Debunking the myth that "technology is making us dumber"

The Brain How Google Is Making Us Smarter

This article is a brilliant argument against the myth that technologies like cell phones and google are making us "dumber". Quite the opposite, these technologies are increasingly extending our minds - a process that has been underway since before humans harnessed the power of fire.

What increasing computer power allows....

New Computational Technique Allows Comparison Of Whole Genomes As Easily As Whole Books

Its only the advances brought bu Moore's Law that make this kind
of thing possible. The computational horsepower it takes to run these
algorithms is immense yet a typical work station can now do this
stuff. This is the sort of thing that lends evidence to the
'Accelerating Change' idea. Advancing computer power boosts our
ability to run ever more sophisticated algorithms and models which in
turn allows us to develop and test new theories faster or create
entirely new fields of science like comparative genetic analysis, etc.

Now imagine when an average work station or even a typical PC can do
everything that IBM's 1 petaflop super-computer can do, and more.
(more because there will be more software to utilize all that power by
then)

Flexible OLED devices are coming...

Sony unveils flexible OLED device concepts at CES 2009

This is a window into the near future. Something that was pure science fiction even a couple years ago is now a near-term reality. This, along with e-ink, is one of those "the future is NOW!" kind of developments. I can't wait to get my hands on one of these!


Contrast - A Sony Flex OLED Walkman Concept from Sony Insider on Vimeo.

Talking to Google....

Now that we can conduct google searches by voice, it seems clear that we'll soon be able to access other google services by voice as well.

Need to update your calendar? Pick up your cell phone, access your google app or call an 800 number, and speak to add items to your google calander or have it read you your daily schedule.

Need to send that pdf report to your boss? Talk to gmail, have it grab the report from your google docs account, and then dictate a short message before having it send off the email.

Want to know what news is breaking in the technology sector? Talk to google reader and google news, and have them read you the day's headlines.

Want to see how your portfolio is doing, or see what NASDAQ is doing today? Talk to google finance. Want to find out where the nearest Sushi place is? Talk to google maps, and then have it guide you there.

None of these things on their own is truly earth shattering, indeed none of these things would be a huge leap beyond the existing voice search they've already implemented. But when you combine all these capabilities together an exciting picture begins to emerge. In essence, google will have become an extremely powerful software agent. A personal digital assistant that knows your schedule, knows your reading habits, knows your interests, etc. What was once a number of useful but distinct web based applications, will suddenly have become a free personal assistant residing in your cell phone.

And it doesn't stop there. We'll soon be talking to facebook and yahoo and amazon and others, and they'll all be talking to each other. Could this be what web 3.0 will look like?