In office this week I was subjected to “never-seen-before” technology. I say this rather facetiously, given I hardly know the first thing about technology; forget about syncing my devices or even backing up my folders. This may all seem rather irresponsible in a world where technology has enabled us to attain achievements nothing short of genius, or at least avoid the age old “my dog ate my homework” excuse. My first week at work quickly exposed my stone-age-blissful-ignorance as I was propelled into the 21st century.
It goes without saying that I have since been exposed to some incredibly smart, yet seemingly simple ideas to solve problems in my life I did not even know existed. Yes I’ve lived in a digs for the last 4 years of my life. No I had not heard about Splitwise until today. While ideas like this and others are awe inspiring and leave you thinking ‘how stupid was I not to think of that,’ there is also a vast amount of tech gibberish which flies over my head. One such moment was my first encounter with augmented reality.
Needless to say I was presented with a Lego book with the added feature of augmented reality using the necessary technology. Suddenly a previously mundane magazine advertising various types of Lego was transformed into a virtual biosphere. My mind was boggled – now you can have your cake and eat it; build your battlefield and go to battle. Although this technology has not been integrated with the Lego game to such an extent yet, it is only a matter of time until kids build their paradise and then proceed to interact with it on a digital interface of sorts.
Upon this discovery I was immediately prompted to probe a little further into the issue. Follow google search: augmented reality. Suddenly I was bombarded with a flurry of sites pertaining to the internet of things. This brought me to my next discovery – the need for IPv6. IPv6 is the new generation of IP addresses making it possible to accommodate the exponentially growing tech savvy global population. And while this might be old news to most, the rate at which the internet is expanding remains incredibly alarming. In the decade that followed the turn of the Millennium, the internet grew by five times the number of users. Not only did the internet increase in the number of users but also in its reach across the globe. Exponential growth in the truest sense of the word.
The IPv6 allows for almost indefinite tech expansion with more addresses created than there are atoms on the surface of the earth. With this, the internet is soon to take on a new face – the internet of things. Combined with artisanal design, our lives are soon to become predicted to us around every corner. (And with the introduction of HTTP/2. it is going to become sleeker than ever before. But that’s a discussion for another day). With global leaders like Elon Musk refusing to stop anywhere short of transforming humanity into an interstellar species by colonising Mars the world of science fiction or at the very least augmented and sixth sense technology is seemingly not so farfetched anymore.
Sixth sense technology is taking technology full circle, so to speak. Pranav Mistry, MIT student and now the current Global Vice President of Research at Samsung and the head of Think Tank Team, further developed Steve Mann’s gesture based wearable technology. Sixth sense technology reverts back to the primal need of senses to stimulate learning. Interaction with our immediate environment is one of the fundamental building blocks to cognitive development and learning. While this is still relatively cumbersome technology, it has most certainly opened the gates to a reality where perhaps soon graphics will transcend the confines of our tech devises and move into reality as we know it. Not only is the internet of things going to optimise your comfort levels in the future, sixth sense technology could ensure that the line between technology and reality become increasingly blurred – for the best.
It cannot be refuted that technology has contributed in leaps and bounds toward cumulative learning and the efficiency of man. However on the flip side of the coin, it has also proven to facilitate cognitive degeneration to a greater or lesser extent. While sixth sense technology was developed as many as two decades ago, it presents the opportunity to bind primal development with cutting edge technology. Especially with publications like Digital Cocaine by Brad Huddleston gaining more attention, maybe sixth sense technology will be dusted from the shelves and provide the dynamic experience our cognitive development so desperately needs. Sixth sense technology allows for a more intuitive work flow – a work flow we develop by understanding how to best manipulate our immediate physical environment. As Mistry says, it will help us to not be machines sitting in front of other machines. While Musk is stretching the limitations of the human race, Mistry is helping us to stay human.
http://www.ted.com/talks/pranav_mistry_the_thrilling_potential_of_sixthsense_technology?language=en
