What's Coming
My thumb measures a pretty accurate one inch across and my pre-old-age adulthood foot always measured 12 inches in length. That proved handy, as has the eight-inch span of my stretched thumb and pinky finger.
Here’s the point: Is an actual powerful computer measuring less than an inch and one half across really useful? Because we have a powerful computer a mere 1.26-inch by 1.42-inch by 0.49-inch thick.
The fact that you may now compute with a touch screen instead of a keyboard doesn’t take away from the fact that you "touch" the device. It's "hand held" and is smart, really so, plus, it's just cool. But a wrist watch computer and a fat fingered sluggo like yours truly? Not likely EXCEPT that you can see the need to touch evaporating in the not-so-far future. Voice recognition software has been long developing, and I do mean a long time coming. But it is now useful.
They promised a paperless society and perhaps, now, a touchless one too.
- Star Trek's Picard spoke "Comp-u-ter" and then carried on with his life.
- Back on Planet Earth, "Thirty-five years in the making, electronic paper is now closer than ever to changing the way we read, write, and study...", said a manufacturer back in 2007 regarding the stuff that replaces your monitor with roll-up paper that you can stick in your pocket.
- University students are embedding themselves with chips to communicate in and through the flesh to compute on the fly.
- "Wireless" is ubiquitous and capable of transmitting huge amounts of computed data, no wires, following you around at the ready.
- You will likely be computing, viewing and talking to your clothes which is yet another way to appear as though you are talking to yourself except that this way you'll get answers. "I Googled my pants and this is what was said."
The list of 'possibles' goes on but the now-difference, between 2002 and this moment, is that it is very close to being common reality and not so much just talked about.
You can let your imagination go wild with this and realize that you may become a giant swipe device walking around validating things as you pass by without a word spoken.
Sigh. But - fact of the matter--we are going to be talking to our computing devices more and more and they are going to be disguised as everyday items.
You've never before had friendships develop like this at this new level. The dimensions of your new near future lifestyle are not just intriguing, but more than that, I hope that you aren't put off and/or even a bit leery. We all own a thing called our brain that out operates all the devices and that will be true for some time to come.
So, point your brain to the sunny [information] side of the street and be ready to start talking to things that you've never ever before dreamed of talking to.
You'll get answers.
12/21/2011
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