2010

[tex]

Hi All,

I can't believe that it's already 2010. You know, back when I was in high school, I read Eric Blair's, (better known by his pen name, George Orwell), novel, 1984, for an English Literature class. At the time, I thought, "Wow! - that's 26 years in the future, that's a hell of a long time in the future, to say the least". And I wondered if I would even live that long, and if I did, what the world would really be like when 1984 actually arrived.

My dad passed away in 1983, unexpectedly, and since I was the executor of his will, the added obligations of trying to settle his estate, and take over most of his farming operations, (on top of trying to earn a living during a period of very tough economic conditions in agriculture), meant that 1984 came and went, and I hardly even noticed.

Well, here it is - 26 years after 1984, and the second 26 years seems to have flown by much, much faster than the first 26. I have to say that compared with the first 26 years, the rate of development of technology has virtually skyrocketed during the second 26 years, mostly due to the development of computers and related technology.

When I was in college, in order to supplement my engineering education, I took a lot of mathematics and computer science courses - many of them were post-graduate level, at the time. Of course, computer technology was in it's infancy back in those days, and when I look back at the course work that we studied then, it seems pathetically elementary, even though it was cutting edge stuff, back then.

I can't help but wonder what life will be like in another 26 years. I'm sure the world will still be full of problems, but technology will be absolutely awesome. I really believe that by then, most of us will no longer use phones, and desktop or laptop computers, (except at work). Instead, we will carry a tiny device in our pocket, or handbag, or clipped behind an ear, or worn on a bracelet, or watch, (Dick Tracy style), or maybe even implanted somewhere in our body, and that device will be our personal secretary, and our link with the rest of the world. Data entry will be by thought process, IOW, straight from the brain, (keyboards and microphones will be historical artifacts), and the output from that device will go directly into our own brain. Anything and everything we need to do, will be handled by that tiny device, and it will serve as an integrated extension of our own brain. IOW, it will perform as though it were actually a part of our brain, and electronically, of course, it will be a part of our brain.

I have no doubt that this will be the case, because technology virtually always turns out to be more advanced than we expect, when we make predictions about the future. In case I'm wrong, though, please be sure to remind me that I was all wet.

I also predict that by 2036, at least half the GI doctors practicing, will actually be devoting some serious thought to the possibility that there might be a connection between the clinical symptoms of microscopic colitis, and diet, and the World Gastroenterology Organisation will be calling for more research in that area, before making any recommendations to change treatment programs for MC. Just kidding - I would hope that they will collectively begin to see the light much sooner than that, (though I'm not holding my breath).

Tex - in awe of the technological changes that have taken place in the past 26 years.

[Matthew]

Happy New Year


Of course what you describe is the classic literature example of utopia and anti utopian societies . One persons heaven is another persons hell.George Orwell did it well along with many others from science fiction to the modern novel.

I hope that you are wrong . It sounds like hell to me.

My dial phone in the shop still works. Hell would be it ringing in my head with no choice but to answer.

If data entry was from my own brain I only want to retain about five percent. Is their an erase button? Their are many things I thought about today that I do not need to retain in memory and once done never think about again . I suspect we would all become psychotic if we constantly scanned a data base of our own making and were not able to delete certain things even some of the plesant ones. .

As I said, one mans utopia is another's anti utopia, Kurt Vonnegut’s
“Player Piano” is a classic sample of heaven and hell all in one society.

Of course the part about GI’s is a nice thought.

Matthew

[hazel]

Oh dear, I'm with Matthew about that part

Data entry will be by thought process, IOW, straight from the brain

Not only would it be an accumulation of a lot of useless data, but maybe some baaaaaad stuff! Of course it would come in handy for those times when you had a thought and lost it, like when you've gone upstairs for something and then can't remember why you went upstairs.

[tex]

I think you've both misunderstood me, or more correctly, I didn't explain the process in sufficient detail. Actually, the computer won't constantly monitor every thought pattern. It will only respond, (IOW, only accept data from your brain), when you want it to, and alternatively, it would only be able to "push" data into your brain, when you want to allow it. IOW, you will have to consciously focus on a command that would activate the computer to be receptive, before it would pay any attention to what you are thinking. Instead of awakening your computer from "sleep" mode, by pressing a key on the keyboard, or moving the mouse, you would send a certain thought to it, (brain impulse), that will tell it to get ready to accept data. Instead of keying in an e-mail message, (or a post to a message board), you will "think" the message, the computer will play it back, for verification, and then you will either relay thoughts that contain corrections, or a "send" command. Likewise, the computer will only feed your brain, the filtered e-mail messages that you receive, when you "request" it to do so, unless you prefer to allow it to follow some other protocol. When you have a thought you want to save, you would simply have to relay the thought to the computer, after opening the proper channel, by sending the proper "activation thought" to make it receptive to your thoughts. Trust me, you will be in complete control, not the computer. It won't be like "Hal", the mutinous computer in the movie, "2001: A Space Odyssey".

I've carried a small pocket computer, (with a built in phone), every day, for several years, now. The one that I have now, will do virtually anything that a desktop computer will do, (and a few things that a desktop computer cannot do), and it will do it almost as fast. In fact, I can use it to access my desktop computer, and operate that desktop computer, (and any other computers in the network), from anywhere in the world, where I can get an AT&T data signal on my pocket PC. That's incredible technology, when you think about it. The only real limitation it has, is data storage - it's limited to 32 GB, but that's more than enough for anything I want to do. If it should ever run out of room, I can always send some of those files to my home network. I keep all my day-to-day business records on it, reminders, appointments, and any other data that might come in handy, including, of course, good music, music videos, games, etc. And, I occasionally use it to access this board, when I'm away from home. It's about the size of a pack of king size cigarettes, because it has a bigger screen than most pocket PCs, but it's only a half inch thick. I would hate to have to be without it. Yep, I'm addicted to it, because it's the most versatile piece of equipment that I've ever seen. Fifty years ago, something like this would have cost billions of dollars, (if the technology had been available to build it). I can't wait to see what the next generation of pocket computers will be able to do.

Besides, if you don't want to hear your phone ringing in your brain, you can "think" a command to it, first thing in the morning, to "send all calls to voicemail".

Tex

[Polly]

Fascinating posts!

It is always fun to speculate about the future, I think. Tex, you are probably on target. I have heard that software is already developed that can respond to what the mind is thinking. Of course, we humans would need to learn to do a much better job of controlling/focusing our mind - 99.9% of our thinking now is "monkey mind", over which we have little control. In your vision, can the brain become overloaded and crash? LOL! Also, there would have to be a good filtering device. Can you imagine the brain being fed "SPAM" to store. Horrors! Or even worse, think what hackers could do to our unsuspecting brains.

My new year's resolution this year is to become more tech-savvy. I have signed up for a series of courses on the digital camera. I am going to learn to use all of the features on my cell phone. I am learning how to text, which initially I thought was silly, and am finding it useful in certain situations. It is a good way to keep in touch with the youngsters in my family. It is humbling when a 4 and 8 year old in the family know more about tech than I do. It amazes me!

Happy New Year! :dancingfrog2010:

Love,

Polly

[JLH]

Will Dr. Fine be published by then?

[tex]

In your vision, can the brain become overloaded and crash? LOL! Also, there would have to be a good filtering device. Can you imagine the brain being fed "SPAM" to store. Horrors! Or even worse, think what hackers could do to our unsuspecting brains.

At this point, we're still utilizing only a relatively small percentage of our total brain storage capacity, so data overrun, (stored data), shouldn't be a problem, but as we continue to use more and more processing capacity, I believe the day is fast approaching, when we will be exceeding our ability to process information fast enough, and consequently, our ability to make quick, accurate judgments, may be in jeopardy. This will adversely affect our ability to learn new information. The problem is that we can "stream" new information faster than we can make anything more than superficial judgments about it, and therefore faster than we can decide where to file it, or whether to file it at all - let alone actually filing it, correctly, in memory. Remember that the brain actually does most of it's learning, (filing information into memory, with the proper "links", so that we can recall that information, when needed), at night, and as we add more and more information to the queue, (requiring increasing processing time), and we continue to decrease our sleep time, then at some point, the learning process is going to suffer significantly. As our database of stored memories continues to expand, each new addition requires additional processing time, as it is intricately linked with the proper relationships to existing memories, and linked with memories of sight, sounds, smells, taste, etc., in the existing database. Consider this quote, from the overview article at the link, below:

In 2006 the world produced 161 exabytes (an exabyte is one billion billion bytes) of digital data, according to the Columbia Journalism Review. That is three million times the information contained in all the books ever written. By next year, the total is expected to reach 988 exabytes. Personal data-consumption is growing exponentially: while Westerners continue to watch an average of eight hours of television each week, the time that they spend online rose by 24 per cent between 2006 and 2007, according to a study by Compete, the online market researchers.

http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life ... 409208.ece

Obviously, in the very near future, we will need to severely limit the amount of information that the brain has to attempt to store each night, or figure out a way to enhance that process, so that it can be done in much less time than is currently required. I feel confident that someone will soon figure out a way for this to be handled by those future "personal computers". As part of the process, spam will no longer be a problem, as spam filters become several orders of magnitude more effective. I believe that our "onboard" computers will not only effectively eliminate spam, but they will also "learn", (by our use patterns), which information should be stored, (and stored by sophisticated sorting algorithms, in a hierarchy based on "importance" and relevance to our existing personal memory database. Anything deemed unimportant, will be removed from the queue, so that the brain will not have to do any further processing on it. That information, (except for spam), will be stored in the computer, in case we ever need to search for it.

I don't believe that hacking will be a problem, as hacking is always due to a password or firewall failure, and by then, computers will probably restrict/allow access, based on our own unique DNA code, (or something equally complex), so that hacking can be absolutely prevented.

Good for you, for accepting the technology challenge. I view the use of technology as a great way to maintain a younger frame of mind, and a way to totally avoid the tendency that people have, to slowly withdraw into a smaller and smaller world, as they pass through their "golden years", and into the category so unflatteringly labeled as "the elderly, where they are generally unable to stay as active as they once were. We have to learn to embrace technology before we reach those "elderly" years, else it will pass us by, and take all it's life-enhancing benefits with it. IOW, I agree - if a 4 year old can do it, then I should be able to figure out how to do it, too.

Happy 2010.

Love,
Tex

[tex]

Joan,

After much soul-searching thought, I'm going to say that yes, his research will be published by then. At least, I certainly hope so.

Tex

[JLH]

GREAT, I sure hope it'll be sooner, though.

[barbaranoela]

well guess I will never be forging ahead with all this tech stuff---

2010 startles me----I still like the old fashioned cameras----I hate cell phones----I never can find the right button to press to delete a message on a phone----

I GUESS I shall always be in the old MODE OF DESIGNS AND TECHNOLOGY--which is not here anymore--

I dont know all the named areas on a computer---

I like life simple and gentle on the brain----so my mind will never be overloADED AND CRASH----
i GATHER u CAN SAY--DUH---but this is me---

Barbara

[TXBrenda]

Hello,

The changes we have seen in the last thirty years (my span of working for a living) is incredible when you stop and think about them.

Speaking of GI and treating MC (or any disease) with diet, I caught just a small part of a news story this evening regarding autism and special diets. The point of the person that was being interviewed (a parent) was they are seeing improvements in their children.

Later, I'll look up the news story on the station's web page. If there any new or interesting information, I'll post the link.

Take care and Happy New Year to everyone,