The Next Digital Technology - Us (Humans) - Nicholas Negroponte

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By watching this video - I learnt about a brief creation of the media 20 years ago until now and what innovations are ahead 20 years from now. 20 years ago, television, which is a perfect example for the time there was a "switch" between the wired and the wireless world. "Information that was wired on the ground would in fact come through the air and most of the things we got through the air - like television would come from the ground." In simpler terms, using Television as an example, the connection of the television enabled us to see the information on the screen, from which the information would come from the signals (air/antenna). And vice versa - the signals that require a connection to the TV to show information.

This was a fundamental switch back then. And when things turned digital (1s and 0s), where "they commingle and you could do things that were not like publishing, television or computers but were the intersection of those and that got known to be Convergence. So between the switch (trading of places) and convergence you have today's MEDIA" Newspapers are available online, TV shows are available online, and the internet itself boosts the benefits of the digital world where events in our daily life can turn into data and can be viewed by millions of people.

However, What would we see today where 20 years from now we're going to look back as a evident change? "It has to do with the space between biology and silicon - natural sceiences and physical science where those 2 meet and result into embedding in computers or embedding in our physical bodies, using biology that is attached to a chip that does things, its that intersection of the natural and synthetic worlds that will be the change" in the future. Now what i understand from this is - in simpler terms, is that hes saying the combination of biology and silicone.

Everything on earth consists of carbon and carbon based compounds. A simple fact is that every human needs oxygen which is then oxidized and exhales carbon dioxide(CO2) which is gas (respiration process) that is the waste material easy for us to remove from our body. The difference in Silicone is that once silicone is oxidized it becomes solid not a gas like CO2. Currently, Silicone Dioxide is used in Pills to prevent moisture from air and to maintain the dryness.

So, with the combination of silicone and biology we may be "eating synthetic beef in which there will be computing devices that make sure everything is ok in your stomach when they go in and then report back when they are out of your stomach". Now, obviously this is just a assumption, but in terms of current innovations, a person named Joe Jacobson of the MIT MEDIA LAB where "he was communicating wirelessly and directly with the cell in the human body". This is incredibly interesting and can have a profound effect 10 years from now. What is also interesting is that 12 years ago Joe Jacobson worked with a team that invented Electronic Ink that is now used to make e-books.

This 5 minute video taught me a lot of new things which made me critically think about the technological future. IT seems to be playing a huge role now and forever it will be a huge role with the combination of science that is upcoming in the future.

Reference:

"E Ink Corporation | Company | Team." E Ink Corporation | Low Power, Electronic Paper Displays. Web. 31 Dec. 2009. .

"Joseph M. Jacobson |." MIT Media Lab. Web. 31 Dec. 2009. .

"The Next Digital Technology: Us | Nicholas Negroponte |." Big Think. Web. 31 Dec. 2009. .

"Silicon-based life." The Worlds of David Darling. Web. 31 Dec. 2009. .