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Technology as you know it has ceased to advance beyond its current state and it will never advance again. No new ipod models, new cell phone features, or even new television sets. This applies to all avenues of technology, not just consumer electronics. Medical technology has stopped advancing as well, which means no new medicine or imaging machines. What does this mean to you? Are you satisfied at how far our world has come in the short time we’ve been around, or do you expect more?
We’ve become so accustomed to having a new model of something every year that the thought of nothing new ever again is sort of frightening. The latest safety features on your car would finally be the latest, and you’d finally have that top of the line computer you wanted. Seeing as how these objects will not be getting better models next year you’ll be happy to know you won’t feel like you’ve wasted your money on something that will be obsolete in a few months.
The worry you felt when you read the title of this post rests solely on our dependency on technology in our society. Everywhere you look someone is on their blackberry sending emails, or you’re looking in your rear-view camera feature on your car to make sure you don’t bump the car behind you. An extremely small percentage of the world would be unaffected if we were to stop making technological advancements.
Take for example the medical community. It seems like they come out with a new drug every 2 - 3 months. MRI and CAT scan machines are seeing a leap in advancements in what we can see and how we see it. Yet now they’ve stopped advancing, and we’ll never be able to see exactly what causes Alzheimer’s disease, or we won’t be able to see exactly where the cancer is in a patient.
I’m not saying that we need to break our dependence on technology, but simply embrace it and make sure we’re striving to reach the next step. There’s no telling where we will go in the next 10 years, but if our past is anything to base it on, then we’re headed towards advancements that could rival a sci-fi novel.
So the next time you’re on your cell phone, just think about what it would be like if you could never get a better model than what you’ve got in your hands.
Feel free to post your thoughts in the comments section.
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Barring various potential disasters, I don’t think technology will ever stop advancing. It may enter slow periods. It may stabilize a bit. And, that might not be so bad (in some cases), as it allows us to catch a collective breath.
Look at TVs, for example. For a long time, they didn’t really change much. You didn’t buy a new TV to have the latest and greatest model. You bought a new TV because your old one was broken. Or, maybe you had it repaired, but you didn’t have to hunt around too far for someone to fix your type of TV; you just went to the closest TV repairman.
And, until next year, even if you had a decades’ old TV, it still works. You can still watch TV. You don’t have to upgrade to keep watching your favorite programs.
So, from that perspective, a little slowing in technological advancement isn’t so bad. In the long run, it saves costs (and is better for the environment and all that jazz) because you’re not “upgrading” every two years.
Heck, I still like my 15 year-old Apple Newton. Just wish it had longer battery life…
At any rate, technologies and even ways of thinking reach points past which there is little change. And, things may stagnate for a while. Things will level off, and people will adjust and take an interest in something other than having the latest gadgets all the time.
They’ll take more interest in music and culture and other stuff. And that area of the human experience will advance. And, sooner or later, different ways of thinking will emerge that will result in new discoveries and a new era of technological advancement.
Ebb and flow, ebb and flow.
Reminds me of a fairly famous quote that once said: “Everything that can be invented has been.” That quote was made by Charles Duell, the Commissioner of the US Patent and Trademark office… in 1899.
If people had believed Duell - 109 years ago - the world would be a very different place. Luckily we know better. Our creativity and human need to learn and grow means that technology will always be expanding and the “technology age” has only really just begun.
Great, and very interesting, post!
I think the first few lines of the post are pretty misleading. I agree with the above comment that technology advancement might slow down but it will not stop.
Even as I’m typing this now, there will be technologist working busily in their lab to produce the next big thing. I’m sure that there are already very advance technologies waiting to be release but it’s a question of is the market is ready to receive them.
Point in truth is that it’s simply no use in launching a new technology where there isn’t enough buyers to break even the cost. So long there is needs and wants from the consumer, technology will never stop advancing.
We might have hit the technology plateau at the moment but once a brilliant individual/company release a new technology that has the potential of penetrating the market, it will take us to a whole new level again.
obviously this post is a “what if, ” kind of deal. i would have jumped off a cliff if technology stopped advancing. i’m always waiting for the next model or version of something so i can get my tech fix :). i was merely attempting an H.G. Wells paranoia style intro.
>Doug
Aye, point taken