Displays of the Future

In the future, there will be multiple ways that we can transmit and receive communication.  One, discussed before, was Claytronics using 3 dimensional faxing.  Science wants to take communicative types of technology down many different avenues.  Particular types of communication scientists are intently focusing on are displays, such as TVs, computer monitors, mp3 players, Internet devices, etc.  Why?

Displays surround us. 

Scientists want to take it a step further and create a display people can wear on their eye called the Smart Contact Lens.  They would incorporate electronic devices onto a contact lens, allowing you to surf the Internet on a transparent screen mounted directly on the surface of your eye. 

A wirelessly connected computer on your contact lens?

This will give us the capacity to create an augmented reality, which is an ability to overlay the virtual world onto the real world, changing life as we know it.  It's reminiscent of a video game reality.

But is this really possible?

Scientists say within the next 30 years, all of this will be possible.  If we continue down the path we have started with our technology advances, everything will be connected.   We will have computers woven into our clothing and possibly in our bodies.  We will have to carry multiple devices that talk to each other.  For now, we will continue to ride the technology wave.  In the future, we will have to be the ones to judge when technology has overstepped its boundaries. 

Originally only possible in video games, imagine driving down the road seeing this in your vision:

Claytronics

Today it may seem like computers are everywhere, but things such as desktop monitors will be a thing of the past.  In the future, chips and sensors could be embedded in everything.  The planet will be filled with smaller, more powerful computers that will communicate with each other and with humans.  Even furniture could be constructed entirely of molecule-sized computers that can reshape themselves according to how they are programmed. 

You may say that is way in the future? 

Try within five years.  Developers have already been dealing with this programmable matter for four years already.  It already has a name: Claytronics.  Claytronics is a form of programmable matter, a collection of computers.  Each computer not only computes and communicates with each other, but they also move around and cooperate with other units, combine in clusters, and form any 3D shape the user wants them to be.  The first official application of Claytronics will most likely be tested on is the 3D fax machine. 

Below is a video that gives an example of the future technology of Claytronics.

The Claytronics Project is currently being directed by Carnegie Mellon and Intel http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~claytronics/ . 

Will we outsmart ourselves? 

Technology is pushing from every direction, getting faster at each passing second. 

Future Technology?

The future is closer than you think.  To put this in perspective, the human brain does 100 trillion calculations per second.  By 2050, the desktop computer will have the equivalent processing power of 9 billion brains.  We are in the midst of an extreme increase in computer technology, and when computers gain artificial intelligence; thinking, reasoning, and communicating ideas like a human can, it will change everything.   Within 30 years, we will have the hardware and software to create superhuman intelligence, way beyond our own.  Instead of shying away from this sort of change, we should use it to expand our own intelligence.  So that we won’t have trouble keeping up with machines, we will become the machine.

In a way, right now we are already becoming machines.    We use digital earpieces and wireless devices and have our phone on us at all times, able to access the internet.  In the future, there will be a thin line between humans and technology.  One example of this technology is the exoskeleton.  This technology has structures that act as bones, actuators that act as muscles and computers that act like brains.  The brain allows the exoskeleton to move in harmony with your body, giving you super-strength ability.  With all this power, you can still move with great agility.  Of course this technology is very appealing for the military, but they can also be a part of an average person’s life.  In the future, any person will be able to put on an exoskeleton to do any heavy lifting around the house, even if it’s pulling your car out of the mud.  This is what is happening TODAY.  Perhaps the exoskeleton could operate on its own? 

 We will see....