The finer grained the technology, the more advanced the society - RMPervasive computing is coming, something articulated by Xerox Parc back in the late 70's & early 80's when they did state-of-the art research relating to how "smart rooms" and "smart buildings" would change how society does business. Little did they know especially when systems will shrink down to dust motes able to change appearance and function at the flip of a switch. Don't believe me? Then check out Hacking Matter, the entertaining and informative book written by Will McCarthy that details how nanotech will impact every aspect of our lives as we move further into the 21st century.
This may be all well and good but at this point in time, tech, like the Apple iPod, is "comfortable" as it is properly sized and designed for human interaction while the iPod nano seems to be "just a touch too small" for folks like me who need glasses to handle anything smaller than a shovel let alone something that approaches the size of a matchbox. What happens in ten years time when molecular systems come on line driven by plasmonics; invisible, connected and all pervasive, creating an environment where, as Murry C says Everything Will be Alive.
"You can't get there from here" - Through the Looking Glass
Exhibit I: Spray On Computers
1 comment:
I don't think we need fear that as technology advances, it will somehow become too small to use. Rather, the fine grain of newer tech will enable us to create devices of "Goldilocks" proportions: just right, for whatever application we have in mind. Don't like the size of your Nano? Pull the screen a little to make it bigger. As functions are increasingly offloaded to a network—Cisco is about to put a router in Earth orbit—the client-side portal device will likely be customized by each user to suit his needs.
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