2011
The Future
Kelsey Alfred
CIS 1020 Internet
1/1/2011
Kelsey Alfred
The future of our world is very important in every aspect. We have so many technologies
that can be further advanced and technologies that we don’t even have yet. Our televisions,
internet, power sources, biotechnology, and cell phones are just a few of the things that are
changing as we go on through life.
Television
Our televisions have come so far already in the technological line. It’s gone from small,
black and white to big screens that have color instead. The resolution of the picture on the screen
has drastically been changed to enhance the quality to what we call today HD or 720. Now in the
future we are expecting a 3D television without using the glasses that we have had to use since
the 1950’s. This 3D television is very sophisticated and the objects will exist outside the surface
of the screen. The way for this to work is to use two slightly different pictures, one for each eye.
The image that is supposed to go to the left eye can’t go to the right eye and vice versa.
Autostereoscopic display is what makes it so that we don’t have to use the glasses to see the 3D
image. The Autostereoscopic display must take into account that people do not always sit right
exactly in front of the screen of the television. They will have Eye-tracking systems that can take
care of that, the 3D television also has to have multiple cameras shooting multiple perspectives.
Television is important to us for entertainment purposes. Some people us a television
everyday and others use it only some of the time. It will affect how we look at things and it might
affect how much people use them. Furthering entertainment could make it so that people who do
watch them every day but only a few hours watch it more than a few hours. These “losers” might
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Kelsey Alfred
not exercise as much as they should. But the “winners” still would do other things in life but still
have the television to entertain them.
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
MRI’s (magnetic resonance imaging) are very important in our lives as humans. MRI’s
can see how the fluid is going in your brain and other things as well. MRI’s can be very scary for
some people because they are very loud and very small. New technology says that the MRI
design will improve scanning and make it bigger and less claustrophobic. These machines will be
able to get better coverage at higher powers which make it so that there can be more room for the
patient. In the MRI machines now there is a coil that sends out the magnetic waves but now there
will be an antenna instead. The antenna will transmit and receive radio waves that are focused by
a special conductive lining inside the MRI tube. Possibly in the future we will be able to use the
MRI to track progression of atherosclerosis in both the coronary and carotid arteries. Also
because MRI’s are not invasive repeated examinations could identify people who have an
increased risk for heart attack or stroke. The receiver coils in the MRI machines will be combined
into one multi-channel coil. The main goal of future MRI’s is of course to enhance the images
and make it so that we can see more. When we can see more we can predict and fix more
problems that people have.
Furthering the use of MRI’s will help the world in so many ways. In some cases it just
depends on how fast you get in for the MRI but for others it could save their life. This will affect
society because people will not lose their loved ones. In my opinion there really wouldn’t be any
losers when it comes to furthering our MRI machines. Without the MRI machines they wouldn’t
have known what was wrong with me and I am sure that it is the same for other people in their
lives.
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Kelsey Alfred
Computers
In the future computers could use atoms, fibers and light instead of the transistors, wires
and electricity that we have now. Optical computers of the future may use crystals and
metamaterials to control light. These computers make use of the light particles which are called
photons. The scientists at NASA are trying to solve the need for a computers speed by using light
because it travels so fast. In one nanosecond photons of light travel a little less than a foot. This
would be good for doing things quickly in microminiaturized computer chips. Everything done
today will later accomplish super fast, miniaturized, lightweight computers that don’t cost as
much as they do now.
Future super computers will not only be smaller but the will be “greener”. They will
consume less energy as the computer works. Bruno Michel of IBM’s Zurich lab in Switzerland
says “future computers will have many processors stacked together and cooled by water flowing
between them.” “In the future, computers will be dominated by energy costs (to run a data center
will cost more than to build it)”, Michel says. The cost of running the supercomputer machines
will be the problem not the building of them. Researchers also say that building and running
computer equipment consumes about two percent of the world’s total energy today.
Going further with our inventions of computers is not a necessity but it will be nice for
people. Faster computers are more desirable and more efficient. Nobody wants a computer that
takes a lot of time to do anything. Heavy computers are another problem. Lighter the computer
easier to move around it becomes. Picture resolution makes computers easier to deal with and less
blurry. Also everyone would love to make it so that the computer was “greener”. Being “greener”
is one of the things that should come along with the computers of the future just like everything
else.
These inventions in the future will affect us. I believe that they will be very great and
very impressive. All of our technology will get better as we go on throughout our lives.
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