The Applications Of Technology In The First — страница 2

and eventually, for aberrant conditions, corrected. Such uses of this technology, of courses, raise serious social and ethical questions that must be considered. Other applications of biotechnology might produce novel protein for food replacing meat, stimulate awareness and evaluation of microbial threats (including archaea, ancient bacteria, being perhaps more adaptable and potentially hazardous than was previous thought), and creation of plantation to produce and distribute biological products in the ocean. The process of cloning was perfected; evidence by the fact that in 1997 a sheep was successfully cloned in Scotland. Hence, biotechnology could eventually eliminate food shortages, improve health, and extend life expectancy. Number two on the list is the personalized

computer. The personal computer now sitting on our desk will be replaced by a very powerful, personalized computer. It will be able to send and receive wireless data. It will recognize your voice and follow your voice commands. It will include a variety of security and service tools that will make the computer fit your own individual needs. When we turn on our personalized computer the intelligent agents built into it might automatically show us high-lights and stories from last night’s football game. It could display the current stock report on your own portfolio and ask it you would like to make any changes. It would give us a traffic report for our normal commute to work and suggest an alternate, if necessary. Finally, it may let us know what the lunch specials are at our

favorite restaurants and ask if we would like to make reservations. The third product on my list is the multi-fuel automobile. In ten years, our cars will have to meet even stricter requirements for emissions and efficiency. And to do that, we are going to see a gradual shift to other fuel and power sources. Barring a major oil crisis, we don’t see a rapid shift to those alternatives. The internal combustion engine will still have a major place in ten years. But we will see an increase in vehicles running on energy sources like batteries, kinetic energy, fuel cells, and hybrid sources. At first, these will be used in low-weight vehicles that typically travel short distances. But as these alternative- powered vehicles are introduced into the general population, many of our

experts believe that they will likely run on a combination of fuels – like reformulated gasoline, electricity, and compressed natural gas. The fourth product is the next generation television set. Ninety-nine percent of American homes have televisions, and over the next decade, we will be replacing them. These new television sets will be wide-screen, digital, high-definition models with extremely sharp clarity. Many will be so flat that we will hang them on the wall much like a large painting. Eventually, these televisions will merge with the personalized computer I mentioned earlier. Of course, we are going to have to pay for all these wonderful products, and we will probably be doing that will the fifth item on the list, electronic cash. We will be using electronic money for

everything from buying soda in a vending machine to making an international transaction over our computer. In ten years, our pocket might not jingle, because credit-card-sized smart cards will have all but replaced our cash and keys. At colleges, we will developed a system that will allow students to pay their tuition, sign up for classes, download textbooks onto their computer, do their laundry, enter their dorm, and order a pizza, all with one smart card. That card, of course, will be directly linked to their parents’ bank account! The next product on my list is the home health monitor. These devices will be inexpensive, simple-to-use, and non-invasive (which basically means they won’t puncture our skin). We will use them to monitor our health conditions right at home. They

will be able to track a variety of our physical functions – like liver, levels of cholesterol, triglycerides, sugar, hormones, water, salt, and potassium. Monitoring our total health will be as simple as keeping track of our weight today. The future industrial applications of biology and computing will allow more people than ever before to participate in creating imaginative service, to build new markets and to generate personal wealth. Number seven on the list is another one for our cars. It is smart maps and global positioning systems. Already, we can get a global positioning system in our cars, and it will show us where we are on a map and plot routes. But it won’t give us any information about what’s going on around us. That is what’s going to be different in ten