The Countdown

In the 60 Minutes clip, two very important issues were brought to light for me. The first being that we now have tapped into the power of the mind as a means to control technology created by man. That made me think that if this is used a much wider scale in the future, what will happen to the term artificial intelligence. If we create products that we actually use our own minds to control, then what will the computer mind then become? We now have the capability to create programs that learn and adapt to react in different ways based on previous actions. However, now it is becoming possible to use our own minds, which then might alter the way we create future types of artificial intelligence in computers.

Also, the fact that the computer can read the mind in very basic ways through waves emitted through the brain was impressive, but the woman’s ability to control things directly with her mind was something completely new. It is this type of technology that is the wave of the future. It could open a lot of doors for people in that the same situation and are trapped in their bodies, but still have sharp minds and are able to use the power of their minds to mold with technology to create this sort of advancement.

The TED presentation made me rethink some of the ways that we go about creating new technology. The man presenting said something that really sparked something inside of me into thinking something that I never had really thought about before. He spoke of creating technology as a means to stand apart from others. He illustrated this with the video of the woman screaming into that contraption. This is a representation of making something that sets her apart from other people, rather than using something that others have as a means to fit in.

Building on that idea of independence in technology, he spoke of the kids in some third-world countries. In doing so, he spoke of their desire to create technology to set themselves apart from other people in the villages and towns. Because they do not have the technology as readily available as we do they value the chance to work with technology as a means to create some sort of identity. This video was not as ‘earth –shaking’ as the first, but it did make me think more that if the individual creates their own technology then it would have far more meaning in beginning to define who they are as an individual, rather than just adhering to the trends of the current market place and using the same products as others.

In Rheingold’s piece, he discusses the changing landscape of the global market with an emphasis on the mobile aspects of technology. This medium is definitely the wave of the future in the way that it allows people to have technology at their fingertips at all times anywhere they are. Having this type of power and ease of information is what is so enthralling and appealing about it. He talks about Finland as a place of great mobile aptitude. I believe this is true because they have created a willingness to accept this new way of communicating. Many people focus on the Japanese and countries more often associated with technology with this type of medium, but the Fins have adapted to make this not only work, but have made significant improvements to their lives.

The mobile phone revolution has also played a role in the development of the internet. In just a few short years we have taken the web from a wire based service to a wireless revolution where there are few limits to the place where we are unable to connect to the rest of the world. The fact that phones could go on the internet has now allowed for us to have wireless cars at 3G speeds at seemingly limitless locations around the world. By creating an almost totally connected world, we as a society has the ability to make decisions that could go into effect almost immediately from across the globe, without so much as saying a word to anyone else. This is something that no one could have seen coming just 20 years ago and it speaks volumes for how far we have come and in the relatively short time in which we have made that journey.

Finally, I had to reevaluate some of my own methods of remembering after reading/hearing about the lifelogging that some people are doing. I have the uncanny ability to remember pointless hockey stats, sports trivia and other otherwise useless, but I cannot remember the little things or phone numbers or anything else like that. This man’s desire to document his life is admirable in that he is documenting it for himself, mainly, but also for other members of his family that may want to know him better or remember him after he is gone.

It lends itself to the idea that people are not just documenting their life, but a period in time for future generations to look at. We have more technology right now than ever before and a lot of this new technology allows us to document what we are doing at this moment in time with a greater amount of ease. There seems to be some obligation to do so then. It is people like Gordon Bell that have taken it upon themselves to do so. Now, whether or not he did so knowingly or not remains to be seen, but he is doing so nonetheless. There always has to be historians who are aware of what happened in the past while at the same time making sure that we are preserving what we are doing now knowing that it too will be history one day. Bell’s methods are one small portion of doing this. It is not the big things that are necessarily imperative because those are documented by so many. But, the little things tell so much about how everyday life actually was and our simple snapshots and blog posts will someday show insight into how we live now.