Topic: The Dawning of a New Era

[Stogi]

I've been stirring this idea around in my head for sometime and as time goes by, it becomes more and more true.

Whenever you have a problem, where do you turn? It's almost always to someone or something wiser than yourself; a book, a friend, or a parent. Now that the internet is expanding and becoming more and more apart of our daily lives; how are you solving your daily problems? If you don't know the answer to a question, where do you turn? Where else but the internet?

Today is becoming more about how to find information than actually knowing the information. It's astonishing how easy and quickly we can become instant experts about very complex ideas. If I don't know something, you can be sure I can find out. That's what this new age is about. And this is just through text. Web 2.0 brought more complexity to the internet, but what about Web 3.0? Could they put an end to books and texts as we know it?

Now some historians have called this generation the "dumbest" but why? Because we don't know who the 24th President is? Or we don't know where a certain country is? Give me two seconds and I can find out for you. Do you see what is happening here? Do you see what will happen here?

Can you explain why when one man has discovered something, that ten people like him around the world also discover it immediately afterward? Is there already a collective consciousness?

But I digress. It seems like tech companies are racing towards one ultimate goal: communication; the faster, the easier, the better (but of course, under their system only). The race is becoming more and more competitive; with technologies becoming smaller and more precise. Everyone is wanting to be the "next"; the next iPod, the next Razor, the next iPhone. It's been 7 years since the iPod was released and now look at the technology we have access to. Can you imagine what we can't live without 7 years from now?

NOTE: I saw today a commercial for a new phone that allows webcam like chat over your cellphone. This has been in Japan for quite sometime, but it's astonishing how quickly our technology is moving. Soon enough it'll be the staple, I'm sure.

Companies who plan to become rich shouldn't be thinking about the next iPod or the next iPhone. No, no, they should be thinking about the next infrastructure, the next base for technology to climb to. Do you really think in 10 years that our cellphones and TV screens will be anything like they are today? There are already screens out now that can literally fold and wrap around itself and nanotechnologies and chemical sciences that have literally shrank the size of a computer chip to a speck of dust. Technology is coming. It's coming fast; really fast. And in the end, you will have two personas: yourself and your digital self. Both of whom are just as important and literally feed off each other in a symbiotic type of relationship.

Can you picture the technology of the future? Can you picture your lives in the future?

For instance, I have a lot of ideas of what will literally shatter the perceptions and the foundations of how we learn (especially in classes and universities around the world) that I am keeping tight lipped about; but I'd like to say one thing: interactivity is the key. There is nothing more engaging and more interesting than interaction. The act of change or the ability to change: it is why we do everything. Think about it.

Now, I don't know why I am writing this; perhaps because I plan to make my fortune with technology or maybe the intangible feeling of catching and writing down your thoughts; but what I do know is that science will rule the world. Hell, ever since we dropped the bomb it already has. Still, someday, when our collective thought can finally be tapped into and our goals and aspirations for our world can finally utilize the entire worlds energy, where we focus on problems with all our might; it is science that will prevail. The natural laws of this world will tumble and make way for a transition that literally scares the living hell out of me. It is then that we will find out what humans really are: innately good or innately evil.

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

Lay off that Force, Luke.

[Mario]

Then an asteroid hits the earth in 2015 and we start all that from scratch again, and Reggie won't survive because he hasn't played Disaster.

[Stogi]

I actually believe if we make it passed 2050, we could handle an asteroid heading for earth.

[RABicle]

Oh. I thought this thread would be about ERepublik

[King of Twitch]

"Can you picture the technology of the future? Can you picture your lives in the future?"

Funny you should ask that, we just had a thread about that

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/forums/index.php?topic=11684.msg151609#msg151609

[Stogi]

I remember that thread. Pretty funny ****.

It's weird. I was doing this as an experiment to see who would dwell into the philosophical, scientific, and even the business aspects of this discussion, and no one has yet to. I posted a control in another forum and the conversation is becoming more and more energetic, with people responding with thoughts I had yet to come up with.

It's sad. I thought we had the highest ratio of intellectuals on this forum. /cry

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

We're smart enough to not waste our time at work on this.

no offense
i has churro

[Stogi]

Yet your willing to waste it with quips?

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

Cheaper in the long run.  More efficient thinking vs. time ratio.

[Stogi]

Ya, but aren't you the least bit interested in how technology will shape your future?

[Bill Aurion]

Not really...Outside of videogames, I couldn't care less about the future of technology...In fact, my tastes sort of wish for a regression, as I know in the future there will be the eventual extinction of print media, and I would rather lounge out on the sofa with a book than read it on the computer...Hell, I spend enough time on here as it is!

It also worries me, as a med student, that technology will result in further laziness and worsening health (think Wall-E)...Technology needs to be utilized in a way that makes our lives better, not what makes them easier...Convenience really isn't convenience in the long run...

[Stogi]

Have you heard of E-Ink? You maybe interested in the compromise.

And I completely agree with you. Technology should make our lives better, but it is human nature to simplify the complex; to make what was hard before, easy. And though technology does breed laziness, it also has significant uses in health, and as a med student, you will undoubtedly use the ever changing landscape of technology to rid ailments and disease. So don't bite the hand that feeds you.

And is it too much of a stretch to think that technology could reverse the symptoms of laziness?

[Bill Aurion]

it also has significant uses in health, and as a med student, you will undoubtedly use the ever changing landscape of technology to rid ailments and disease. So don't bite the hand that feeds you.

Well that's why I said "makes our lives better, not what makes them easier"...Technology should have a more ambitious purpose outside of being able to order pizza from the couch using TiVo... =)

And is it too much of a stretch to think that technology could reverse the symptoms of laziness?

Yes, very much so...Trends in obesity and other laziness-induced medical illnesses can attest to that...Back years ago, when kids wanted to have fun, they'd have to go outside...Now kids have TV, computers, and videogames (Wii Fit withstanding)...Who cares about exercise? ='D

[King of Twitch]

WII FIT.

Just yesterday I was looking through the new REI catalogue at the "Suunto Core Multifunction Watch" and was amazed at its ability to keep track of depth/altitude, storm alerts, directions.. then I looked at the $250 price tag and went WHAAT?

In addition to the HD false revolution, the forced digital conversion, and vidya game third parties, it's easy to see that the future is always limited by short-term quest for $$.

[Stogi]

it also has significant uses in health, and as a med student, you will undoubtedly use the ever changing landscape of technology to rid ailments and disease. So don't bite the hand that feeds you.

Well that's why I said "makes our lives better, not what makes them easier"...Technology should have a more ambitious purpose outside of being able to order pizza from the couch using TiVo... =)

And is it too much of a stretch to think that technology could reverse the symptoms of laziness?

Yes, very much so...Trends in obesity and other laziness-induced medical illnesses can attest to that...Back years ago, when kids wanted to have fun, they'd have to go outside...Now kids have TV, computers, and videogames (Wii Fit withstanding)...Who cares about exercise? ='D

That maybe true, but never has physical perfection been so wanted than in today's society. People are probably exercising more for the sake of exercise than ever before. And as we learn more, we know more. Such as what is good for us and what isn't. Our society has built a huge market on health and health products. I'm not talking about medicine, I'm talking about Kashi cereal and non-fat yogurt. So while you maybe correct, there is another side to the coin.

WII FIT.

Just yesterday I was looking through the new REI catalogue at the "Suunto Core Multifunction Watch" and was amazed at its ability to keep track of depth/altitude, storm alerts, directions.. then I looked at the $250 price tag and went WHAAT?

In addition to the HD false revolution, the forced digital conversion, and vidya game third parties, it's easy to see that the future is always limited by short-term quest for $$.

Money will always be the fuel for innovation. Most people want to believe that the people handing out money to researchers are doing it for a charitable cause, but that is naivete. New research means a new strangle hold on the market and ultimately more money. 

[Bill Aurion]

That maybe true, but never has physical perfection been so wanted than in today's society. People are probably exercising more for the sake of exercise than ever before. And as we learn more, we know more. Such as what is good for us and what isn't. Our society has built a huge market on health and health products. I'm not talking about medicine, I'm talking about Kashi cereal and non-fat yogurt. So while you maybe correct, there is another side to the coin.

This magical interest in health has little to do with technology and more to do with the aftermath of discovering what technology has been doing to people...

[ShyGuy]

bring on the dark ages.

[Stogi]

That maybe true, but never has physical perfection been so wanted than in today's society. People are probably exercising more for the sake of exercise than ever before. And as we learn more, we know more. Such as what is good for us and what isn't. Our society has built a huge market on health and health products. I'm not talking about medicine, I'm talking about Kashi cereal and non-fat yogurt. So while you maybe correct, there is another side to the coin.

This magical interest in health has little to do with technology and more to do with the aftermath of discovering what technology has been doing to people...

Not really. It's the other way around. It's technology that allows us to look at health in a new light and ultimately analyze what our habits are doing to people's well being.

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

I pay attention when the cool stuff gets conveniently smaller and cheaper.

My cell phone... does almost nothing.  I typically receive no more than 2 calls a week, and make no more than 1 call a week.  Average weekly phone time: <60sec.

[DAaaMan64]

In this new era, is it pronounced ear-uh or air-uh?

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

ARRuhh

[ThePerm]

the technology i pay most attention to is sd cards. Their price keeps climbing downward. were entering a world where great technology will e widely available at low prices. Optical media sucks ass. I can't think of how many time i've screwed up a cd or a dvd because of some problem, or made a cd or dvd and then found something i wanted to put on it. 8gb sd cards can be found in some places for $17 (Fry's electronics phoenix, arizona) Pretty soon 16gb cards can be found for the same price. At this point a person can fit a couple dvd movies on them. Other than the internet already has, this will revolutionize how quickly we can move information.


Daaman64, depends on where in the sentence i say Era.
ex 1.
End of an earuh.
ex 2.
In this Aira the dinosaurs were huge.

same with either

[ShyGuy]

Maw compooter just had an era. A fatal exception era. THANKS TECHNOLOGY

[oohhboy]

Now days there is an overabundance of information. Sure you could look up pretty much anything on the internet these days. Knowledge is easy to acquire. However a lot of people don't THINK anymore. People mindlessly regurgitate ideas without understanding them. Everything is taken at face value.

Intelligence still isn't as well regarded as physical pursuits. I admit, it's hard to make intelligence a sexy thing, however it doesn't excuse the anti-intellectualism. People bathing in ignorance like fat people in butter.

This is something that technology isn't going to fix. It is a social problem. We may know more, but we aren't any smarter for it.