Week 3: The future of computers

In our third lecture for the semester, the subject was based around the history of computers. If I wanted to blog about such a boring and mundane subject I would let my lecturer do it for me, but I thought I would explore into something a little more interesting and that is the future.

A recent article from the New York Times published a new way of writing articles about new computer technologies. The article suggested that rather journalists tell you what they think is the future may be, the readers were given the chance to construct their own theories in an interactive time line (Lin, 2011).The interactive time line (which is linked here: Predicting the Future of Computing) created huge interest and some of the predictions were quite astonishing. One reader predicts that by 2015 'smart clothing' clothes that include fabrics containing computerised weather proofing systems and sunglasses with holographic displays, gps capabilities and a digital display will be implemented into mainstream society (Lin, 2011). Another suggests that by 2024 the brain will be able to connect itself to wifi where memory and communication is limitless-- provided that you don't lose your signal (Lin, 2011). Another article published in the New York Times explored the issues of Artificial Intelligence (A.I) (Markoff, 2011). The issue that society has found as the most troubling idea of new technology is the decrease of human invovlvement in the new world (Markoff, 2011).
 "Traditionally, economists have argued that while new forms of automation may displace jobs in the short run, over longer periods of time economic growth and job creation have continued to outpace any job-killing technologies." (Markoff, 2011)

The world's advancements in computer technology has progressed in leaps and bounds. Although we have not been taken over by alien forces or are living on Mars I honestly don't know where I would be without 21st century technology and I cannot wait to see where it may go from here.

References

Lin, Thomas. "Predicting the Future of Computing." The New York Times. N.p., 5 Dec. 2011. Web. 11 Aug. 2012. http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/12/06/science/20111206-technology-timeline.html?ref=science.

Markoff, John. "A Fight to Win the Future: Computers vs. Humans." The New York Times. N.p., 14 Feb. 2011. Web. 11 Aug. 2012. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/15/science/15essay.html?pagewanted=all.

Annotation: I found this particular task quite interesting to research. The two references that I used were extremely helpful and academic. Thomas Lin's article was an interactive article that allowed the readers to have a say and help predict the future of technology rather than telling the readers. There was a lot of different ideas and perspectives that gave the article such an edge in comparison to other sources that I had used.