“The real danger is not that computers will begin to think like men, but that men will begin to think like computers.” — Sydney J. Harris
Text: Ivan Sada, Sudeep Shakya, Ujeena Rana, Nandita Rana
Man’s inquisitive nature and quest for knowledge has propelled him to many scientific discoveries and innovations. Our civilization has come a long way from learning the art of making a fire with flint-stones and hand–made tools. Science and Technology today is making advances at an astounding pace. From telephones to the internet, from calculator to computers, cars to rockets, we are riding on a crest of discoveries and inventions made possible by Science. Disciplines like medicine and communications have made inroads into our cultures and lifestyle. The impact of Science is so extensive that people fear the unthinkable.
”Yet with the advent of the internet, we see today, a plethora of hi-tech-gadgets made available to inform us, entertain us, help us communicate and generally to enhance the quality of our daily lives. This is the age of computing and it is an integral part of living in this modern world. Technology is helping us achieve more with our televisions, with our entertainment system, with our cameras and videos, and with our personal digital assistants. They are integrated in our cars as well as in our home appliances making them more efficient and easy to manage.
”We need not go too far back into the past to realize where technology stood then. Just a decade ago, the only challenge for consumers of gadgets and gizmos was to figure out how to program a VCR, set the date and time on digital watches, or install MS Windows on a personal computer. Today, there are gadgets for keeping track of the kids, for navigating in the car, for shopping without cash or credit cards, for securing Internet payments with smartcards, for typing without a physical keyboard, for digitally rewinding TV shows, and much more.
”Many of these gadgets are so new that most of us are not even aware of their availability. We may be masters at some of these tools via our hobbies, but we’re often unaware of the others, or have become slaves to them because of their novelty. Keen photographers know about voice-enabled PDAs, multimedia messaging or virtual keyboards? Keen music fans know all about radio frequency identification key tags for making wireless purchases at convenience stores? Heavy computer users know about collaboration over the Internet and about wireless local area networks, but do they know about handheld global positioning system (GPS) receivers?
”The impact of gadget on how we work and live today is immeasurable and we have come to depend on them. For example, busy managers today do not always have time to be chained to a desk. They need tools to stay mobile and take care of business. Today’s technology makes it easier than ever for them to stay in touch and keep on top of business. They have smart-phones to privacy filters, personal digital assistants to bracelet phones, and from Wi-Fi scanners to Sim-card backup devices besides the indispensable laptop and the mobile phone. Essentially, the smart-phones are phones with a mini laptop inside and fit in one’s pocket and clipping the privacy filter on your laptop keeps one’s screen safe from prying eyes. The PDA’s offer word processing, e-mail and internet access facilities which help them communicate on the go and the Wi-Fi scanner allows one to check if they are in an internet zone even without opening a laptop and the bracelet phone flashes like high-tech jewelry. It’s a handy tool to discreetly receive phone calls during meetings.
”We are pushing forward towards the holiday shopping season, and consumers will experience the plethora of advertisements for the hottest new gadgets and gizmos, each promising to change our lives for the better, whether in communication, transportation, health care, lifestyle, entertainment or gaming. But do consumers want all this? Few consumers want to be behind with yesterday’s technology but on the other hand, the consumer electronics industry is moving so fast and jamming so many new features into devices that they are making the experience too multifaceted. To this scribe, simplicity is imperative, not just because products have become more complex over the years, but because every aspect of our lives continues to get more complex. Spending hours learning to use a new gadget is the last thing most of us want to do. The ability to take a product out of the box and just have it work, without the need to read a manual for hours, is now high on most consumers’ priority lists when deciding on a purchase. And the key for many technological breakthroughs that deliver simplicity has been the product’s design, its manageability and functionality. As complex as they may be, gadgets and gizmos are our life’s processors. Living offers you just that in this issue.
This article originally published in ECS living, Issue 20, August 15 – September 14, 2008.
