Futurology: Technology



Technology (from Greek τέχνη, techne, "art, skill, cunning of hand"; and -λογία, -logia) is the collection of tools, including machinery, modifications, arrangements and procedures used by humans as a benefit to humanity and life. Engineering is the discipline that seeks to study and design new technologies. Technology is critical to our analysis of the future. It is basically the use of mathematics, human skill and the sciences to applications in various fields for various purposes. As we go farther into the future, the ambient technology will improve faster and faster.

Basic technology pre-dates recorded history. History is the study of the past using written records; it is also the record itself. Anything prior to the first written accounts of history is prehistoric (meaning "before history"), including earlier technologies such as flint axes.

Acheulean hand axes from Kent. The types shown are cordate, ficron and ovate. It was the longest-used tool of human history.

Saltpeter was known to the Chinese by the mid-1st century AD and there is strong evidence of the use of saltpeter and sulfu1r in various largely medicinal combinations. It was later weponised and as proven by the archaeological evidence of a hand cannon has been excavated in Manchuria dated from the late 1200s.

The Muslims acquired knowledge of gunpowder some time between 1240 and 1280, by which time the Syrian Hasan al-Rammah had written, in Arabic, recipes for gunpowder, instructions for the purification of saltpeter, and descriptions of gunpowder incendiaries.

The USSR's Sputnik 1 was the first artificial Earth satellite. It was a 58 cm diameter polished metal sphere, with four external radio antennas to broadcast radio pulses. The Soviet Union launched it into an elliptical low Earth orbit on 4 October 1957.

The 1983 Project Socrates developed the means for automated innovation so that the US could lead the Automated Innovation Revolution in order to rebuild and maintain the country's economic competitiveness for many generations.

Higher quality wrenches are typically made from chromium-vanadium alloy tool steels and are often drop-forged. They are frequently chrome-plated to resist corrosion and ease cleaning. Inconel 718 contains 18.6% chromium. Because of the excellent high-temperature properties of these nickel superalloys, they are used in jet engines and gas turbines in lieu of common structural materials.

As chromium compounds were used in dyes, paints and the tanning of leather across the world, these compounds now are often found in soil and groundwater at abandoned industrial sites, now needing environmental cleanup and remediation per the treatment of brownfield land. Primer paint containing hexavalent chromium is still widely used for aerospace and automobile refinishing applications.

The American Business expert, Robert Shiller, said at a conference in early 2015: "Artificial intelligence is coming, and it will replace your job."

Disruptive technologies: Advances that will transform life, business, and the global economy, a report from the McKinsey Global Institute, cuts through the noise and identifies 12 technologies that could drive truly massive economic transformations and disruptions in the coming years. The report also looks at exactly how these technologies could change our world, as well as their benefits and challenges, and offers guidelines to help leaders from businesses and other institutions respond.

12 Disruptive Technologies or enhanced functionality such as memory or self healing capabilities, will bring various benefits to the most widespread types of industries. Advances in exploration and recovery techniques that enables extraction of additional oil and gas. Please see Special:Categories for a list of Areas of the future.
 * 1. Mobile Internet: Increasingly inexpensive and capable mobile computing devices and Internet connectivity is already bringing benefits to a wide spectrum of areas, as . One of these is the treatment of chronic diseases through remote health monitoring. Another one is the mobile banking platforms that are known to have produced already radical changes in some countries in Africa such as Uganda.
 * 2. Automation of knowledge work: There will be more intelligent software systems that can perform knowledge work tasks. In an interview to McKinsey, Eric Schmidt, executive chairman of Google, refers to the radical changes these intelligent software systems will bring to us and the way we connect with the computer, looking at it through the brighter side:
 * 3.Internet of Things: The Internet of Things (or IoT for short), a term coined by Kevin Ashton in 2009, refers to uniquely identifiable objects and their virtual representations in an Internet-like structure. Equipping all objects in the world with minuscule identifying devices or machine-readable identifiers can transform daily life. These are all interconnected in networks of low cost sensors and actuators for data collection, monitoring, decision making and process optimization. Such devices can be used for example in manufacturing, health care and mining. There can be dangers as well, as the connection of billions of smart devices can represent a real security threat.
 * 4.Advanced robotics: This is an exciting area that promises a lot. Advanced robotics corresponds to increasingly capable robots or robotic tools, with enhanced “senses,” dexterity, and intelligence. They can perform tasks once thought too delicate or uneconomical to automate. These technologies can bring amazing benefits to society, including robotic surgical systems that make procedures less invasive, robotic prosthetics and “exoskeletons” that restore functions of amputees and the elderly.
 * 5.Cloud: The use of computer hardware and software resources to deliver services over the Internet or a network is already there as we all know, and developing at fast speed.
 * 6.Autonomous or Near-Autonomous Vehicles: This corresponds to vehicles that can navigate and operate autonomously or semi-autonomously in many situations, using advanced sensors like LIDAR, and systems of communication from machine to machines. In an article published in Time Magazine in 2013 Chris Anderson cites some of the new applications of these advanced robotics devices, speaking about the new uses of drones
 * 7.Next-generation Genomics: The new advances in genomics combine the science used for imaging nucleotide base pairs (the units that make up DNA) with rapidly advancing computational and analytic capabilities. With an improved understanding of the genomic structure of humans, t will be possible to manipulate genes and improve health diagnostics and treatments. Next-generation genomics knowledge can be extended to a better understanding of plants and animals, that can radically improve agriculture. Genomics was considered by Erik Schmidt the most important disruption coming up
 * 8.Next generation Storage: Energy-storage devices or physical systems store energy for later use. These technologies, such as lithium-ion batteries and fuel cells, already power electric and hybrid vehicles, along with billions of portable consumer electronics. Over the coming decade, advancing energy-storage technology could make electric vehicles cost competitive, bring electricity to remote areas of developing countries, and improve the efficiency of the utility grid. There are calculations that state that 40 to 100 percent of vehicles in 2025 can be electric or hybrid.
 * 9.3D Printing: Manufacturing techniques that create objects by printing successive layers of material using digital models might become more accessible to the common person due to the 3D Printers. Consumers use of 3 D printing could make them save a lot of money in cost per printed product, while allowing the customer to his or her own personalized customization. It can also be used in bioprinting of tissue and organs, direct product manufacturing, tool and mold manufacturing. With a 3D printer you can essentially build your own thing. Another interesting aspects is the new materials that can be used in 3D printers, which have all sorts of new properties.
 * 10.Advanced Materials: Materials that have superior characteristics such as better strength and conductivity
 * 11.Advanced Oil and Gas Exploration and Recovery: Advances in exploration and recovery techniques that enables extraction of additional oil and gas.
 * 12.Renewable Electricity:Generation of electricity from renewable sources, such as the sun and the wind, will reduced harmful climate impact. Its components technologies are photovoltaic cells, wind turbines, concentrated solar power, hydroelectric and ocean-wave power, geothermal energy.