Computer Technology is Changing Everything I have to say I find our advancements in technology since as late as the 1980s incredible. I am saying this even though much technology has been held back from us. It is not just military technology either. When computer chip makers face advancements which they feel will not generate at least a base line increase in profits they tend to put off selling more advanced chips. This is easy to understand, because things are far different now than when personal computers first came out. In those days many of us would wait for the next advancement, and companies wouldn’t wait to release these advancements, because they knew they would be grabbed up. Everyone wanted a faster and more capable computer. Moving forward to about ten years ago, it became obvious computers had reached a stage where they did everything the average person wanted them for. In 1992 IBM created the first smart phone which was fifteen years before the first IPhone. As the IPhone advanced over the years it became the tool of choice for a good chunk of the population, thus eliminating their need for a desktop or laptop computer. This decreased the size of the computer market, but increased the size of the cell phone market. There was less incentive to improve computer chips for computers. People who did use computers were holding on to them longer, since as I said they were capable of doing everything many people wanted to do which was word processing, email reading and writing, and browsing the internet. They also used their computer for social media, but their cell phone was also capable of that. Some people believe the computer market would get even smaller if it were more convenient to use cell phones for word processing and if that day comes the market will shrink by quite a bit. If someone comes out with a holographic keyboard for the cell phone it could be a spear in the side of the computer market. There will always be computer users, the only questions are how many and what their needs will be. As cell phones get more powerful they begin to blur the difference between computers and themselves. Let me ask you this question, if you were a computer user and a cell phone came out which could do everything your computer could and it projected a high definition screen and a keyboard, would you still use your computer if you could get the same software for the cell phone? It’s a tough question to answer, but many might give up on their computers. As computers shrink they are getting into everything, even our clothing. Just because the cell phone is making a big dent in the computer market doesn’t mean it will always be that way. Many are predicting our clothing will replace them. Computer circuits are becoming washable and stretchable. This is thanks to a material called graphene, which was discovered a few years ago. Graphene is a carbon sheet which can be as thin as one atom. Someday the people we see walking down the street alone and talking will not be those we see today. These will be people talking to their clothes. They may be carrying out a telephone conversation or just barking commands to their clothing computers. This will take some getting used to by some of us who have a lot of generations under our belt. One thing we have to prepare ourselves for is having our appliances talk back to us. Just about all appliances are going to be intelligent, and probably connected to the internet. This part scares me, because all these connections are creating a hacker paradise. Some smart kids might decide to play havoc with your refrigerator, which in the future will be able to order food on its own when supplies get low. Just picture some young teenager ordering all sorts of food and you getting the bills. This is not the most worrisome thing however, that is transportation, all transportation. There is no doubt cars, buses, trucks, trains, and even airplanes will someday drive themselves. California has just issued the first license to a company to allow driverless cars to drive on their roads without a human behind the wheel. Cars and wheeled vehicles will be first, but other forms of transportation will follow. This has to be made hack proof or a lot of people will die. Can you imagine a terrorist attack which focuses on one brand of driverless car and stops them while they are on the road? I am talking about a car cruising along which makes a panic stop. Just think about what could happen, the carnage this could cause. This is just one scenario. Imagine hacking a cruise ship with ten thousand people aboard and forcing it into some port where pirates are waiting, or sending a plane crashing to the ground, or forcing it to land so all the passengers can be robbed and held hostage. With all our technology we haven’t figured out how to really protect ourselves. Every time I have heard about something being hack proof, when tested it was hacked successfully. This goes back to the dawn of the internet and modern computers. The safest way to use a computer is not to have it connected to any outside lines, but then we are depriving ourselves of a lot of useful and fun things. The latest promise being made to us is when quantum computing takes over it will be impossible to hack something, because the code protecting it will be so complex. No one seems to mention the fact if everyone has quantum computers there is an equal playing field and it may be possible to get if not one, a bank of quantum computers to break codes protecting other quantum computers. I have always felt any protection system made by man can be breached no matter how certain scientists are that they can’t be. Computers will eventually make us all into different types of people which don’t exist today by altering our minds and bodies. There won’t be any such thing as a paralyzed person, because computers will overcome this with neural chips. The same is true for schools, they will become a thing of the past, because instant learning will take place where a computer chip is embedded in us with all the information we would ever need. The problem with this is there may be different levels of these chips and only the rich and powerful will get the best ones. Computers are ever changing even if the pace is sometimes slow, but eventually they will change the world.
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