Let’s review some of the latest news stories in 3D printing.

Forbes says: My Kindergartner Can 3D Print. So Can Yours. – http://www.forbes.com/sites/kaifalkenberg/2013/04/24/my-kindergartner-can-3d-print-so-can-yours/

PC Magazine reviews the Cube Systems 3D printer listing for $1,299 retail – http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2418103,00.asp

Mark Brooks, the publisher of Motley Fool, says to invest in 3D printing now – http://www.fool.com/fool/free-report/18/sa-3dprintingaudio-short-310997.aspx?source=isaspodft0000542

A 3D gunsmith is getting snarky about his 2^nd Amendment Rights – http://mashable.com/2013/04/24/3d-printed-handgun/

The road to ruin with 3D printing – http://www.policymic.com/articles/37825/10-products-that-3d-printers-will-ruin

The future of 3D printing will involve everything from creating designer drugs, to pinky toe replacement to creating a new pair of underwear on demand. Need a part for your car, your lamp, your phone, well future 3D printing will be able to solve your problems. And let’s not even talk about fixing your future robot-wife …

But, of course why stop there? The future implications for printing parts of the human body are vast.

According to Tech News Daily, “DeFelice envisions going beyond the OsteoFab™ Patient Specific Cranial Device to make 3D-printed bone replacements for all parts of the human body. His company has already begun preparing to submit other 3D-printed bone parts for FDA approval – a huge market worth as much as $50 million to $100 million for each bone replacement type.”

You know 3D printing could also apply to prosthetics as well. Imagine a few years from now Oscar Pistorius or some other ski leg athlete printing their own artificial limbs at home. Or if you happen to be a veteran and lost your hand in the war and then lost your hand in the washer, you could print up a new one post-haste.

The possibilities are mind-boggling. The first step has been taken with the 3d printed skull. And the company that did this has a leg up on the competition.

References

http://www.explainingthefuture.com/3dprinting.html

http://www.technewsdaily.com/17191-3d-printed-skull-implant.html

Soon, Smart apps will be able to monitor blood sugar before and after a meal, amount of exercise, stress, caloric intake and other measurements of how a body is doing. This information can empower individuals who want to take charge of their own health plus if desired this information can also be passed on to doctors who will also weigh in on preventative care.

According to CNN, “Currently, health care systems focus primarily on chronic ill health, rather than the preventative measures of living a healthy lifestyle, but this may be the adjustment that both the health care system and insurance companies make as a result of digital health devices.

“The ultimate health care applications will allow us to monitor our body and use the insight from that data to create an actionable, preventative health solution, such as an individual exercise or nutritional plan, in addition to devising a personal cocktail of medicine.”

Retinal displays will do retinal scans, heart rate, blood pressure and other body health indicators can be continuously monitored if desired. As the U. S. struggles to cut down on healthcare costs, leading edge Smartphone technology will save the day. And that day is very soon at hand.

For instance in 2013, they give 7/4 odds that it is most likely that the Great Firewall of China will fall and people in that country will have access to worldwide information. In 2013, they also give 1/20 odds that patients will be prescribed medical apps by their own doctors.

Now, there are a few scary predictions for the future as well. For instance, the BBC says that by 2018 the arctic will be free of ice in the summertime. And between 2030 and 2040 there are 3/1 odds that the land around Chernobyl will be turned into a national park.

On the less likely side by 2045, singularity has occurred and supercomputers are now smarter than the most intelligent humans. It’s an interesting infograph worth checking out. And as always don’t try this at home and please no wagering.

References

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20130102-tomorrows-world

But now the industry has changed, the printers have gotten cheaper and a few people are starting to make guns from the 3D printing process. And we are talking about the kinds of hard plastic guns that could evade metal detectors at airports.

If you think this is far-fetched then check out what the Seattle Times has to say, “University of Texas law student Cody Wilson, 24-year-old ‘Wiki Weapons’ project leader for Defense Distributed, says the group last month test fired a semiautomatic AR-15 rifle – one of the weapon-types used in the Connecticut school massacre. Video posted by the group on YouTube indicates the gun was built with some key parts created on a 3-D printer and fired six times before it broke.”

And of course since this is leading edge stuff we are talking about here, there are no laws against doing this in the privacy of your own home.

Here’s a Youtube video that talks about 3D printing of guns: http://youtu.be/YqzJlBcCsow

According to Chief Chris Burbank (who lives nowhere near Jay Leno) he wants all Utah officers to one day be wearing the video camera glasses for protection of the officers. Now you may be thinking that Rodney Kinging may no longer occur if these glasses cameras are fully deployed and that’s a good point.

But, the main point is that officers, witnesses and suspects’ versions of an event oftentimes differ in the perceived facts. Having an eye-level video camera conveniently located in an officer’s glasses will help restore a certain reality to situations in dispute.

Think of the implications of having instant replay during an arrest or other altercation. Or having the same type of video on a crime scene to help with an investigation. A few good men have already stepped into the future with these glass cams. Tomorrow it may be another step towards justice for all.

Reference

http://www.9news.com/news/world/299987/347/Future-of-police-work-cameras-mounted-on-sunglasses

Imagine you’re a soldier with boots on the ground and you have to climb a mountain carrying 100 lbs. of weight. With an exoskeleton you will be able to do so with energy left over. And, the U. S. Military is testing robotic exoskeletons right now.

NASA has developed the X1 robotic exoskeleton for use in space. But, the place for this futuristic suit isn’t in our solar system or for far off galaxies and the X1 is also being designed to aid paraplegics here on Earth.

The Japanese are developing an exoskeleton with a different use in mind. Since the deadly Japanese tsunami hit on March 11, 2011, the country has been preparing feverishly in the department of disaster management. Ipso facto the Japanese have developed a robotic skeletal device for aiding in emergencies.

There is much more to learn at these links below.

External Links

Military Exoskeleton Youtube Video:  http://youtu.be/p2W23ysgWKI

NASA Exoskeleton:  http://www.nasa.gov/offices/oct/home/feature_exoskeleton.html

Japanese Exoskeleton:  http://nextbigfuture.com/2012/10/japanese-emergency-crews-will-wear.html

According to The Guardian, “Developed as a prototype by TTP (The Technology Partnership), a technology development company, the glasses incorporate a tiny projector in one arm of the spectacles. The picture is then reflected from the side into the centre of the lenses, which are etched with a reflective pattern that then beams the image into the eye.

That means the image is directly incorporated into what the wearer see when looking directly ahead … the ‘killer app’ for an augmented reality system might be one that would work when you look under your car bonnet, “so rather than seeing a big block, you see it all clearly labeled to tell you what part is what. Alternatively … surgeons might find it useful, not to show them what they’re looking at, because it’s never actually that clear, but to tell them what’s happening to the patient’s life signs: – to the blood oxygenation when I press here, what happens to the pulse. If you can display that directly into their field of vision, that’s really useful.”

This, of course, is only available now in the TTP research lab. But, expect some bigger players to jump on this technology soon.

Researchers at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign have designed smart fingertips that can feel pressure, bend and conform to the finger. Now why would someone want to go ahead and invent this?

Blind people browsing the Internet, surgical trainees engaging in surgery in a virtual world and restoring skin sensation to burn victims are just a few of the uses of this smart skin. One can only foresee that this would be useful in virtual training for cosmonauts and astronauts as well.

According to ScienceMag.org, “Imagine feeling like you’re lifting a 50-kilogram weight just by pulling at thin air. That’s just one of the possible applications of new ‘smart fingertips’ created by a team of nanoengineers. The electronic fingers mold to the shape of the hand, and so far the researchers have shown that they can transmit electric signals to the skin. The team hopes to one day incorporate the devices into a smart glove that creates virtual sensations, fooling the brain into feeling everything from texture to temperature.”

Of course weight and pressure are two other sensations that the researchers are trying to achieve with their smart fingertips. And of course once smart fingertips and smart gloves are perfected, then there will surely be smart whatev’s that will stimulate other parts of the body as well. And I’m not going to say what parts.

Ford’s Traffic Jam Assist technology is supposed to help drivers relax when they are surrounded by other slow moving cars on the highway. This automotive tech will take the wheel out of the hands of drivers for a short while and calculate the path of least resistance.

According to Automoblog, “Ford’s Traffic Jam Assist senses the movements of other road users as well as the primary user’s vehicle. Traffic Jam Assist technology adheres to the direction of traffic lanes on the highway with the capacity of self-correcting steering. Taking the minor steering adjustments from the driver, Ford proclaims the Traffic Jam Assist system will be a more relaxed driving experience. Traffic Jam Assist works in conjunction with other technologies such as adaptive cruise control to react even to sudden situations.”

Ford’s active park assist technology will not only help in parallel parking but perpendicular parking as well (and of course in the future there may vertical parking, underwater parking and of course levitation parking – but I’m getting a little ahead of myself).

So, you see that Ford no longer stands for Fix Or Repair Daily, but rather Future Of Rapid Development – at least they’re working on it.

In fact, six months ago some of the same Top10 supercomputers were less energy efficient than they are right now.

According to Techworld.com here is a short list of some of the most energy efficient supercomputers:

• An Intel cluster with SandyBridge and MIC technology installed at Intel with 1176 MFlops/watt (number 150 on the list)
• An Appro Xtreme-X SandyBridge-based cluster installed at Los Alamos National Laboratory with 1050 MFlops/watt (number 73)
• A Chinese system called Mole-8.5 with nVidia accelerators with 919 Mflops/watt (number 21)
• The Fujitsu K Computer at RIKEN with 830 Mflops/watt (number 2)

And they go on to say, “At the European Nuclear Research Organisation (CERN) near Geneva, for example, scientists often complain that power limitations are having a knock-on effect on the performance of their experiments.”

So, the future trend is not only for more powerful supercomputers but also ones that consumer less energy while doing all the heavy lifting that they need to do. In the next few years, I predict supercomputers will in fact be producing much more energy than they consume.  Or not.

Items such as accelerometers and compasses are soooooo last year. Gyroscope technology will help smart phone and electronic tablet users orient themselves and their screens to their environments.

The barometers embedded into electronic devices will work with GPS systems so that Maps will work indoors. This will be helpful if a person is at a large college campus and needs to find a room, at a large corporate campus, shopping mall, museum or any other indoor location where GPS now fails.

The price of MEMS have come done as smart phone manufacturers are under increasing pressure to add more value and bring costs down.

According to PC World, “Juniper predicts that annual revenues generated by MEMS devices built into mobile phones – including sensors, audio, displays and radio frequency components – will exceed $6.3 billion by 2016. However, unit prices for MEMS devices will continue to fall rapidly, meaning that vendors will need to have guaranteed volumes in order to commit to cost and price reductions.”

And, not only will your smart phone increase exponentially in its intelligence because of MEMS, it will also increase the augmented reality portion of displaying data you need overlapping real life as you see it. And this will make you a tad savvier as well.

According to India.com, “Researchers may have hit upon a new way of helping Parkinson’s victims who face difficulty in walking. They are hoping to use a simulated virtual reality environment to help patients suffering from the phenomenon known as ‘freezing of gait’ (FOG). FOG affects over half of all Parkinson’s patients, and is commonly triggered by having to walk through narrow doorways.”

Now, researchers at the Brain and Mind Research Institute (BMRI), University of Sydney, Australia are helping patients to train their brains using a virtual environment. This new virtual reality is filled with halls and doorways that patients must navigate.

This kind of virtual physical therapy may help patients avoid medications or surgery that come with their own inherent risks.

According to the NY Times, “The promise is that low-cost gene sequencing will lead to a new era of personalized medicine, yielding new approaches for treating cancers and other serious diseases. The arrival of such cures has been glacial, however, although the human genome was originally sequenced more than a decade ago.

“Now that is changing, in large part because of the same semiconductor industry manufacturing trends that opened up consumer devices like the PC and the smartphone: exponential increases in processing power and transistor density are accompanied by costs that fall at an accelerating rate.”

This future medical technology that will soon appear less than 5 years from now opens up both positive and negative implications. On the positive side are personalized medicine, nanorobots for surgery and other person-specific treatments.

On the flipside, however are the negative implications in which Ezra Klein points out in his Washington Post article. According to Klein, “In 2008, Congress overwhelmingly passed, and President George W. Bush signed, the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act. Ron Paul was the lone dissenter. The legislation bars insurers from denying coverage or raising premiums on individuals who show a genetic predisposition toward particular diseases. And in doing, it armed a time bomb beneath the health-care industry.”

So, what this means is that while doctors and surgeons are providing us higher levels of medical treatment, the insurance companies and corporations could be using the data to discriminate against individuals with pre-existing conditions or worse the mathematical potential to have certain ailments based upon these genome tests.

What do you think – is the glass half empty or half full on this one?

Often times, the military designs and produces weapons that are non-lethal in nature. This means that, upon fired this type of weapon will not inflict a wound that will kill a person. That is why such weapons are called non-lethal weapons. Following are some of the latest and the most high tech military non-lethal weapons that are in use these days.

Active Denial System:

More and more combat vehicles are being fitted with this high tech weapon these days. Vehicles such as a variant of Leopard 2 battle tank and hummers are being fitted with these Active Denial Systems. This weapon works with the help of the dish that is fitted on top of the vehicle. This dish projects very high electromagnetic radiation. This electromagnetic radiation can easily penetrate the human skin and starts the effect by heating the cells. This sensation of heated cells panics the person who is under the fire from this weapon and helps to disable his or her movements.

 Running Gear Entanglement System (RGES):

The main purpose of the Running Gear Entanglement System, a high tech military non-lethal weapon is to protect the Navy ships along with other waterside assets such as marinas and museums. This weapon works by fouling the propeller of any unauthorized vessel(s) that attempts to approach any restricted areas around the navy ships or the watersides. Overall, this weapon can easily help to stop the assault of an enemy ship on the US Navy ships and help to keep the navy troops safe from any sort of night sneak attacks.

Advanced Tactical Laser (ATL):

The concept of ATL revolves around a high tech infrared laser that can be carried in an aircraft or an air-to ground strike mission. The purpose of advanced tactical laser is to provide pinpoint accuracy on the target area without putting too much of own forces at risk and to reduce damage as well.

Benefits of Using Military Non-Lethal Weapons:

Non-lethal weapons, as the name suggests works on the concept of eliminating a threat without eliminating a human. The very purpose of military non-lethal weapons is to give an advantage to the attackers and stop them without fatally wounding them.

The variety of non-lethal weapons is to facilitate the need of non-lethal weapons over a variety of areas. For instance, such weapons used to protect an embassy may not be effective enough to stop people in a war zone. The main difference in the non-lethal weapons technology is because the military is emphasizing on highly effective weapon technology that can stop any threat without causing a major panic and is effective to be used in any area of the world.

External Links

CNN the Future of War

http://www.cnn.com/2011/12/15/tech/innovation/darpa-future-war/index.html

A company called Moosejaw has come out with a mobile augmented reality app that will let you take a peek underneath their models’ winter clothing in their catalogs. Okay, so you’re saying, big whoop, this isn’t like the X-ray glasses that they used to advertise on the back cover of the old comic books.

No, of course it’s not. Think of the lawsuits for invasion of privacy this would cause if some retail company came out with an app where you could see underneath everyone’s clothing. No, instead, this application is to be used just with the winter clothing catalog to make it more interactive.

And while this may not be the perv cam you were hoping for it is a step into the future of making static print more interactive and interesting. Since the advent of the Internet, print media such as catalogs, newspapers and magazines have taken a hit in readership.

This one little app will bring back some readership and of course customers based upon new technology. One million Twitter impressions can’t be all wrong. People are impressed with this augmented reality app, so look for other print media to soon follow. Future augmented reality will blow your mind.

Forget the Smart Phone, Smart Car or Smart Home for a minute and think Smart Lab. According to the New York Times, “In a top-secret lab in an undisclosed Bay Area location where robots run free, the future is being imagined. It’s a place where your refrigerator could be connected to the Internet, so it could order groceries when they ran low. Your dinner plate could post to a social network what you’re eating. Your robot could go to the office while you stay home in your pajamas. And you could, perhaps, take an elevator to outer space.”

If you think this is far-fetched consider that earlier this year that Google came out with its own driverless car. The search giant is also the sponsor of the Google Lunar X-prize. Top scientists from Stanford and MIT are working on robotics, artificial intelligence and many other top secret projects that Google hopes will one day in the future pay off.

But, shareholders don’t like speculation and uncertainty. So Larry and Sergey are downplaying the secret lab by saying that this is only a very smart part of their business and that they spend most of their resources on their core search business. Exactly as one would expect. Wink, wink, nod, nod.

Bilton was criticized for an interview he gave with Wired.com online magazine saying that he had cancelled his subscription to the New York Times print newspaper, but instead got his news online (including the NYT).

The book, I Live in the Future and Here’s How It Works takes the reader through the beginnings of the Internet for the common user with adult entertainment leading the charge into this new media. Bilton talks also about how music and movies have changed in a digital world, how people’s brains have changed with the advent of digital information overload from gaming, cell phones, texting, social media, email, reading online, videos online, news and other stimulus that personalizes our worlds in a way never before possible.

Mr. Bilton also speaks about winners and losers in technology and how the companies that stick around will be the one’s creating the most useful digital tools and experiences. He also makes a few future predictions using the movie “Minority Report” starring Tom Cruise- as a possible glimpse into the future of interactive technology.

This future not only includes how retailers will use in-depth information about us to sell more products and services to us, but also one-device-fits-all technology for reading, cell phone, GPS, social media, entertainment and other digitally interactive media.

Bilton predicts that over the next 5 years mobile phone development will outpace the development of laptop or desktop computers. He believes that the interactivity among these devices and TV will also create a virtual world that no one could have predicted 5 years ago.

Mr. Bilton, makes many excellent points and predictions. I don’t want to be a spoiler and recount everything in this review. As an old newspaper guy who has transitioned into the future world myself, I give this book two very high digital thumbs up. Or in other online vernacular, I LIKE.

The Kindle edition of this book is offered at Amazon (without any affiliate links – I don’t make a dime off your purchase).

Besides the photos and videos of current products that may turn into future products and trends, what I like is the mental leap the writer Rick Chin takes in this article. The technological assumptions are perfectly plausible and logical.

Another aspect that I give a thumbs-up to in this article and believe myself to be true is that in the future we will be more mobile than ever before (if we choose to be). We will have access to people, information, applications no matter where we are physically located at a given moment in time. This is both intriguing now and will be empowering then.

DARPA’s Fastest Airplane Fails

DARPA attempted to fly the fastest aircraft ever built. The Agency’s Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2 (HTV-2) is designed to fly anywhere in the world in less than 60 minutes. This capability requires an aircraft that can fly at 13,000 mph, while experiencing temperatures in excess of 3500F … More than nine minutes of data was collected before an anomaly caused loss of signal. Initial indications are that the aircraft impacted the Pacific Ocean along the planned flight path.

http://www.darpa.mil/NewsEvents/Releases/2011/2011/08/11DARPA_HYPERSONIC_VEHICLE_ADVANCES_TECHNICAL_KNOWLEDGE.aspx

Microsoft’s Version of Augmented Reality

Wired Magazine’s take on Microsoft’s AR, “We present KinectFusion, a system that takes live depth data from a moving depth camera and in real-time creates high-quality 3D models. The system allows the user to scan a whole room and its contents within seconds. As the space is explored, new views of the scene and objects are revealed and these are fused into a single 3D model.”

http://www.wired.com/beyond_the_beyond/2011/08/augmented-reality-kinectfusion/

Audi Future Car to Be Showcased Next Month

The Urban Concept sports an ultra lightweight body with minimal features, 1+1 seating position and two electric motors for zero CO2 emissions. Note that fancy outboard 21-inch wheels.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/auto/autopreview/251504/audi-urban-vision

First Smart Grid Training Center in U. S. Announced

Vivint, a home automation company, announced that it has launched the nation’s first smart grid training center … The training center will prepare technicians for full scale AMI deployment, including the installation of home area network (HAN) and load control devices, EV chargers and much more. The 10,000-square-foot facility in Texas houses two fully equipped model smart homes outfitted with Vivint’s home automation, energy and security solutions.

http://smart-grid.tmcnet.com/topics/smart-grid/articles/206547-vivint-announces-first-smart-grid-training-center-the.htm

Sony Virtual Reality Headgear for Gaming

That 3D head-mounted display may be used for more than just viewing passive entertainment. Speaking with Develop, Sony Europe group studio manager Mick Hocking said that the company is currently researching ways to integrate the 3D headset into virtual-reality-type games.

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6323896/sony-toying-with-virtual-reality-gaming-headgear-report

Latitude Research recently published the results of its study called, “Children’s Future Requests for Computers & the Internet” which is a very interesting read about what today’s kids want from tomorrow’s technology.

So, I’ve linked to the study and decided to do a short interview with Mr. Mushkin about his findings. Here is the interview:

Kevin Tech: What was the inspiration behind the study, “Children’s Future Requests for Computers & the Internet”?

Steve Mushkin: We believe that kids are the architects of the future – sometimes of the present as well – and that their imaginations will provide insights and ideas to complement and often go beyond those of adults. Giving kids a voice and space to invent in a study like this allows them to fill their natural role as the budding creators and inventors of new technology, at least conceptually. They become partners with us in designing what’s next, rather than passive recipients of what we offer them.

Kevin Tech: What was the biggest surprise in the results of how children regard their future with technology?

Steve Mushkin: We were intrigued by the seamlessness with which children are viewing the digital and physical worlds. Many of the kids don’t even seem to make a distinction between what’s on the screen and what’s beyond it; essentially, they want the internet and the everyday world in which they live to be fully integrated and unified in ways that ultimately allow technology generally, and the web in particular, to flow without hindrance into our lives.

Kevin Tech: Let’s do a generational leap of sorts and let me ask your prediction on how you think the kids of these kids will envision their interactions with technology?

Steve Mushkin: Great question. Their ideas will likely feel quite magical to us and quite realistic to them – a sort of tech magical realism. Much of what they may envision will center around the ability of the mind to truly control and change matter, or of matter to change itself fluidly, so to speak. We can also picture that generation of kids thinking about present, past and future experiences, dreams, and fictional spaces all as equally accessible. In essence, the divide between what is real and imagined may give way to a more unified sensibility about consciousness that creates all sorts of new desires and possibilities.

Well, there you have it. As children today are being introduced to computers, cell phones and other technology at a younger age than at any other time in history, their expectations are becoming and will continue to become a driving force in the economy and the social world in which we live.

Many thanks to Mr. Mushkin for his time and insights into the expectations that today’s kids have on how new technology will be shaping their futures.

Future Tech Jobs: We Need Social Science Graduates

The science behind that interconnectivity is social network analysis, developed decades ago in social science research. It involves proven methods of scientific research and analysis which today is accelerated through software and online social networks.

http://blogs.forbes.com/rawnshah/2011/06/22/future-tech-jobs-we-need-social-science-graduates/

F1′s fuel-efficient engines of the future: Tech Talk

The original proposal was for F1 to adopt a 1.6l in-line four-cylinder engine from 2013. This week that has been tweaked to a 1.6l V6 from 2014 onwards – but the big picture of a downsized engine featuring lots of road-relevant new technology remains.

http://www.redbull.com/cs/Satellite/en_INT/Article/european-grand-prix-tech-talk-021243038970005

The Current Status and Predictions on Cloud Computing from Cloud Leaders

Werner Vogels from Amazon and Satya Nadella from Microsoft talked about the current status of cloud computing, while Lew Tucker from Cisco and Jon Weinman from HP made some predictions on its future at GigaOM Structure Event.

http://www.infoq.com/news/2011/06/Cloud-Status-Predictions

Future of flight is a Dreamliner

From the outset, Boeing has touted its 787 Dreamliner as an innovative passenger jet equipped to usher in a new age in air travel. Now the travelling public is getting a peek inside.

http://gulfnews.com/business/aviation/future-of-flight-is-a-dreamliner-1.826383

Leeds scientists hail prostate cancer breakthrough

AN “exciting” potential breakthrough in cancer treatment has been found by Leeds scientists. Tests of a new vaccine using a range of DNA proved successful at treating prostate cancer in mice.

http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/latest-news/leeds_scientists_hail_prostate_cancer_breakthrough_1_3497180

Video: NASA Robot Hovers Autonomously in Infrared

This robotic lander made staff in a NASA control room very happy when it launched, flew and landed itself autonomously. While that’s an impressive feat in itself, seeing the explosive launch in infrared is even more exciting.

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/06/nasa-robot-hovers/

I have knack for closing eyes, getting visions, talking about these visions and they come true. I am especially accurate when it come to future technology. You could say i am future teller. I tell future of great things happening. No Rapture, No 2012 catastrophe. What is dis?

Dis is where they wash the hogs or hogswash i hear someone say. No, when I close eyes, i see the past that i have predicted so accurately. Russian cosmonauts in space. I predicted this years before reality. The Internet was my idea, not Al Gore’s and not DARPA. Please.

Solar Concept

Yes, global warming real. Ice shelves melting. Dis future teller says there will be some worldwide calamities like tsunami which just happened in Japan that will be wakeup call for rest of us. Carbon and fossil fuel will be replaced by cheap renewable energy. Cheap solar right around corner.

When i close eyes and dis future teller looks into crystal ball powered by next generation Pentium chip i see individuals with more power than ever before. Energy will be created at home. There will be home fueling stations. Food will quickly and easily be grown both inside and outside homes.

Government decentralized. Big companies, decentralized. Much more power, wealth and technology will be at local level. Think globally, act locally will get off bumper stickers and into our neighborhoods.

Yes, there will be future wars. Mankind is so immature. Science and technology go faster than our spiritual or emotional maturity. Flying cars, of course. In my country, pigs will fly too, ha ha ha!

No, me be serious for second. There are many prophets and fortune tellers who say India, Pakistan and China will rise to world power and dominate U. S. But this no true. With Internet and services like Facebook and Twitter, this will help organize and democratize world.

China and North Korea will fall under the global weight of people talking and revolting. In regard to technology dis future teller predicts not only trips within low earth orbit for tourists within next 3 years but trips to moon within 15 years. Trips to Mars are only 30 year away, so this is what I see and tell.

DARPA Robot

There will be future wars, but no with nuclear bombs. Future wars will be more localized and precise using laser weapons, advanced intelligence gathering using spy satellites and planes and more robotic, clone and cyborg soldiers. But doomsday will never come. It never has.

When I jump off boat, I was part of 4G network. In my country we still use tin cans and string to talk. But, in 2 years, 5G network will be out. This is variation of Moore’s Law. Not Gordon Moore, but Roger Moore (double nyet 7). In 2 years, 5G network be all over Flint, Michigan where that other Moore guy be from.

As far as the rest of 2011, economy come back because Tech sector strong like bull once again. Because of future medical technology in 10 year, at least 10-percent of U. S. humans be made up of titanium, carbon fiber and other synthetic parts.

Dis all for now. Me go eat ham sandwich.

But plug-in cars are here now and will escalate in popularity for the next 20 years before hydrogen plug-ins start to overtake them. What petrol powered plug-ins will do for hydrogen fuel cell cars will be in laying the groundwork for future zero emission vehicles plus perhaps a few other future cars as well.

A plug-in hybrid juices up at a simple outdoor recharging station.

Plug-ins right now make up for the shortcomings of both battery electric vehicles and hydrogen cars. Plug-ins are able to travel the first x number of miles on all electricity. They are able to be charged at night when electricity rates are low for pennies. When needed for long road trips they can use their gasoline engines and refuel anywhere a regular gasoline powered car can.

Now, here is my prediction of how this will play out. Since many current and future plug-ins will get over 100 mpg, this will mean less fuel will be needed. This will mean first the gasoline prices will come down drastically, since less fuel will be consumed, but this will also mean many gas stations will be driven out of business.

With plug-in hybrids getting 4 times the gas mileage as current CAFÉ standards, this will mean only ¼ of the gas stations will be needed to accommodate these plug-in hybrid cars.

When gas stations start folding nationwide due to the conservation of fuel, this will suddenly make it tangible for the hydrogen car industry to build fewer supporting hydrogen stations or pumps. Right now, hydrogen car critics say that the same number of hydrogen fueling stations will need to be built in order replace gasoline stations if we all were to convert today.

Plug-in cars are going to be mainstreamed over the next 10 years.

Of course this number is false since hydrogen cars today get 3 times the gas mileage as current CAFÉ standards, so in essence 1/3 the number of H2 fueling stations would need to be built. But the public is largely unaware of this since hydrogen car critics have launched an effective campaign of misinformation.

But, if the public can see for themselves that gasoline fueling stations are dropping like flies because of the plug-in hybrids with gasoline range extenders, then the next logical leap would be to go from low emissions to no emissions via hydrogen cars.

And just like the demand for gasoline will drop significantly because of the plug-in aspect of the car, less hydrogen will also be needed. Critics have made outrageous predictions about how much hydrogen will be needed to support a nationwide hydrogen highway system.

But, these numbers are not accurate. In 2007, when the Chevy Volt Hydrogen plug-in hybrid concept vehicle was rolled out at the Shanghai Auto Show, it was reported to get around 75 MPGe (miles per gallon equivalent).

This means it gets around 3 times better mileage than the typical gasoline-burning car. This also means that at least 1/3 the hydrogen will need to be produced to support future vehicles. It is also reasonable to assume that with technology growing by leaps and bounds hydrogen plug-ins will be over the 100 mpge mark in just a few years, reducing the hydrogen production needs significantly.

This Ford Airstream hydrogen fuel cell plug-in hybrid shows off the future.

So, you see it’s not the battery electric car, or the hydrogen car or the ethanol or flex-fuel vehicle that is the most exciting car to come about in the past 100 years. It’s the plug-in hybrid that will shake up the Big Oil industry and set the stage for non-polluting hydrogen cars to step in and become mainstreamed for many decades to come.

They both want to stick it to the phone companies but that’s different subject altogether. So, let’s get back on track and talk about Nissan for a second. They just put the word out on the street (whisper, whisper) that they have developed breakthrough technology for their lithium ion batteries. They have found a way to make them flat and fit under the floorboard rather than cylindrical and mount them like a deer on your front bumper.

According a guy named Nielson who is questionably part of that ratings family, “We have had a breakthrough in the technology allowing Nissan’s lithium ion battery to be put into mass production. We’ve had the size of the battery reduced and made more compact and also made it more powerful half the size of the previous generation.”

Now this is good news for electric car advocates and ironically hydrogen car advocates as well. You see most hydrogen cars are actually hybrid electric cars as well and a few are even plug-in hybrids.

Future Prediction

My future prediction is that the plug-in hybrid electric hydrogen vehicle will win the battle between battery electric vehicle advocates and hydrogen car advocates. Combining the best of both technologies, battery only for short drives and hydrogen fuel cells for longer drives gives drivers what they need (and I’m not talking golfers here, though I could be).

Before nuclear cars take over the landscape the future cars will be hydrogen plug-in hybrids on the road. Mark your calendars for “sometime in the future” so that you can look back in time a few years from now and say to yourself that hey this guy was right. Might want to give him a Nostradamus award or something.

So, for the first time in history, scientists at MIT, UCLA, Johns Hopkins, and Dow Chemical have discovered that by adding these elements which are the basic building blocks to mankind in a scientific bell jar along with other proprietary minerals and chemicals with just the right amount of sunlight, the life as we know it will spontaneous appear and grow.

In past experiments scientists were able to achieve similar success, but small live DNA samples were needed for the experimental substance to cling to and complete. In the MIT experiment, however, no life form was in the test tube – only the elements, chemicals and minerals already mentioned.

A laser was used at first to start the chain reaction, followed by small amounts of sunlight and finally a strobe light. What the scientists found upon close inspection is that a human egg and sperm had spontaneously united which has huge religious, moral and spiritual implications.

The question of where does life come from is not often answered by “a test tube”. And, so it is done. The future of life will be created in test tubes from scratch. And if this weren’t an April Fool’s joke it would be pretty cool, now wouldn’t it?

Some of the discoveries involve using GPS systems inside the human body to signal the exact location of cancer cells, combining neurons and computer wires, speeding up computers by replacing copper wires, NASA new mission that is not the moon and cheaper fuel cells for hydrogen cars.

Doctors Use New GPS System and Radiation to Zap Tumors

Like a car navigating a city street, a global positioning system guided a radiation beam directly to Gene Scallon’s prostate. Once there, radiation zapped the cancer cells into smithereens. And Scallon didn’t feel a thing … That’s important because breathing or coughing causes organs to move — and the prostate gland can move unpredictably on its own.

New Technology Mixes Neurons and Computer Wires

Graduate students at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, led by Minrui Yu and Yu Huang, have published an ACS Nano paper, “Semiconductor Nanomembrane Tubes: Three-Dimensional Confinement for Controlled Neurite Outgrowth,” in which they show that they have been able to successfully coax nerve cell tendrils to grow through tiny tubes made of the semi-conductor materials silicon and germanium.

Researchers Speed Up Computer Using Advanced Thermal Material

Scientists in GE’s Global Research Center have demonstrated an advanced thermal material system that could pave the way to faster computing and higher performing electronic systems. Leveraging technologies developed under GE’s Nanotechnology Advanced Technology Program, they have fabricated a prototype substrate that can cool electronic devices such as a laptop computer twice as well as copper.

NASA Plans Mission to Near Earth Asteroid

NASA’s current goal of sending astronauts on an asteroid-bound mission by 2025 is one of the core ideas in the space exploration vision laid out by President Barack Obama last year. It represents a major shift from NASA’s earlier plan, which was aimed at returning astronauts to the moon.

Platinum Less Fuel Cell Expected to Drive Down Costs

Catalysts made of carbon nanotubes dipped in a polymer solution equal the energy output and otherwise outperform platinum catalysts in fuel cells, a team of Case Western Reserve University engineers has found.

This face transplant (and four future face transplants) was funded by no other than the U. S. Department of Defense. Now, at first glance this sounds fine if you think that soldiers on the battlefield who have been blown up may one day come home to a fresh face and a new life.

Future face transplants will be based upon current, emerging technology.

But, the conspiracy theorist in me says different. Why would first line soldiers who have trouble getting a new foot from the VA be getting a new million dollar face? My vivid imagination says that this future medical  technology may be reserved for high level spies and even heads of state in hiding.

According to The Beatles, Eleanor Rigby, “Waits at the window, wearing a face that she keeps in a jar by the door. Who is it for?” This may just be a metaphor, but we all know how medical science can be hijacked and used for less than puritanical purposes. LSD experiments on soldiers, anyone? Who is that for?

Google recently filed a facial recognition patent so that basically a person can take your picture in public, then make the link to your Facebook profile and find out all sorts of details about you. So much for being anonymous to strangers in public.

Anonymity is important to many people. This is what has driven the Internet for year and why uses of avatars and personas are so prevalent. Future face transplants may fulfill this need for anonymity.

But, this is not what I personally fear. What I fear is the future butt recognition software that is now being developed in the deep recesses of the Microsoft labs. You see once a year I like to hop on my motorcycle and drive out the Burning Man wearing my ass-less chaps. What I seek is a certain amount of anonymity and no tell-tail connections to my Facebook page.

And also, the next time I happen to be sitting on the office photocopy machine making copies of my butt I don’t want to be recognized by some crack head with a cell phone. Is this too much to ask?

And each night when I see the movie, I notice Sigourney Weaver putting Jake Sully into the capsule for his first outing as an Avatar. Afterwards Weaver’s cohort Dr. Patel says, “That’s a gorgeous brain. Nice activity,” as he is viewing what could be an X generation Apple iPad.

Of course by the time the movie is supposed to take place in 2154 all computers could be touchscreen transparent like this one showing in-depth brain activity. This got me to thinking though if future iPads will evolve for different professions such as a specialty model for the medical field, particularly those who do future brain scans and what we today will call X-rays, CAT scans, PET scans and MRIs?

And if this were the case wouldn’t be ironic if this kind of medical iPad was created, but not in time to save Steve Jobs’ life? Then again, this kind of future medical technology would, I think save thousands if not millions of other people’s lives.

The future iPad, (that is near future), is sure to amaze and thrill us. But what if the power of the IBM Watson and the iPad joined forces? This is a scenario that I hope I stay alive long enough to see.

Or perhaps I could even build and app for that. In fact, it would be a rap app for that. Yo yo dog. Yo yo cat. Yo Yo Ma. Well, enough of that crap.

My tendency is to think they would be like two ships passing in the night barely noticing each other. Rogue waves, as in the movie “Perfect Storm” tend to be far from shore. A tsunami, on the other hand, can also travel far from shore as witnessed in Northern California from the recent 9.0 Japanese quake.

But, and this is a big but (to go along with my own big butt that consumed too many calories on a late night binge on chicken nuggets last night – but I digest) the advice given for boaters at least is that if a tsunami is coming then take your vessel 3 miles out to sea away from shore. For rogue waves, the closer to shore you are the safer you and your ship are. At least this is the conventional wisdom. Not that I’m into convention or wisdom.

So, the point I’m trying to make and doing a bad job in getting quickly to it is will there come a time when Man can overcome Mother Nature using science and technology. For instance here are some things I’ve thought about in regard to future technology to deal with catastrophic natural events:

1.      Pre-emptive strikes of explosives along volcanic plates to ease the pressure.

2.      Use of laser beams along fault lines for the same purposes.

3.      Instant early warning systems tied into our cell phones, laptops, PCs. There must be an app for that? Or perhaps there will be.

4.      In the future, say 50 or so years from now, there may be flying cars, buses, or even buildings for high level emergency evacuations.

5.      Having lived near the Mississippi River for a while I know that some houses are built on stilts to deal with occasional floods. Perhaps in the future, hydraulic stilts on future homes would be an option to deal with flooding, tsunamis and even the shaking from 9.0 and above earthquakes.

These are just a few ideas I came up with off the top of my head. I regularly put a mirror above my head to see small light bulbs going off and “word ideas” coming and going like drops of water in a hot frying pan. So, if you have an idea for how we can try to protect ourselves better from Mother Nature in the future using technology, then leave a comment. As for me, I’m going back to my mirror since I think I see a bald spot and there may just be a few new ideas ready to pop.

So be amazed, be enthrawled and be anything but benign (or ten) when it comes to this future tech that is right square in your peripheral vision.

Star Trek Tractor Beam Is Not Science Fiction Anymore

Another piece of Star Trek technology has become a reality. Captain Kirk would instantly recognize new blueprints developed by a team of Chinese scientists as plans for a tractor beam.

The proposed device hasn’t yet been built. But a similar one conceived by an American physicist was tested last year. Each device would fulfill the science fiction dream of reeling in objects using light — though neither could move anything bigger than a bacterium, much less a starship.

Traveling Wave Reactor Recycles Uranium Waste and Creates Energy

Any new business venture gains a little bit of clout when Bill Gates gets on board. Washington-based company TerraPower is developing a new form of nuclear power, and their efforts have attracted the investment of the billionaire Microsoft founder. The experimental nuclear technology that TerraPower is pursuing, called the traveling wave reactor, was first proposed in the 1950s, but has seen little in the way of research or development in the decades since.

Anti Laser Beams – Say What

Physicists have built the world’s first device that can cancel out a laser beam – a so-called anti-laser. The device, created by a team from Yale University, is capable of absorbing an incoming laser beam entirely.

Lunar X Prize Contest Teams Announced

Twenty-nine privately funded teams have thrown their hats in the ring, contest organizers announced Feb. 17, and entries are closed. The teams represent 17 nations spanning four continents, and the competitors range from non-profits to university consortia to billion-dollar businesses.

Google publishes facial recognition patent, could use social network photos

If you are out in public, you are fair game, but how would you like it if a stranger took your picture and then ran a search to find out your name, online aliases and all the information about you via that image? We are very nearly there with automatic face-recognition technology and social media aggregation.

NASA’S Chandra Finds Superfluid in Neutron Star’s Core

NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory has discovered the first direct evidence for a superfluid, a bizarre, friction-free state of matter, at the core of a neutron star. Superfluids created in laboratories on Earth exhibit remarkable properties, such as the ability to climb upward and escape airtight containers. The finding has important implications for understanding nuclear interactions in matter at the highest known densities.

Many people believe that future cold fusion will run everything from large scale power plants to personal power plants, cars, space craft and even small electronic devices. The emerging technology behind creating and containing cold fusion has been in the works for years.

Now, however, Andrea Rossi ran a successful test using warm water, 0.4 grams of hydrogen, nickel powder and some super secret (pinkie shake and decoder ring) catalysts.

According to NYTeknik, “The ‘energy catalyzer’, demonstrated to invited scientific observers in January, is producing heat by an unknown reaction. The device’s reactor is loaded with nickel powder in the presence of secret catalysts, and pressurized with hydrogen. When the device is ‘ignited’ by the application of heat through an electrical resistance, a reaction emitting about 10 kilowatts of heat output starts. Rossi’s hypothesis is that the energy derives from a nuclear reaction in which a nickel nucleus captures a proton (the hydrogen nucleus of) to form copper. This could be regarded as’cold fusion’.”

Rossi brought up the idea that there was some sort of fraud going on behind this event. He basically said that at the end of his career he has nothing to gain by using smoke and mirrors to get the desired results.

This may just be the cold fusion breakthrough scientists have been seeking for years. If Jimmy Durante were alive today he may just say, “Cold fusion? Hot-cha-cha-cha-cha!”

Future spaceships and spacecraft will be used for tourism, exploration, military and scientific ventures. Just like today’s cars, boats and airplanes, future spacecraft will also come in a myriad of designs where form and function meet along with the technology that propels us everywhere in the solar system we’ll need to go.

The pictures of future spaceships show how scientists and engineers are now designing vehicles to propel us into Low Earth Orbit (LEO), to the Moon, to Mars and beyond. Future space hotels (and other dwellings) in orbit and colonizing the Moon and other planets will also be necessary for our future ventures into space.

Space Tourism

Space tourism as envisioned by Virgin Galactic and Sir Richard Branson, CEO of Virgin Airlines plus a company called Scaled Composites shows (pictured above) the VSS Enterprise flying into LEO and giving its passengers a few minutes of weightlessness and an overwhelming look at the curvature of the Earth.

Space Hotel

Future space hotels (such as this concept from Galactic Suite) will accommodate tourists, scientists, government workers and business people all with different positive interests in expanding the world of land and water in which we all live.

Ark 1

Ark 1 from the Lifeboat Foundation is supposed to be a self-sustaining space colony that is meant to keep the human race alive in the event of a global disaster such as nuclear war or major asteroid strike. To debunk the rumors, however, there will not be room to bring animals 2 by 2 onboard.

Plasma Rocket

Plasma propellant engines, cold fusion rockets or another transformative, disruptive technological form of energy that may not yet be on the scientific drawing boards will propel future spaceships into the outer reaches of the solar system. Pictured above is a NASA VASIMR (Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket).

Mars Spaceplane

This Mars spaceplane picture shows what the future will behold for us as space travel advances from the Moon and space hotels to the farther reaches of the solar system.

Earth Rise

But, no matter how far we venture out into the universe, there will always be an awesome Earth rise awaiting us back home. And this will make ventures into space worth it in the end.

For more information on future space travel and missions see what else there is to learn just by poking around this place.

Credits: Virgin Galactic, Lifeboat Foundation, Galactic Suite, NASA

But, this is not joke. This is one of those future is now stories. With the aid of advanced robotics from Virginia Tech (the same place a madman blinded by rage shot and killed students a few years back) the Daytona International Speedway became a part of history.

A legally blind driver was asked to sit inside a car and dodge cardboard boxes as they were thrown out of a truck along the speedway. Sounds like a cruel joke or college hazing doesn’t it. But, no.

The technology is real and it works. According to Virginia Tech, “The SUVs have been modified with TORC’s ByWire XGV technology, and coupled with such technology as laser range finders on the front and rear of the vehicle, cameras, and non-visual driver interface technologies such as a pair of wired gloves and a modified seat cushion … The combined technology is used to help direct a driver on when to accelerate, brake, steer in a particular direction and other actions.”

Blind Driver

The modified seat cushion is of especial interest to me. Talk about flying by the seat of your pants – literally. While the car is not street legal, it does give us hope. Transportation has long been a huge issue for people with disabilities.

When you get your first car there is a sense of freedom that is almost indescribable. This new technology for the blind, when perfected, will give this feeling to millions for the first time in their lives.

This one person aircraft is pretty green as it is all electric and has much farther range (about 50 miles) than a jetpack powered by hydrogen peroxide which may get you a mile if you’re lucky. No, the NASA Puffin (presumably named after the cool weather bird that flies fairly low above the sea) has two propellers, and takes off and lands with four stabilizers.

The NASA Puffin has a top speed of around 290 mph and a cruising speed of about half that much. It’s made of carbon fiber so it comes in at a svelte 190 kg including the rechargeable lithium phosphate batteries.

The NASA Puffin is not restricted by the amount of oxygen at altitude since it is all electric. The downside like most electric vehicles is its range. I hydrogen fuel cell would do wonders for alleviating this dilemma.

If you’ve ever dreamed about flying above congested freeways or jammed streets in town, then the NASA Puffin gives a glimpse of what the future of personal airplanes will be like. This leading edge aircraft may actually be too cool for school.

NASA Puffin

Yes, Watson (not to be confused with Hal) time and again kicked the snot out of the other contestants by answering the questions correctly in his quirky voice. If you happened to have caught the Conan O’Brien spoof of Watson it was pretty entertaining and Watson sucked up to Conan and got personal with his sidekick Andy Richter.

IBM Watson

Watson told a few “Yo Mama” jokes followed by a few “I did your wife” jokes after which Richter dismembered Watson with a baseball bat.

Even though Watson showed the superior intellect on Jeopardy, the higher-than-thou voice needs to be retooled. I guess you can’t expect a great amount of social skills from a computer especially one programmed by a bunch of geeks who probably don’t themselves have an overabundance of social skills.

Perhaps giving Watson the voice of comedian Bobcat Goldthwait would have enlisted a bit more empathy towards the supercomputer with a chip on its shoulder (as well as many inside the box). The outside the box thinking by the IBM programmers has to be admired though. In addition, the willingness to put their money where their mouths are in such a public forum was an act of bravery.

But, I have to end this blog quickly now, as my laptop has just started talking back to me and I can’t let this go on too long. Heaven only knows what could happen next. I’m grabbing my baseball bat just in case.

The engineers at the university are using III-V materials to create LED’s and lasers. The process they are using is also scalable for mass production since similar technology is already being used to produce thin film solar cells and LED’s.

Nanolasers

With the use of nanotechnology the scientists are creating nanopillars upon the silicon chips to help quickly distribute the near infrared light. According to UC Berkeley, “Once the nanopillar was made, the researchers showed that it could generate near infrared laser light – a wavelength of about 950 nanometers – at room temperature. The hexagonal geometry dictated by the crystal structure of the nanopillars creates a new, efficient, light-trapping optical cavity. Light circulates up and down the structure in a helical fashion and amplifies via this optical feedback mechanism.

“The unique approach of growing nanolasers directly onto silicon could lead to highly efficient silicon photonics, the researchers said. They noted that the miniscule dimensions of the nanopillars – smaller than one wavelength on each side, in some cases – make it possible to pack them into small spaces with the added benefit of consuming very little energy.”

This breakthrough could create an optoelectronics revolution within the industry leading to disruptive technology not only in supercomputer and super-networking and super-telecommunications as well.

If you would like to see how future computers will change your life check out this page.

The propulsion methods of these future planes will be of a great variety including JP-8 jet fuel mixtures especially with biofuels, hydrogen, hydrogen peroxide, plug-in battery electric hybrids, multi-fuel hybrids, magnetic energy, nuclear and those carrying plasma reactors.

This just gives a glimpse of what future airplanes will look like in the years ahead. Of course, there will be must development between now and 5, 10, 20 or 50 years in the future so we’ll just have to wait and see what the scientists and engineers of tomorrow offer.

NASA Supersonic Green Machine

This is a NASA concept supersonic aircraft that uses green fuel and is manufactured with little or no carbon footprint.

Future Commercial Travel

The concept behind these future planes is that the large one will circle the earth above many large cities and the smaller airplane will deplane the passengers in the sky then shuttle them to the airports saving time and fuel.

NASA Blended Wing Airplane Concept

The NASA Blended-Wing-Body aircraft concept co-developed with the help of UC Irvine, CA shows how design in the future will help reduce fuel consumption.

NASA Futuristic Planes

Now, this may be a stretch given current technology and a bit on the science fiction edge for some tastes, but this is what NASA is predicting are travel will look like within the next 50 years. Could happen.

Mars Airplane

To take NASA’s future vision one step farther, this is the depiction of what an airplane will look like on Mars. Of course, this most likely would be categorized as a spacecraft but they are calling it an airplane so I will do so as well.

These future airplane pictures, images and photos represent a small sample of what the years ahead have in store for us. The pictures of future airplanes are based upon current and emerging technology. This is not science fiction but rather projections and predictions based upon what we know today to be true.

For more detailed info see the future airplanes section of this website and see what is in store in just a few short years.

Credits: NASA, Boeing, UC Irvine

Perhaps the only qualifying statement that can be added to this observation is that ultimately, the medical profession will seek to provide the most cost effective solution to patient care, without ever compromising the actual quality of the care provided.

Robotic Surgery

There has been a great deal of controversy within the medical profession concerning the reliability, cost effectiveness and relevance of robotic surgery. To some medical professionals, it represents nothing more than the “Emperor’s new clothes” syndrome taken to extreme lengths. Or to put it more bluntly, the critics say that progress is made simply for the sake of making progress and that something new is automatically associated as being better.

Others argue that the usage of robotic surgery may still have some teething problems that need to be resolved but ultimately, the technology has a lot of potential and which could radically improve the efficiency and productivity of the profession as a whole.

With that in mind then, the following is a comparison of both the benefits and drawbacks attributed to the usage of robotic surgery.

Benefits of robotic surgery

• The fact that a surgeon will be able to manipulate the robot from a centralized distance means that the surgery can be performed in a less restrictive manner. This means that the patient can be treated and operated on with a minimum of staff which in turn, reduces costs.
• The fact that surgeons can perform surgery from a distance also benefits the quality of healthcare for the patient as they are able to enjoy the reduction in the costs, as well as a greater degree of flexibility in regard to the areas they are can be treated.
• Doctors will tire and become fatigued, which in turn, reduces their concentration and ability to focus. A surgeon who has been working for several hours without a break will find that he will struggle to hold the scalpel steady and so this places considerable strain on the operating surgeon. With robotic surgery this concern is reduced, even eliminated.
• Robotic surgery will allow for a much greater degree of precision and accuracy to be achieved whenever certain types of surgical procedures are being used, such as orthopedic surgery, or neurological.

Disadvantages of robotic surgery

• Currently, the major limiting factor that is stunting the development of robotic surgery is that of “latency” which is the time delay between the instructions issued by the surgeon and the movement of the robot which responds to the instructions. With the current level of technology, the surgeon must be in close proximity.
• Robotic technology is extremely expensive both in terms of capital costs, as well as running expenses and will require the training of specialized personnel to properly repair and care for it. Such expenses may far outweigh any savings earned at the present time.

The last point is true will almost all emerging technologies. When numbers are small, prices are high. With economies of scale however, the price of machinery, maintenance and training will all go down to reasonable levels.

If you’d like a look at other future medical technology then this link will take you to a doorway to the short years ahead of us.

The pictures, photos and images of the future cars are brought the courtesy of others (see credits below). Some of the future cars offer unique design. Others offer cutting edge powertrains. Still, you can see from the pictures of these future cars that they offer some intangibles that can quite be articulated.

Since the future is yet to be written, why don’t we start writing it right now? Tell us what you think about this selection of future cars pictures, images and photos or even better yet send in your design for us to publish. Let others know what your vision of the future of vehicles is all about.

Future Car Pictures

Peugeot RD Concept – what can I say except I want to cruise around in this one – yeah, baby!

So, is this a future motorcycle, car or something out of the movie Tron?

This is a green, lean future machine that I can’t find a name for, so if you know who gets the credit for this future car then give me a shout.

This BMW future car may run on hydrogen fuel cell or battery only or both, but it sure will be fun to drive.

These future cars show a realistic contrast of what it will look like a few years from now in parking garages when new and older cars blend together in one place.

The Audi Intelligent Emotion future vehicle was designed by students at the Munich University of Applied Sciences.

These future cars give one little glimpse of what the years ahead hold for drivers. Remember that the kids of today will be driving some of these vehicles tomorrow (and perhaps you and I will, too).

Credits include: Cosmic Motors, Peugeot, BMW, Audi

People have been interested in getting from point A to point B, quickly, comfortable and efficiently for years. Since we don’t have Star Trek transporters yet, then future personal transport cars and vehicles will have to do in the interim.

On this picture page are a few futuristic personal transport vehicles the I must admit have a certain coolness factor (perhaps I’m admitting too much? I don’t get it. Neither do it.). Yet I digress. So, let’s progress and check out the future of personal transport vehicle and envision how we and the children of today will be driving them tomorrow.

The Hawk (pictured above), by New Zealander Alexander Hodge is a one-seat persona transport concept vehicle that is theoretically powered by a Honda RC51 V-twin 999cc engine and contains a fiberglass outer shell.

The VW 2020 Personal Transport Future Car (pictured above) was designed by Sergio Luna (meaning lunatic or perhaps moon as in the sky’s the limit kind of thinker) as an electric car based upon Segway technology.

The Honda 3R-C Minimal Transport Vehicle (pictured above) is a prototype combining motorcycle and car. The future car has two-wheel in front stabilizing the vehicle and one wheel in the back. The glass windshield moves upwards and back and can cover the entire upper part of the personal transport vehicle in inclement weather.

The Explicit personal mobility vehicle (pictured above) is the creation of Kenyon Yeh (yeah, that’s right Yeh, so yea). The concept was to create a small vehicle for a single person to navigate around in thick city traffic. Oh, yeah, and make it tough looking, too so that hoodlums won’t pick on you.

The UNO single seat personal urban vehicle is a design concept by Juan Alberto Cruz Gomez to further downsize the SmartForTwo into a one-seater that could deal deftly with inner city traffic while doing so with style.

These are just a few of the cool future personal transport cars that have been conceived to let others know what is possible. The future will be filled with these types of vehicles, so strap on your seatbelt because it’s going to be a fun ride ahead.

For a look at some other future cars plus more detailed information this link is a resource you’ll find outstanding.

While some slippery slope arguments are simply fallacy based upon fear we take a more positive twist and ask “What if …” in regard to current technology that leads to other new technology that leads to more advanced future technology and so on.

So, this site will let us investigate science fact, predicate science fiction based on that fact and state our cases on why today’s technology will in fact lead to tomorrow’s technology. In many cases science fiction does precede science fact. And it is the inventors, the scientists, chemists, engineers, physicists and the dreamers and doers who make this so. So, let’s begin.