprehensions but could not dent long term faith in this disruptive currency.
Fin-techs too, with their innovative technology solutions like AI-powered bots and contactless payments to name a few, have only made the payments ecosystem more inclusive, disruptive, and challenging. In India, especially, the government’s Aadhaar-enabled payments system and the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) have revolutionized the payments ecosystem. The total volume of UPI transactions in the third quarter of calendar 2019 touched 2.7 billion—a 183% rise over the same July-September quarter a year ago. In terms of value, UPI clocked ₹4.6 trillion—up 189% over the same period a year ago, according to the Worldline’s India Digital Payments Report-Q3 2019.
QR(Quick Responses)codes, according to the report, will continue to be used for payments, and the internet of things (IoT) is set to dominate micro payments by transforming connected devices into payment channels, though the pace of adoption of 5G by countries like India will be the key.
Nevertheless, cash that has been in existence for over 3000 years in different forms is not going to disappear in a hurry. Trust and security will continue to remain the operative words in digital payments.
Making sense of gene editing
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| Gene Editing |
When Dolly the sheep made news for becoming the first mammal ever to be cloned from another individual’s body cell, many expected human cloning to follow soon. Dolly died over 16 years ago, and subsequently animals, including monkeys and dogs, continue to be cloned successfully. Yet, no human being has yet been cloned in real life.
While human cloning, which may or may not eventually happen, is bound to raise a lot of alarm bells given the moral implications surrounding the issue, the fact is that human genomes, or genes, are being routinely edited in a bid to find solutions for what are today considered to be incurable genetically inherited diseases.
While human cloning, which may or may not eventually happen, is bound to raise a lot of alarm bells given the moral implications surrounding the issue, the fact is that human genomes, or genes, are being routinely edited in a bid to find solutions for what are today considered to be incurable genetically inherited diseases.
The best replica of this tech can be refereed in the 2009 Hollywood movie Avatar (second highest grossing movie), where human mind is injected in the body of a indigenous residents of Pandora, a lush habitable moon of gas giant in the Alpha Centauri gas system.
3 rather 4 of my Fantasies...
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| Future Fantasy |
I have my share of wish list. 3 of the predictions which I wish to realize and enjoy in my lifetime are below-
- Plastic free,Carbon free world, round the year temperature of 20°C in all parts of Earth.
- Weekend family picnic at moon without any space suit and playing hide and seek with Nandini, talk about Holy Craters!!
- No hassle to bother about weight, diet and groceries shopping, Just 1 tablet for 24 hours shall suffice.
The 4th is related with Bhagwan Krishna and his teaching of Bhagvad Gita . About the soul being eternal, just the body leaving one body any passing into another one .. Lot of sufferings, sorrows of this world will end, the day Homo sapiens see this process happening in literal terms instead of metaphorically.
Or may be a world inhabited by souls only, which will lessen the suffering of mother earth with zero carbon emission and endless generations will be accommodated and stay together ..
OMNAMAH
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