TWC session 9

TWC session 9 was about emerging and future technology

 An illustration of augmented reality

In this session, we are exposed in many areas of possible future technology as well as the forces behind the innovation of future technology.

Key observations on what are the forces that drive the innovation of future technology

. Individually

1) Willing to take risk. Without the capacity to take risk, we would not be able to enjoy what we are having right now. People would just want to stick in their comfort zone. Dr Shahi gave us a quote by George Bernard Shaw that explained that people often question the risk that arises with future technology but the innovator always asks himself the wonders that come with such technology. In my own words, its high risk, high reward.


2) Imagination. People needs to see it happening. Without imagination, we are unable to design the things we want to see it being real in the world. For imagination knows no boundary while knowledge is limited. This is from a quote by Albert Einstein.



3) Willing to commit. Action speak louder than words. You can have a million ideas in the world but without any commitment to make it a reality, its just ephemeral ideas. However, in order to commit, there are certain considerations that have to be met. For example, you need the budget and tools to innovate.

Before I continue on, I would like to use the example of Janet Echelman to illustrate the above qualities are needed for future innovation. Janet Echelman is a sculptor. She had worked on small scale sculptures for many years and one day, she wanted to create a sculpture over the scale of a city.

Willing to take risk - There are rules and regulations that sculpture cannot be over the street. So she make it floating. The hardest part was to respect your ideas - Janet Echelman

Imagination - I try to imagine my goal as a reality, and then work backwards to figure out all the steps I need to take to make it so. -- Janet Echelman

Willing to commit - She put her ideas into paper and constantly remind herself of how famous people like Gandhi - the case of salt march - did the impossible.

With the investor supporting her, she managed to create sculptures that overlook cities.

  A sculpture by Janet Echelman suspended over Amstel River, overlooking city hall. 

Of course, it is evident that the forces of future innovations does not lie solely on an individual. You need money, tools and the right people to aid you. This is what Dr Shahi call the confluence of the 4 Cs. These forces can be derived from market demand as well. Lastly, with new technology, people are able to come up with ideas, using past technology as its basis.

In this session, we are exposed to many possible future technology.

- Claytronics: A programmable matter
- Augmented Reality: Imagine walking on a street and you are able to see information about everything on the street. For example, you are able to see the temperature of a drink you just ordered or you are able to see any potential environmental hazards around you. This is one technology that has potentiality to become a reality. Right now, we have things such as the Google Glass. It would be no surprised that in the near future, augmented reality becomes a reality.
- Robotics: Japanese scientist created lifelike robots that had people to actually fall in love with it. Robots are also designed to perform task. What if I order the robot to murder someone? This is something to contemplate about in the areas of robotics.

There are many more future technology that was covered during the session as it would be endless. Imagination knows no boundary. The concept of future technology is ever-growing. At this point, it is worth mentioning about something that was touched upon in session 1 - Singularity. At one point, the rate of advancement of technology will be so fast that the gradient would actually be 1. At that point, people described it as technology has overtook human being. The question is when.

I would rate the session 9/10. I learnt a lot from this session and I think it is very interesting to learn about future technology that I never see before.