Spiders, snakes and darkness. They may be the favorite companions and pets of those upper-echelon villains that pervade our literature, films and streets on the 31st of October but, I have to say, they would not be my preferred form of company. Fortunately, I do not typically end up in the hands of my arch-nemesis very often (which might be because I don’t have one, but, if you do, I feel sorry for you).
That category of enemy is reserved for a select few people in my life and who that enemy is dependent on the day. For example, we have the classic guy-who-yells-through-his-phone-on-the-subway and the threatening man-who-does-not-cover-nose-while-sneezing but none of them pose an Arkham Asylum-esque threat to my wellbeing.No, my enemies are boring. But that could all change soon as some terrifying, but awesome new technology has been introduced this year. Technology that could change everything.
Awesome New Technology
1. Artificial Intelligence (AI)
You might be thinking, “I have already heard about this.” But, what you think is AI (like IBM’s Watson), might not actually be AI at all. Douglas Hofstadter, a cognitive scientist at Indiana University, has claimed that recent attempts at artificial intelligence are actually just, “text search algorithms connected to a database just like Google search.” And we would have to agree, at least for now. A few years from now, that could all change thanks in part to three developments this year; cheaper parallel computation, improving big data and better algorithms. Combine them all together and you have the beginnings of a very intelligent computer brain (did I mention that I am now cowering under my desk?).
2. Wearables
Wearables were supposed to be the cool-new thing this year with the launch of all sorts of wearables from the Apple Watch to Will.I.Am’s Puls. Instead, the awesome new technology that was supposed to replace our smart phones we got a bunch of mostly useless (and poorly designed) hardware (although the jury is still out on the Apple Watch so we will wait to pass judgment on that). Now let’s get to the terrifying part. A majority of these wearables collect data about you (your heart rate, name, address and purchase behavior data) and they could be giving that data out to others (such as an artificially intelligent computer hell-bent on destroying the world, did anyone see the Age of Ultron trailer? Looks awesome). Either way, we are going to wait on the wearable game and hope that it does eventually take off and become awesome (even though our free will may be at stake).
3. Internet TV
While this might not be as awesome (or have the same world-ending implications) as wearables or artificial intelligence it could end up saving you a lot of money (which is why we are calling it awesome new technology). The time of cable is over and with more and more networks moving to provide that online service we expect the end of cable to come sooner than later. You will be able to save hundreds of dollars a month on your cable bill, you will be able to select which stations you want (i.e. HBO, Hulu, etc.) and all you need to do that is a streaming device (Roku, Chromecast, FireTV).
The arrival of this awesome new technology could, and probably will, change the way we operate and conduct ourselves as we move forward. And, we have to say, the future cannot come soon enough.
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