A mini-hiatus felt appropriate recently. So much going on at work with the end of the school year, it has been a tiring time. Last Saturday I slept for about half the day, and family was supportive of that time so I guess I really needed it. :)
Yesterday I was at the gym, watching I believe episode 8 in the ongoing Star Trek movie franchise. This is the one where the crew goes back in time (once again!--if only it were so easy) and meets the inventor of the warp drive which allows the first Earth space ship to travel at the speed of light (I think; I'm not as up to speed on these matters as I used to be). The inventor, Zephram Cochrane, marvels at all he will cause to come into being and how different the future is from his time. Notably there is the idea that Earth's economic system of the future does not utilize money because humans are motivated by self-improvement and altruism. Technology eliminates poverty, disease, and war, because there is nothing for nations to compete over. This sounds a lot like Edward Bellamy's Looking Backward, written in 1889. I want to concentrate on other matters, but suffice it to say Looking Backward, a response to the Gilded Age in a similar vein as Herbert Croly (see last post), has the main character wake up in the year 2000 AD to a whole new world of economics and human behavior. In this world, human beings are motivated not by wealth but by self improvement and altruism. All the material desires of every human are met, so once again, nations no longer compete over resources.
Here we are in 2011, and unfortunately, the world doesn't work like Looking Back envisions.
Still, we have techonology. It's fun to think about and talk about. I'd like to believe we have the means and technology to create a world like Star Trek of the future or the dreamed 2000 AD world of Looking Back; others have said it is possible to make the necessary transitions for this kind of future. For whatever reason, change has not occurred--at least the scale of change necessary for the visions to come true. In that spirit, here are 3 technological innovations which could be positive changes:
-3G Solar has invented a Dye Solar Cell. What is that? It's a way to generate solar power that is much cheaper than silicon systems. Why does this matter? To me it's interesting because it makes living without a power grid much more affordable for common people. It's a solution to the complaint that buying an electric car is simply transferring fossil fuel sources from the gas pump to the city power plant.
-Diamond Eye This is an experimental tech that might take off. Apparently an engineer in Iran has found a way to cure eye disorders, including near and farsightedness, by using electromagnetic energy. The technology has an 80-100% success rate, although as of 2008 it had been tried on only 25 people. I like this story because it involves the use of electromagnetic energy, something I have an interest in because of Nikolai Tesla, who also devoted significant research to electromagnetic energy. Tesla was quite a remarkable persona; one of the stories I'm working on has a Tesla angle. I'll leave it at that.
-John Searle If you haven't heard about Searle he is the inventor of another kind of electromagnetic technology. Explore the website at the end of the link; part of the claim is that his technological device could create flying machines and cars that run on electromagnetic power, requiring no conventional fuel source. Tesla again...?
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