Future Technology
People often think that future is all about
flying cars, robots and space
travelling. Maybe it will be like that, who
knows, but at least until this day
the changes haven’t been remarkable.
Companies are all the time investing more
money on research and development.
This indicates that companies and government
are interested to achieve and
find new technological inventions that would
change the markets. All ready
one of the computer related inventions, Internet,
has changed the spreading
of information globally. E-companies’ are stocks are
rising in the stock
markets like rockets. This is a great example how future
technology will
change the economics around the world as it affects greatly our
everyday
life. "Internet is worldwide network of connected computers. This
network
enables you to communicate with the rest of the world in different
ways."(1)
Has been approximated that the total amount of information globally
doubles
every 18 months, which indicates that internet, as an important part of
media
nowadays, affects everyone of us though we might not have a possibility to
be
on-line. The approximated number of people who are on-line daily is more
than
18%. "As you can imagine and as you probably may have seen, there
are a lot
companies. You can find the big ones like Coca-Cola, Disney, Xerox,
IBM. Apart
from supplying (product) information and amusement, they mostly
use the web for
name and product branding (recognition). There's a completely
new industry with
lots and lots of Net based companies like the search
engines, banner exchanges,
hosting services, (Net) marketers and software
enterprises. And there are
others, which have expanded their originally
offline business field to the Net
(Credit Card companies, Researchers,
Marketers, Yellow Pages). Small and medium
business companies selling to
consumers. A great part of them use the Net to
expand their offline business,
others try to make a living on it. And some of
them see the necessity to
transfer from one to the other in the future.
Business-to-business
companies are also found on the Net. In short, all kind of
enterprises have
taken the step to the online world."(2) Internet is not only
a way to spend
time surfing, but it is also an very good way to make money by
transforming
products, services and markets. It is an easy way to reach people
when
thinking advertising and it is an easy way to people to reach the
information
wanted, but the competition between companies in the virtual reality
of
Internet, is as hard as in the real world. Government’s space program
also
influences and will influence economics of the future. U.S. government’s
NASA
(North American Space Association) has done great job exploring space
and
research new opportunities in outer space and other planets. The question
is how
the new future technology will change the direction of economics and
by that our
living on Earth or maybe on some other planet... The world
population is growing
fast. The room to live on earth might be a problem in
future, and Earth might
not be able to feed the upcoming population. This is
one of the reasons why we
have to explore the space for new opportunities.
The problem is the money. Are
taxpayers willing to pay? After the resent
failure of sending a $266 million
Pathfinder to Mars, taxpayers started
doubt is the space program worth it, but
mistakes that are caused by
understaffed and overworked space teams are not
unique to interplanetary
missions, like NASA’s Pathfinder mission. A single
broken cord can turn to a
$400 million cost, but who said it is not risky.Is
this $450 billion plan
going to give taxpayers their moneys back? No, because
the new technology
will help their children and grandchildren to live their
everyday lives in
polluted and overpopulated environment caused by the past
generations. "In
recent years, cost-reduction efforts throughout America’s
space industry have
had profound effects on the workforce. Older and more
experienced workers
were the predominant target of cost-conscious layoffs or of
contract swapping
prior to retirement-benefits vesting. But even the younger
workers,
supposedly their eventual replacement, were victimized by the
cuts."(3)This
is what the taxpayers should understand; their selfish use of
money on
researching new technology might be a threat for the future
generations. "If
we were to bring back a rock in 2005 that clearly shows
evidence of ancient
life on the planet or fi we were to find evidence of life on
Mars, that
would be great impetus for a human program. A manned mission must
have a
compelling scientific or economic rationale", said Alan Ladwig,
NASA’s
associate administrator.(4) The greatest effect of future technology
has is
on the productivity. Technological change, or innovation, is a
contributor to
the growth of productivity. From the development of plows to the
invention of
computers, history shows many example of technologies that have
increased
productivity. New products, new methods of production, new ways of
organizing
production(Ford’s assembly line) or marketing products and new
methods of
communication can each demonstrate how productivity increases. And
when
productivity increases faster than the population, standard of
living
increases. This makes people’s everyday life easier and the quality of
living
is higher. One example how technological change has changed our living
past 10
years have been reusable products and materials. Recycling and
reusable
materials have made our quality of living better by minimizing the
production of
trash. Also the technological changes in agriculture have
increased productivity
of our basic need products. "One of the most dramatic
high-tech developments
arriving at the millenium is the obsolescence of
money. The advent of the
Internet and other new media marketplaces, like
interactive TV, demands a new
kind of currency that is secure, virtual,
global, and digital. The death of hard
cash, and its rebirth as digital
currency, will transform all transactions in
society and touch industry
worldwide. The emerging digital market and the new
interactive consumer
challenge our assumptions about how to conduct business. 30
million people
today with a spending power of over$100 billion, represents a
serious market
no business can afford to ignore. This new consumer is virtual,
global,
interactive and multimedia-driven."(5) The digital money has taken
over. The
simple cash has changed into numbers on the computers. People pay
their bills
from home by using computers and Internet, people pay their grocery
with a
plastic credit card and people go shopping from home and they don’t
even have
to move, just use the keyboard. A huge problem in the future will be
the
energy. Already we are noticing that our sources of energy will be
empty
someday. A team of scientists and engineers have predicted that
the
technological trends that will shape the world in next 50 years will be
high
powered energy packages. "On the energy front are highpower energy
packages
such as microgenerators of electricity that will make electronic
products and
appliances highly mobile; environmentally clean, decentralized
power sources;
batteries linked to solar power; and small generators fueled
by natural
gas."(6) As the population of the Earth keeps increasing we have
to figure out
how to feed all the people who are going to live here. Globally
thinking we are
already suffering of the lack of the food. All over the world
hunger is a big
problem. Clean water will be a problem too if technological
changes won’t help
us. "Designer foods, genetically engineered foods that are
environmentally
friendly and highly nutritious, will fill the stores. Even
cotton and wool will
be genetically engineered. Water worldwide will be safe
and inexpensive because
technology will provide advanced filtering,
processing, and delivery.
Desalination and water extraction from air are
also possible. In the years ahead
new technologies will become much more
personalized, and they will closely
affect almost every aspect of our
lives."(7) This was an very optimistic
prediction of the future, but until
then we have to keep people worldwide alive
without the new innovations. The
money countries are using to military should go
to the people who suffer
hunger and to the research of cures of globally spread
diseases like HIV and
cancer. No one knows what’s going to happen in the
future, but the new future
technology can at least give us a direction. Our
actions have a great effect
how we and the upcoming generations are going to
live on Earth. Putting money
now on research and development gives a better
economic base that we can rely
on. The biggestchange to our economic will have
the increased productivity.
By increased productivity our standard of living
will be higher and our
everyday life will be easier. May everyone of us be there
to witness the
flying cars and talking robots, so that we can be proud of our
achievements.
FOOTNOTES (1) "What is Internet?" p.1 (2) "What is
Internet?" p.5 (3)
Obreg, USA Today p.3 (4) Allen, Canoe p.2 (5) "Premiere
Speakers Bureau"
p.1 (6) Sixeas, "Whither 2020?" p.1 (7) Sixeas,
"Whither 2020?"
p.1
Bibliography
"What is Internet?" An Own Site 2 May 2000
http://www.anownsite.com/local-business/what-is-internet.html
"Dr. James
Canton" Premiere Speakers Bureau 4 April
http://www.publicspeakers.com/speak/canton.htm
Allen Jane E. "Pathfinder
ignites interest in human Mars travel:But is worth
it?" Canoe 10 July 1997.
15 February 2000
http://www.canoe.ca/MarsMission?jul10_marstravel.htkl
Sanborn Sonny "Is
NASA worth the expense?" The Oklahoma Daily 1 March 1996.
15 February
2000 http://www.daily.ou.edu/issues/1996/mar-01/nasa.processed.html
"21st
century trends" Future Technology 1 July 1998. 24 February
2000
http://suite101.com/article.cfm/future_technology/9066 "On the yellow
brick
road" Economist 11 September 1999. 26 March 2000
http://www.economist.com/editorial/freeforall/i99909/su3796.html
"A
technology road map" Technology Planning 4 April 2000
http://www.kbdplanning.com/planning.html
Oberg James "NASA faster,
cheaper, but not better" USA Today 7 December
1999. Proquest 4 March
2000. Sixeas Virginia M. "whither 2020?" Environment
March 2000. Proquest
4 March 2000.