By: Stuart Jay
In the year 2020 if man can survive, he may find that he no longer needs the very necessities that he feels he can’t live without, his cell phone and computer. How can this be possible, you ask? Imagine your brainwaves being used to operate cell phones,T.V. and computers. All you would need is a chip implanted in your brain. LOL you say? Well Intel is not laughing. They are already producing technology that can read brainwaves and interpret them. In preliminary tests, the system scanned a person’s brain to record its activity while being shown certain words such as “barn,” “house” and “screwdriver.” The scans revealed that the words produced different levels of activity in the brain. The computer analyzed and stored the patterns. The computer was then put to the test of guessing what word the test subject was thinking. The computer was correct 100% of the time.
In the near future, we will no longer need to interface with or manipulate our technology. Our brainwaves will perform the task. Communication will surely go to the next level when we no longer need to talk to communicate with one another. Our great-grandparents lived to see airplanes and automobiles change the world. Our grandparents experienced the creation of radio and television. Our parents have witnessed the invention of computers and space travel. We have experienced the shrinking of the world with the development of the internet and cell phones. Our children will experience what our parents thought was science fiction.
What does this mean to us college, been there, done that, know it alls? Just like our families, we are products of our experiences. To use a metaphor of our family tree, we are on a branch of that tree. Most people get stuck on the branch they were born to. Meaning they know how to manipulate their new T.V., to talk on the phone, or enjoy the music of their youth. They do not grow or leap to the next branch. My grandparents do not own a computer and barely know how to use a cell phone. They listen to big band music of the 30’s and 40’s. They have never heard the great hits of the 60’s and 70’s. My parents can barely operate their computers and they have basic cell phones. A rap song is blaring noise to their ears. Very few people can make the leap to the next branch, and enjoy and benefit from its new technologies and entertainment. The next leap may be coming for our generation. Will we stay behind on our branch or will we leap to the next branch, and utilize and enjoy the new coming world altering technologies to come?
