The Futurists 5 - Building Gods

This week we watched two videos.

The first one is "Building Gods"...

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The second video is a TED talk by Pattie Maes & Pranav Mistry: Unveiling the "Sixth Sense," game-changing wearable tech...

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Technology 4 - The New Life?

Being made to move out to a new place has turned out to be a blessing in disguise. The major one being that I was forced to take stock of my things and clear my clutter. Going through the stuff was like a journey through time over the last four years.
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What struck me was that over that period of time, technology have moved so fast that it has changed my way of life drastically. When I first came back to Singapore, I was desperately looking for networking events so that I can get to know more people. There were very few around. Then, as more networking events got organised, online networking came - and took over!! :) They are free, fast and arguably more effective, though it still have to be complemented with face-to-face meetings.
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I even find it easier to organise alumnis online via online social networks. That way, it reaches out worldwide. There is also no club to register, no Annual General Meetingss, no books to audit, no club house to maintain and no membership cards to print. Just organise events online, find a cafe or restaurant and congregate everyone for the event. And when I do meet them, I beam my name card to their mobile phones. I think paper name cards are wasteful and clumsy.
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Next, I was looking for magazines where I can contribute articles on 'information security'. It was difficult to get magazines to accept that - even when I offered to do it pro-bono. Now, I can write my articles have them linked with other relevant articles, add animation or videos to them, and have them read by the world via a blog. So I'm able to do more, better, faster and reach a bigger audience and it doesn't cost me any money.
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Four years ago, I used to keep in touch with friends by email - that itself was a quantum leap from writing snail mails, but now I get in touch with them instantly via sms and online chats. Doing any better would be telepathic.
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Taking it further, I now buy things online, and pay my phone and utility bills online. I have also asked the companies serving me to send the bills only by email. That way, I can store them without filling my house up. It's also easier to search for backdata.
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I now listen to songs online. All the songs I like to hear are online. So I don't need CDs too. Even if I do buy CDs, I will have them saved as a mpeg file and store them on my disk and mp3 player. Again saving space and time.

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Oh, BTW, I threw out my new Yellow Pages. These guys must be living in Stone Age.
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Besides exploiting the Internet and Cyberspace, I also use robots to help me to do the household chores. Besides the usual washing machines, coffee maker...etc. I use a robot vacuum cleaner. I work them hard everyday to keep my house clean, while I put my legs up and drink coffee.
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I believe there will be more robots coming up. Robots for different purposes. Robots to serve you tea, robots to keep you company, robots to be attached to one's arms/legs as we get older and weak...etc.
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See below, I have some videos about some interesting robots...



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Not sexy enough? Look at this...

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This one has more realistic facial features and expressions...
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However, to date, none of them can be self inspired. That means they cannot think out of the box. Which means that if we do not want to be inspired, we may one day realise that we are no better than robots.

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Besides robots, what is next?

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May be we will learn to communicate with our thoughts. Thoughts are energies and they travel, so communication is possible. Today, I thought of my friend Makarand out of the blue, then he called from India. Next I thought about a project I am working on, and my colleague call me at that very instance to ask about the progress. I am sure some of you have experienced this before.

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There are several instances when I can feel the symptoms of the people that I send Reiki Energies to. If you would like to read more, click Reiki 2- Letting Go. In those moments, I am like a radio connecting to the energy frequencies of the other person and playing his music. But I am not exceptional, there are other Reiki practitioners who have experienced the same.

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Extending my experience of Reiki, I found that I can feel the vibrations of objects in general. By focus and concentration, I can tell something about the objects and the stories related to them. If you would like to read more, click Psychometry.

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The Red Indians in the Americas are said to have learned the art of communicating with all living things. Here living things extend to even things that are not visibly moving and considered non-living by many people. If you would like to read more, click Tao.

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Considering what we can do, we would one day look back and find that even the Internet and what we can do on it, to be clumsy and slow. :)

Technology

Some of us may have fond memories about how easy life was before the Internet, mobile phones and fax machines. Life after five were truly 'after work'. Once out of the office, it will be hard to contact you. Life was much slower, less efficient and less anxious. Some may even say that family lives were fuller and happier.

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So does technology give us a better quality of life?

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I am a technologist true and true. I am trained as a civil engineer and an information security specialist, and have lived and worked in 16 cities across Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia as a technologist for many years. I am always fascinated by what technology brings. Overall, I think technology have given me a better life, as I have been careful about handling and using them to my advantage. Without technology, I won't be able to pen (or key) my thoughts in like this and share them with, not only my friends, but the world!

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I use technology for what they are good for. For instance, I let my washing machine do my laundry, my toaster for my toasts and my robot vaccum my floor. All these chores done while I spend my time fulfiling more creative tasks. My robot will go through every square inch of the floor bouncing off walls and obstacles and will stop once it is finished. If I had bought the advanced model, it will even go back and park at the power recharging device and recharge itself. Once recharged, it will wait for its programmed schedule to get off and start vacuuming the room again! Isn't it cool?!!!

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I am writing this posting from the Middle East, where I am on a consultancy assignment with my client. Whilst here, I chat with my friends on webcam, book my air tickets online, check my payments online, and communicate with my clients by emails, instant messaging and sms. In July, whilst here, I even organised a seminar in Singapore and have the surplus of the seminar fees used to help orphanages in Cambodia! All this would not be possible without technology.

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My opinion is that technology will continue to make our lives better, just as long as we know their limitations. There are situations where human face-to-face contacts are important. For instance, many of us still like to have meals physically together with our friends, family and loved ones. It will be different gobbling down the food with someone else thousands of miles away connected by webcam. The human touch is still important and it is the failure to realise this that led friendships, relationships and marriages to falter. There are even of couples proposing for marriages by sms and ironically divorcing also via smses. Often I have observed people in clubs, pubs and cafes sitting around tables not talking to one another, but busying themselves with sending smses to somebody somewhere else, ignoring the persons physically in front of them entirely. :) It does look surreal, but sadly, this seems to be gettng more and more common. I think it is this haphazardness of not living in the present that anxiety sets in, and anxiety is not conducive to build trust. Without trust we don't have relationships.

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When I was a kid, businesses were conducted purely based on trust. Just a phone call for an order and the goods will be delivered, without purchase orders or even receipts. Just cash-on-delivery. That was how my father did his business. One's word was one's honour. It was well known those days that unless one develops a good reputation for reliability and trustworthiness, there will be no business. Perhaps people in that era had more time to develop those relationships and the motivations to keep them, or were they more worldly wise not distracted by the speed, intensity and scale that modern technology brings?

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So amid the humdrum of the modern world and urban living, it would be wise to remind ourselves to return back to basic human values and then to our spiritual selves regularly. Dr Aaron had suggested to me once that I should wake up in the morning and remind myself to love myself and to love others. It is a sweet thought to start the day with and one that has brought me many beautiful days. After all love flows and technology in the end is only an aid.