Trent Ruble's Blog: The Other Way It Is - Posts Tagged "technology"

I have to admit I'm a Trekkie and can't wait for the next Star Trek movie to come out. I love to see all the possible (and not so possible) technology on display. But one thing I've noticed is that, contrary to present day technology, it all works and everyone knows how to use it without having to get the user guide out.

Even today's computers are almost miraculous in their abilities. Without them, I certainly wouldn't be able to present The Other Way It Is to the world each week! But, they are also the most user-unfriendly mass marketed items in the history of man. When attempting to perform even simple tasks the machines frequently fail; whether it's because of user error (over-complication), bad programming, excessive security or equipment malfunction. I often wonder when there will be an all out revolt among frustrated users.



In addition, I suspect that the computers we are being sold are designed to have a short lifespan thus requiring frequent upgrades. This is because new programs require faster computations than recently purchased computers can provide. The same is true for the internet. I can remember when DSL was a huge improvement over dial-up and with it one could view anything online. Now DSL can no longer keep up with the massive content being forced through our phone lines and is fast becoming obsolete. The bad news is that, if we upgrade, we'll soon be facing the same problem again. Compare this to my 24 year old convertible which is still serving us well.

It seems that the complexity of modern technology defeats its very purpose. I can remember a story told to me by my father about my grandfather. He said that Grandad told him he felt the world and all the modern (1960s) technology was passing him by. Dad said he didn't really understand at the time because he had no difficulty with 60s technology. However, in the 1980s, when the cars of the time started to come equipped with complicated emission controls and computers, he began to understand. Now my dad is totally out of the loop and doesn't even own a cell phone or home computer.

Well, now it's my turn. When I grew up I could go into anyone's home and operate their telephone or television, which were about all the high-tech offerings of the day (1970s). But now, I can't even fully understand my own gadgets. It's a good thing I still have a teenager in the house. And, to make matters worse, the current technology is so complicated that even the I.T. guys don't fully understand it. I am reminded of this every time my newest computer upgrade makes life worse instead of better.

All of this represents an arrogance among the information technology industry, as opposed to the "bend over backwards for the customer" attitude we find elsewhere. This becomes quite apparent when one contacts them for help.

And the scourge of the modern world? Passwords! It wouldn't be so bad if I could select my own password. But, for security purposes, many of them must be changed frequently and must contain an upper case letter, a number, a character, and must be so many characters long and you can't use any of the ones you've used before, etc... I'm on password overload!

The key to the success of future technology...make it user friendly!

In my opinion, the most rapid and dramatic change to our society occurred between 1880 and 1900. While there have been many great advancements before and since, there has not been a time that so radically changed our lifestyle and landscape as the late 19th century. There were many catalysts in this revolution but the primary instruments of change were in the fields of energy, especially electricity, and transportation. Unless we're in a very remote location, it's likely we can see the influence of these 100-year-old innovations everyday, all day long. Think lights, electronics, cars, roads, bridges, airplanes, etc...

Of course, peering into the other direction is much more cloudy. When I was young, the idea of "futuristic" involved a Dick Tracy wristwatch, video telephones and flying cars. None of these things seemed remotely possible in my mind but were common in science fiction and my futuristic day dreams. Now we're on the verge of having all three.

The first of these to become possible was the video telephone, which was actually introduced in the 1930s ( TV Tropes ). This means that, technically, they were in existence throughout my childhood. Even so, no one I knew had a video phone. The problem was that, even if someone was to obtain one of these modern marvels, no one else had one which meant there wasn't anyone to call. Another drawback was the perception that users must be presentable at all times in case an unexpected call would come at an inopportune time. Now, programs such as Facetime and Skype have made video telecommunications commonplace. Evidently, people have overcome the threat to their vanity.



In 1946 Chester Gould introduced the two-way radio watch to his famous comic strip hero, "Dick Tracy," and then upgraded it to a two-way TV watch in 1964 (Dick Tracy and American Culture: Morality and Mythology, Text and Context, by Garyn G. Roberts) thus sparking the fascination of millions of kids everywhere. Now, with Fitbit and Apple Watch, this once novel idea is also commonplace.

But, the flying car has eluded us. That is until now. I'd always imagined the flying car would operate on an electomagnetic cushion much like Luke Skywalker's does in the 1977 Star Wars film, A New Hope. Instead, the first flying cars are going to resemble over-sized drones like the hover bike pictured below. And, they will soon be everywhere! The FAA and/or the NHTSA will be hard-pressed to keep up with this technology as there will soon be vehicles flying in every direction, speed and altitude. I can see many mid-air collisions in our future. In any event, this will change our society more drastically than what occurred in 1900.

A "hover bike" being tested by the Dubai Police

So, what do we envision today when looking to the future? I think genetic engineering and artificial intelligence are prominent in the short term, as well as their scary repercussions. In the far future we may travel faster than light as we explore the galaxy. However it turns out, the future promises to be very different than today. It's too bad we'll never see the end of this ever evolving story. This is going to be like walking out half-way through a good movie. Nobody does that.