What is the Future of Technology?
Link to Standards #1 Content Area: Technology Source: National Content Standards Goal (SD Content Standards): Technology and Society Indicator: Students will develop an understanding of the role of society in the development and use of technology. Benchmark(s): A number of different factors, such as advertising, the strength of the economy, the goals of a company and the latest fads contribute to shaping the design of and demand for various technologies. Standards: (South Dakota Grade level standards are preceded with an *) Students will develop an understanding of wireless networks and the impact of society on the development and uses of this technology. Link to Standards #2 Content Area: Technology Source: National Content Standards Goal (SD Content Standards): Design Indicator: Students will develop an understanding of the attributes of design. Benchmark(s): The design process includes defining a problem, brainstorming, researching and generating ideas, identifying criteria and spec
How will 21st century technology change our lives? What wondrous marvels await us on the other side of that threshold? Before we start asking about the wonders of technology, we need to ask: Who is steering the spaceship of technology? And how is man to manage the changes brought on by his technology? True, technology has been an enormous boon to us in the twentieth century. The airplane and telecommunications industries have shrunk the world. The reign of any tyrant, for instance, is limited by the time it takes the world’s communications microscope to focus on his actions. The Internet, whose impact will surpass that of the printing press, brings the world together and takes education to the farthest reaches of the globe. Modern medicine has extended the length and quality of life, and the Genome Project, which maps the DNA signature and function of cells, has the potential for extending life dramatically and eliminating many diseases as we know them today. At the same time, the airp
No one can predict the future of technology exactly, because no one can see the future. However, there are reasonable arguments that can be made, based on the advances and trends of technology in the past. For instance, it is reasonable to predict that computers will continue to get more powerful, numerous, and cheaper. Areas with huge potential which is just beginning to be exploited today, like biotechnology, nanotechnology, and other emerging technologies, will continue to bear fruit. Technology in general will probably continue to improve, as it has for millennia, creating both promises and risks. Some futurists have even claimed that the rate of technological progress is accelerating, citing the argument that better tools help us create still better tools, and there exist more skilled scientists and engineers today than ever before. In the domain of computers, we already see increasing miniaturization and functionality. Today, someone might interact with dozens or hundreds of embe
