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The reason for technology was to make our lives easier…

I am an acknowledged weather geek. I do not have any illusions about that. Yesterday however why I am a weather geek came out. First off, we were going to as our boat across 1.4 miles of open water. At the very edge of the Chesapeake Bay. During that trip, we would be exposed not only to the weaves, but also any wind rain or lightning that was in the area. A storm was predicted for the middle afternoon yesterday. I knew where the storm was going to be and knew where I had to be at various times. We had an uneven moving of the boat and ended up sitting in traffic as the rain exploded. Something that would have made riding in the boat a little harder.

The wind was also pretty bad. That got me thinking about other ways that people use and leverage technology every day. The simple answer is a car or a smartphone. Right? Most of us either use a car, walk near where cars or, or ride some variation of automotive and train focused transportation. The technology that is cars, trains, Airplanes, boats and so on, are things we often use. There are nearly 3 billion cellular phones in the world today. So nearly ½ the people on earth use a cellular phone. But there are other technologies that people use as well. Stop signs would appear to be mechanical devices (they once were). Intenveted in Cleveland Ohio the stop sign was a mechanical device used to control traffic.

Now, most cities have connected stoplights. It allows them to modify traffic flow. Most buildings are moving towards smart building consent. Not because everyone want’s their building to be smart, it is cheaper to run and operate a smart building. Smart cities are another thing that allows for considerable financial savings. It’s cheaper to operate a smart city, a smart building and eventually really smart cars.

Technology is all around us; sometimes we just need to stop for a moment and remember that the goal of technology as not more technology. The actual goal of the technology was removing mundane tasks from the lives of humans. Technology has the goal of making the lives of everyone just a little bit better. Technology is not the enemy; it is supposed to be your ally,

  • Question of

    Have you been to a hospital in the last 10 years?

    • Yes
    • No
  • Question of

    Do you know someone whose life has been saved by new technology?

    • Yes
    • No
  • Question of

    Do you think we are on the cusp of a huge change?

    • Yes
    • No

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What do you think?

15 Points

Written by DocAndersen

One fan, One team and a long time dream Go Cubs!!!!!!!!!!!!!

42 Comments

  1. All this smart stuff scares me to death. When humans control less, they are also powerless to stop bad things when technology goes wrong — like if the center that controls all the smarts things is attacked or there’s a glitch in the software. It also means if the wrong human were in control, that person could wreck havoc on a city or a freeway.

    There really is nothing wrong with people having to work harder instead of spending more time with their smartphones.

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    • I think you’ve hit on an interesting issue, Barbara. In part, I wonder if risk-taking extreme sports aren’t rising because of the sedentary nature of what we do.

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    • I actually wrote a whitepaper called “The Innovators Dilemma.” we don’t encourage innovation now, the way we did in the 1950’s, That is ok, back then you wanted to innovate you went to work for a big company.

      I will post about this in depth, it is a very long answer.

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        • The reason I left that company is that they actually printed that whitepaper and shared it, without my permission. It was given to customers at an event.

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        • That is an interesting argument that was had. I wrote the whitepaper and published parts of it on CloudTweaks. I brought more of it together and gave it to them, with the clear understanding that I owned the copyright.

          They went ahead and gave it away. I quit the next day.

          It took an attorney to get them to stop.

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        • I understand that part. If I create it on their dime, it is theirs. Luckily I learned a long time ago that IP/IC is the lifeblood of the information age (which is yet to arrive but is on the horizon)!

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        • yes, it comes down the way IP laws are. If, what you are creating uses company resources shame on you!

          I think the reality that companies forget is the act of creating the IP is something they should treasure not litigate.

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          • keep in mind that China is investing heavily in genetic research and supposedly already have a batch of super genius babies… who knows what those kids will solve?

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        • There is an economic study in China. The reason that they are able to build the economy today, is that their middle class is growing. The issue comes when the middle class begins to shrink again.

          That is the economic cliff they are going to hit in the next 10 years.

          It has happened every time China builds a middle class in the last 1000 years.

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        • Then the world will stop rotating and we will all fly off into space. (kidding)

          That is a brilliant question and one I have pondered for many years. The reality of China waking up is you would create the largest global economy that has ever existed.

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  2. Yes, technology is great as long as it is not used for destruction. At the same time we need to consider people who need employment and the fact that technology has cost someone their job and so they can no longer earn a living

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    • Here is the growing global reality of jobs. First, there are many more jobs possible when we consider technologies. They are also jobs that pay higher than the jobs people have today.

      The gap isn’t technology taking jobs. The gap is humans training humans to do new jobs.

  3. Sometimes we do not even think so broadly. When we think of technology, we first remember the computer. telephone, internet … But do not think about things that have greatly improved or made life easier.

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  4. This post reminds me of car shopping with a colleague last week. I kept comparing the new changes we have in our vehicles today versus years ago in the 90’s. I’m still baffled after that visit that cars are being equipped with downloadable features, and features that will allow you to start or turn off you car with simply your phone. I’am impressed, but I’m on the verge of feeling like I cannot keep up with technology.

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  5. With us in the mountains technology saves lives every day … I’m lucky that I was not in hospital at all … except when I was born

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  6. Yes I have witnessed technology save lives in my family. Sometimes it is too invasive, like webcams, internet (Google) tracking, etc. But as a whole, technology should be embraced even if many do not understand the entire concept. And there are more advances in our future we have not seen yet.

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