The Future is… Tiny
Yesterday in my Communications class we were talking about how technology has changed the way we communicate over the years. The teacher (who happens to be an elderly woman) voiced her opinion that technology has made interpersonal communications more difficult over the years, and that it has been harmful for comunicating in general as well. This was interesting to me because all of these new technologies are created to make our lives easier and make communication more effective. However, this post is about the tangent that my teacher went on (which she does often) which was about a story she had heard of that said our (we, students’) grand children will live in a world where everything is micro, including tv’s which will be placed on our eyelids. I laughed this off as I usually do at her silly anecdotes, but then i began thinking about what possibly could happen in the world of technology in the next 50-100 years.
I perused the internet (an invention that most of our parents didn’t experience until their adult years) and found this website. It is a list of future technology predictions, and it was actually very interesting! My favorites were: “A computer that can turn into the size of a small sticky note,” “Holographic mobile phone,” “Genetically modified beans could propel all of our power stations and cars and also heat our homes cheaply” and “Robotic cashiers/tellers.” While some, most or all of these and the rest from the list (you really should look at it) seem absurd and crazy, I can’t help but wonder if they’re possible to make!
I remember in 4th grade we were studying inventions (oh to be 10 again) and we each had to make a prototype of an invention for the future. I made a “pocket computer” which was a computer that was small enough to fit in your purse. Fast forward 10 years and you have the iPad! What was just an imaginative project became a reality before our eyes. I’m sure to our grandparents, they would have thought some of the things we have today were crazy and absurd predictions just as those things on the website seem crazy to us! It makes me think that everything is possible, and someday we’ll be the old people who are unable to do anything with technology.
What do you think about the future of technology? Do you have any predictions?
A class blog on science and science journalism 
Whenever I see things like this I always think of the iPhone. Why have they not moved away from the blocky form? I know that apple has been a common theme on this blog and at GW in general but even with my love for my iPhone I always wonder, why have they not made it smaller? Look at the Macbook Air, if Apple can make a computer that small why can they not make a phone that easily fits into my pocket? I know this is not an issue for guys but it is for girls. Plus with the case it is a big phone and it could be smaller, look at all the other phones out there, or even just the one above. The technology exists, is it just to keep the iPhone look? or to make it fit in your hand a certain way? I have just always wondered why has the iPhone not followed the trend to become smaller?
Your comment really made me wonder why there isn’t a smaller iphone so I decided to go to the one who has all of the answers, Google! Apparently, there are rumors of an iPhone nano but nothing is confirmed. In addition, one article stated that engineers are too busy updating software and perfecting the iPhone in it’s various models such as Siri in the lates iPhone. I’m sure that eventually, Apple will release an iPhone nano, the only question is when. Iphone’s right now are probably the most wanted cell phones (andriod users could beg to differ) but, that won’t last forever. When a different phone starts to get ahead, they would release the iPhone nano as a marketing strategy.
I had heard about the iPhone nano! Sadly these rumors have been going on for years so my hope has gone down a bit. I have even seen pictures of what the predicted iPhone nano would look like, it sure was tiny! I keep seeing advertisements for phones saying that the screen size is even larger, but does it really need to be? I know you can use the phone for watching videos and looking at pictures but you can use a computer for that if you are really looking for the big screen. I would prefer having a phone that fits in a pocket, but that is just me. I want to see the iPhone nano!
It always makes me marvel to think what a technological boom we’ve lived through in our generation; I still remember being six and listening to Walkman cassette player with those big, foam covered headphones on. Now mp3 files are played on thin, light-weight, pocket-sized iPods with touch screens, games, internet, calendars, and no cartridges. And my music hasn’t just experienced radical changes either. BluRay disc collection, the DVR that allows to watch our programs any time, the MacBook Air I got as a graduation present, social networking, WiFi: it all gives me a moment’s pause when I realize just how far technology has come in ten short years. Every time I hear about one of these upcoming innovations that sound like they’re out of a mad scientist’s laboratory, I just remember the iPod and how I used to listen to a boombox in my room or watch a VHS tape or adjust the rabbit ears on our TV to lessen the white snow effect less than a decade ago if I wanted to do the same thing and how impossible the iPod would have seemed to me then.
It appears as though the American sentiment of “bigger is better” is finally dissipating.
Let’s turn the clocks back to the year 1950. Car manufactures compete to design and manufacture the largest and gaudiest vehicles on the road. Airlines are judged based on the size of the aircraft in their fleet. Cities approve architectural designs that will allow them to boast the world’s tallest building. We begin measure the world of science with a tape measure.
The world was big back then. We had room to grow and expand. We had open fields to develop. We had forests and mines and oil reserves to fuel the societal machine. At some point, mankind grew a little too large for comfort. Our footprint on this earth became too defined. Suddenly, we aspired for a smaller, more efficient scientific future.
Of course, our own country was among the last great society to undergo such a transition. For years, the Japanese had been growing fruit in boxes to allow for more efficient stacking. The English had adopted a style of architecture that maximized living space without increasing the actual size of homes. The Germans devised armaments that could be transported more easily and for less total cost.
We, in turn, reversed our mentality. Engineers and designers were charged with building it smaller – slimmer phones to fit in our pockets, appliances that were less likely to harm the environment, and cars so small that they could be powered by a battery.
Now in the 21st century, this mentality has been taken to the extreme in our nation. We are now less concerned with whether smaller technology is more efficient, and more with the “cool” factor that stems from having the smallest gadget. Our computers no longer need to fit on the desk; they are expected to fit in the palms of our hands. Headphones can’t sit on our heads; they must be concealed within our ears themselves.
The world gave us “small”. America gave us “tiny”.
Like all of you, I have marveled at how far technology has come. I have not always been the one with the most up-to-date gadgets, but I’ve always marveled at them and desired the “cool” factor that they give off. I remember being in second grade and thinking I was the coolest kid in school for having my black walkman and N*Sync CD’s to listen to on my morning bus ride. As we have grown bigger, our gadgets have shrunk. Sometimes the prospect of future technology actually frightens me. It makes me think of Zenon (the Disney Channel Original movie), and the crazy space world in which she lived. Her cell-phone like device enabled her to talk to her family and friends through video, much like FaceTime on iPhones today. I fear the idea that machines will one day be able to do many of our current jobs for us, contributing to rising unemployment and the decline of civil society. While I am supremely impressed by all that technology has given us, it still does worry me what will be created next.
Well, there goes my dreams of owning a 1968 Dodge Charger with an engine powerful enough to make the thing go 0-60 in 4 seconds…
But, i’m actually pretty tired of technology. I wish there could be a time when all things electronic stopped working for a week, and we’re forced to get in touch with nature again. I hate it when my friends and I hang out, and all they ever do is text. I hate it when people are glued to their computer screens. Have you guys ever had headphones on for a long time as you’re walking, then you decide to take them out? Nothing ever feels as serene.
I have to say that I agree with linsayann and Jean, although the advances in technology are amazing, sometimes I think they’re just too amazing. I feel that we are losing touch with what’s really important, and are becoming obsessed with having the best and the newest technology. Interpersonal communications have completely changed, as we mostly connect with each other through technology. This creates a barrier between us, and I think this is really a shame. We’re also just becoming more and more lazy, and are depending on technology too much. Like lindsayann said, we are allowing technology to do tasks that people are perfectly capable of doing, which therefore opens up more jobs for Americans.
Sometimes I wonder if we are going to have a Frankenstein moment and realize that we have created a monster. It seems that there are no limits of technology, which is both exciting and scary in my opinion.