The Pace Of Technological Change

In My Lifetime: The pace of technological change

In my lifetime I have been fortunate enough to observe and experience the unsurpassed evolution of information technology. Among all of the other disciplines that I''ve had the glory to see evolve in my lifetime, not a single one of them has managed to capture my attention and imagination to the point of motivating me to choose the subject of information technology to study in my academic career, and also  be the field in which I've chosen to commit my working life to.

I'll start with video games. Video games were probably the earliest link to info tech that fascinated and sparked my interest in the field. When I was still in grade school, somewhere between the grades 1-2, one of my cousins owned a video game system called ColecoVision. http://pspslimhacks.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/colecovision-psp.jpg The characters who replicated humans in those games were stick figures. Automobiles were represented as rectangular blocks with little circles attached for the wheels and tires. A simple tennis match was represented by nothing more than two lines that raced to strike a single dot back and forth on a makeshift court. Then....along came the Atari system. http://legacyfuture.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/atari2600.jpg Then the Nintendo system was born. Now by the time Nintendo was introduced technology had become so advance that one could actually take their video game system along with them practically anywhere they went and still be able to play their games on the spot by way of a mobile gaming console called the Gameboy. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c6/Nintendo_Gameboy.jpg/175px-Nintendo_Gameboy.jpg Next came the Sega system, the Playstation, and the now all so infamous X-Box. What's striking to me throughout the introduction of these new developments is not only the mobility aspect that has been implemented within the gaming culture but also the ability for one to play these games " live ". All of this coupled with the pace in which these developments have been implemented. One can now actually sit in the comfort of their living room or bedroom in the United States and play multiple opponents who sit in different parts of the world. In real time!!! I think it would also be worthy to note at this point that these video gaming systems and devices also implemented into their technology the communication factor. Thus, not only are we able to play games with one another, we also have the option to socialize all at the same time. Be it through voice communication or instant text messaging. A mighty long way from the stick figures that we encountered in the ColecoVision era. http://www.time.com/time/interactive/0,31813,2029221,00.html

Communication? Growing up in my household I've seen the telephone go from a huge machine where one would stick their fingers into circles  that had to be turned one at a time to get a number dialed. Then came the push button phone, the cordless, the car phone, and now the all so infamous smart phone. And just like the advancements in video game technology, the advancements in the phone realm of technology has introduced the ability to talk, message, play games, video conference, and interact with the Internet network all from the palm of your hand. 

In my lifetime....

I've experienced the days when in order to buy music and listen to music one would have to play that music in a stereo cassette player of some sort. Stop. Pause. Play. Fast-Forward. Rewind. ( If you were one of the lucky ones you also had the ability to Record. ) And that was it. That was the world of music. Next there was the CD. And then.....there was Napster! Here I use Napster as the epitome to represent all that has become of how we obtain and listen to our music since the Napster Revolution was born. It wouldn't hurt to mention while we're on the advancement of technology in music that today it is now possible, probable, and very economical for musical artist to download applications/programs onto their phones/desktops/laptops and easily produce their own quality recordings. In some cases making themselves " one man bands ". ( These advancements are equally impressive in the area of  movies/cinema. May the participants be movie watchers, directors, actors, or screen writer's ). 

Now. In keeping with the pace at which technology has evolved, I have to point out that I'm speaking from a timeline of 35 years. So giving the question of where do I see technology in the next one year from our current state, I'm inclined to answer that I can definitely see us as a society having the option at our disposal to get all of our grocery shopping done online with the potential of having them delivered directly to our doorstep; as opposed to having them wheeled out to the our cars in the parking lot in an actual physical cart. (Note: I'm aware that this is already possible in some places; I'm visioning it being a more common place option in our everyday lives for everyone.) The next 5 years? Given that the self-driven cars are well under way to being developed, I can definitely see busy students and professionals with children and not a lot of time on their hands having the option to program their self driven cars to pick their kids up from school while they themselves tend to other demanding duties.