Tech... from here, where?

[imoldernu]

To clarify... Tech as it affects our daily lives... Not so much phones or computers per se, but the the other things that affect our daily lives. (Maybe one more to exclude... self driving cars... a subject by itself.)

More in line with things like remote control lighting, and appliances... special doorbells... Things we all do every day, but newer tech stuff that is already started, like electronic toilet seats, or dry-fry Cookers... to be in every home.

It seems as if prices are coming down on many items, so it looks as if the we'll be making the fastest giant leap in human evolution ever. (thinking electricity, automobiles, television and like that).

Instead of only being there for the rich, advanced tech is available for the average person. ie., I just bought a 32 inch smart TV for $79.95.

So... your imagination, or something that you've seen on the horizon. Maybe in a five or ten year look ahead. Thoughts?

 

[joeea]

we'll be making the fastest giant leap in human evolution ever

Uhm, no.

No amount of inexpensive, internet-connected, voice-controlled, heated electronic toilet seats will make this the fastest giant leap in human evolution ever. That's not how human evolution works.

 

[braumeister]

Every generation has thought the same thing. Once upon a time, buttons for fastening your clothes were a life-changing invention.

 

[omni550]

A few that popped into my mind...

Custom drug prescriptions, based on YOUR specific DNA, physical state, and progression of disease, rather than the current one-size-fits all pills.

Also, "deeper" analysis of your health (including genetics, DNA markers, etc.), so you can be proactive and take preventative steps to "square the curve" well in advance of what we now consider normal aging.

Contact lenses that will allow the blind to 'see', due to built-in circuitry, software, etc.


omni

 

[Freedom56]

Humanoids helping with chores around the house...

https://techxplore.com/news/2017-12-team-japan-advanced-humanoid-robot.html

 

[Nick12]

Tech movement and a good bet is that 2 superpowers from the Far East are going to be leading the way.

 

[imoldernu]

Uhm, no.

No amount of inexpensive, internet-connected, voice-controlled, heated electronic toilet seats will make this the fastest giant leap in human evolution ever. That's not how human evolution works.

True, but as to evolution, what but technology has increased how we have evolved in such a short time? When I was born in 1936, my life expectancy was less than 60 years. A child born today, is expected to live 80 years.

Omni550 points out some of the potential advances in medicine (technology) that could advance this even further.

On this subject alone, an interesting article that might be looking into the future.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/could-babies-born-today-live-to-150/

Excerpt:

In 1850, the average human lifespan was 43 years. Now it's closer to 80.

How high could it go?

According to the book "100 Plus: How the Coming Age of Longevity Will Change Everything, From Careers and Relationships to Family and Faith," by Sonia Arrison, some babies born today may be able to live to be 150 years old.

 

[W2R]

I don't have any opinions about technological advancement. BUT.....

Instead of only being there for the rich, advanced tech is available for the average person. ie., I just bought a 32 inch smart TV for $79.95.

WOW!!! What a great deal.

I remember that when I was 26 years old, back in 1974, I finally managed to buy my first television. It was a 19" black and white Hitachi, on sale for $89 at a big discount store in Hawaii (Holiday Mart). Anyway it cost more than your TV and yours is bigger and color and generally a better TV. It is so nice for the consumer when technological advances allow prices to drop like that.

I love that I can do pressure cooking so safely in my Instant Pot; my grandma used to have an old fashioned pressure cooker but I was too scared of that style of pressure cooker, to ever try doing that. So there's a new type of device that helps me in my everyday life. I doubt that it's a technological advance, though.

 

[Music Lover]

Gadget tech is fun but I think that real strides will continue be made in DNA/gene technology that will allow some previously incurable diseases to be cured or at least prevented from advancing further.

 

[MRG]

I think it's common to think this is the greatest pinnacle of human history but how do we know? Granted technology is cheap, I remember writing compression algorithms for data because we couldn't afford to store it. But just because it's cheap today doesn't make it great.

I'd love to see the time when people didn't worry about healthcare or the cost(just spent an hour with BCBS telling me all the reasons they're not going to cover anything done by a doctor I see). I see healthcare as a huge opportunity to advance our world. So many people are sick with preventivable illnesses. I certainly agree with the prior posters about gene involvement in treatment and prevention. I just saw the update about roundup and non-hodgkins lymphoma, my FIL died fairly young from non-hodgkins and was a big user of roundup. Stuff like that should never happen.

 

[braumeister]

True, but as to evolution, what but technology has increased how we have evolved in such a short time? When I was born in 1936, my life expectancy was less than 60 years. A child born today, is expected to live 80 years.

Yes, but that has nothing to do with evolution. Better healthcare and development.

 

[imoldernu]

Here's a little different twist...
Homes like mine, made for the elderly, have carpeting to limit injury in the case of a fall.

While the current homes are show with little or no carpeting, there is a need. So here's the problem, for which I think there could be a solution.

As carpets age, definite wear, stains and wear on trafficked parts of the carpet appear. The usual solution is a full recarpeting of the house... in my case about
$3500.

Here's what I see as a possible kind of solution. How about carpet sections... maybe 2' x2' or 3'x5', with built in cushion, and made in a way where the sections could be "zippered" together, to allow periodic changes to extend the overall wear evenly.

Would I know how to do this? No way, but I'll bet, given the challenge, someone could.
..............................................................................................
How about (do it yourself) baseboard house water systems?

 

[imoldernu]

Yes, but that has nothing to do with evolution. Better healthcare and development.

Hmmm... a fine line I guess. Here's what Wikipedia says about the subject.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_evolution#Recent_and_current_human_evolution

 

[imoldernu]

Seems to be some thought that "technology has to be some form of electronic entity. I'd suggest that we can look farther... again.. to look at Wiki for a definition.

Technology ("science of craft", from Greek τέχνη, techne, "art, skill, cunning of hand"; and -λογία, -logia) is the collection of techniques, skills, methods, and processes used in the production of goods or services or in the accomplishment of objectives, such as scientific investigation.

 

[omni550]

Here's a little different twist...
Homes like mine, made for the elderly, have carpeting to limit injury in the case of a fall.

While the current homes are show with little or no carpeting, there is a need. So here's the problem, for which I think there could be a solution.

As carpets age, definite wear, stains and wear on trafficked parts of the carpet appear. The usual solution is a full recarpeting of the house... in my case about
$3500.

Here's what I see as a possible kind of solution. How about carpet sections... maybe 2' x2' or 3'x5', with built in cushion, and made in a way where the sections could be "zippered" together, to allow periodic changes to extend the overall wear evenly.

Would I know how to do this? No way, but I'll bet, given the challenge, someone could.
..............................................................................................
How about (do it yourself) baseboard house water systems?

Carpet squares have been used in commercial use (Hotels, libraries, offices, you name it) for several decades. I'm guessing homeowners want a different 'look' (texture, color scheme).

omni

 

[joeea]

True, but as to evolution, what but technology has increased how we have evolved in such a short time? When I was born in 1936, my life expectancy was less than 60 years. A child born today, is expected to live 80 years.

That has absolutely nothing to do with evolution.

We simply don't evolve in a short time.

 

[GrayHare]

Medicine is probably where tech will expand greatly this century. Funding for that exists because people will spend lots of money to feel and look better.

 

[imoldernu]

I guess the subject of evolution is a hotspot...
A fun subject for discussion...

here's one "take"...
https://www.darwins-theory-of-evolution.com/

Darwin's Theory of Evolution - A Theory In Crisis
Darwin's Theory of Evolution is a theory in crisis in light of the tremendous advances we've made in molecular biology, biochemistry and genetics over the past fifty years. We now know that there are in fact tens of thousands of irreducibly complex systems on the cellular level. Specified complexity pervades the microscopic biological world. Molecular biologist Michael Denton wrote, "Although the tiniest bacterial cells are incredibly small, weighing less than 10-12 grams, each is in effect a veritable micro-miniaturized factory containing thousands of exquisitely designed pieces of intricate molecular machinery, made up altogether of one hundred thousand million atoms, far more complicated than any machinery built by man and absolutely without parallel in the non-living world."

And we don't need a microscope to observe irreducible complexity. The eye, the ear and the heart are all examples of irreducible complexity, though they were not recognized as such in Darwin's day. Nevertheless, Darwin confessed, "To suppose that the eye with all its inimitable contrivances for adjusting the focus to different distances, for admitting different amounts of light, and for the correction of spherical and chromatic aberration, could have been formed by natural selection, seems, I freely confess, absurd in the highest degree."

In particular, this part of the above is currently being considered, for studies on genetic biology at the atomic level.

Although the tiniest bacterial cells are incredibly small, weighing less than 10-12 grams, each is in effect a veritable micro-miniaturized factory containing thousands of exquisitely designed pieces of intricate molecular machinery, made up altogether of one hundred thousand million atoms, far more complicated than any machinery built by man and absolutely without parallel in the non-living world

One of my grandsons is majoring in molecular biology as the key to his doctorate. In a way, a different world.

 

[joeea]

I guess the subject of evolution is a hotspot...
A fun subject for discussion...

Debating when to start social security benefits, I can understand.
Debating whether to pay off a mortgage early, I can understand.

Debating evolution on a Early Retirement forum? And in particular believing that decreasing prices of tech gadgets has something to do with "leaps in human evolution"? That makes no sense to me. Good luck with that one.

 

[Mdlerth]

Can I get one of those from Amazon?

Medicine is probably where tech will expand greatly this century. Funding for that exists because people will spend lots of money to feel and look better.

+1

A logical extension is to look for ways technology can promote pleasurable vices. Examples abound in the Woody Allen movie "Sleeper".

 

[Music Lover]

True, but as to evolution, what but technology has increased how we have evolved in such a short time? When I was born in 1936, my life expectancy was less than 60 years. A child born today, is expected to live 80 years.

I would think that something as simple as clean water, plumbing, and refrigeration have had the biggest impact on life span. Virtually no one in modern society (with a very few exceptions) drinks unsafe water tainted by bacteria and/or human waste or eats spoiled food.

 

[imoldernu]

Debating when to start social security benefits, I can understand.
Debating whether to pay off a mortgage early, I can understand.

Debating evolution on a Early Retirement forum? And in particular believing that decreasing prices of tech gadgets has something to do with "leaps in human evolution"? That makes no sense to me. Good luck with that one.

I give up, you win...

 

[NW-Bound]

A few that popped into my mind...

Custom drug prescriptions, based on YOUR specific DNA, physical state, and progression of disease, rather than the current one-size-fits all pills...

I am afraid that may mean the doctor can now say

"Sorry, but from the analysis of your DNA we can tell for certain that your cancer will not respond to any treatment that we currently have. So, there's no point in doing anything more which only brings you miserable side effects for nothing".

Nobody ever tells me that I am an optimistic person.

 

[joeea]

Virtually no one in modern society (with a very few exceptions) drinks unsafe water tainted by bacteria and/or human waste or eats spoiled food.

That's very true, depending on the definition of "modern society".

Sadly, even today, parts of the world are not part of modern society. There are many deaths every year due to unsafe water.

 

[braumeister]

Sadly, even today, parts of the world are not part of modern society. There are many deaths every year due to unsafe water.

Sad indeed.

Some 3 in 10 people worldwide, or 2.1 billion, lack access to safe, readily available water at home, and 6 in 10, or 4.5 billion, lack safely managed sanitation, according to a new report by WHO and UNICEF.