Whilst touring through Spain & France
this summer (on what was effectively an extended wine crawl) I had the time and
inclination to ponder once more the whole digital revolution concept and it got me excited about digital all over again. Now for those of you who are quick to judge
and are righting me off as a sad case, I did also think about lots of other
things on hols too and I swam in the sea, played with the kids, visited art
galleries, admired amazing architecture etc, nonetheless, the notion of how
digital technologies could change our futures is one I do find exciting.
Ironically on arriving back in the UK I was once again
confronted by a wall of negative scare stories about digitally related topics
on data protection, internet safety and government monitoring. So to maintain my enthusiasm and redress the
balance this is a blog from an unashamed digital enthusiast looking at the
positive outcomes the digital revolution will bring to our lives in the next 10
years.
1)
Smart Homes: Yes our homes will be getting a brain in the
next 10 years and that will change everything.
Here are a few highlights. No
more faffing around under the stairs with a dodgy torch reading your gas and
electricity meters, it’ll all be done remotely.
No more walking into a cold house after work or school, you’ll have put
your heating on remotely before you leave work specifying the areas of your
house that you are likely to use that evening.
No more wasting money on lights you left on when you went out, you can
turn them off using your mobile. You can
also monitor and change all of your energy and resource usage as you’ll be able
to see it all through a simple mobile interface. Not only that your fridge will let you know
you’ve run out of milk (or anything else you regularly use) and offer to have
more delivered. Your pantry will know
you need more bread, rice, pasta etc and offer to have that delivered too. Even your cats can be fed remotely and you’ll
be able to watch them via your tablet device to make sure they’re eating OK. There’s plenty more here but I’ll press on.
2)
Health & Safety: Not the dull restrictive stuff but the really
useful stuff that actually helps us to be more healthy and safe. We’ll be able to monitor ourselves our family
members and pets in a whole new way.
Location tags will enable small children, errant pets and the “at risk”
elderly to be monitored remotely on our mobiles enabling us to find them when
they wander off or worse. Our heart
rates, calorie intakes, sugar levels, temperatures etc will be constantly
monitored via our mobile devices giving those of us that want it the chance to spot
and respond to unhealthy lifestyles and/or potentially fatal diseases. We might even be able to cut out the
nightmare of getting a Doctor’s appointment via the receptionist by booking directly
online and talking remotely to the doctor via our tablets from work or home
whilst he in turn reviews our latest blood pressure and temperature readouts
that we’ve given him mobile access to. There’s
so much more good stuff here but I must move on again.
3)
Transport: Whilst we won’t see teleportation in the next
10 years our transport systems will be far smarter moving us more safely and
often times more quickly than we can manage on our own. The vast networks of cameras and devices
capturing data on our travel habits will be better utilised to provide real
time “best options” for finding the quickest routing to our chosen
destination. In addition, according to
Elon Musk of Tesla we will be taking autopilot to a whole new level on our
major highways too. An array of sensors
and a slew of chips will ensure humans will take a back seat being merely a
back-up system for the far more capable digital capabilities built into our
vehicles. In the meantime, driven by our
Insurance firms, we will be deluged with more and more information about our
driving styles and flaws in an attempt to improve our driving and reduce
accidents (and of course claims).
4)
Shopping: In addition to the impressive integrated
high street/digital shopping experiences we are already seeing from the likes
of Burberry and the order anything online capabilities available via amazon and
others we will see a further shift in our shopping habits at the far end of the
decade driven by a maturing of the new capabilities of 3-D printing. The ability to order and print out at home or
the office an array of goods and spare parts for our lives will be
revolutionary too. It will change the
way we shop for a large array of goods.
Need a new lightbulb, print it. Replacing
a dental brace, print it. Want some new
jewellery, print it. We will also see
the mass use of 3-D printing by the manufacturers themselves to improve and
speed up the manufacturing process whilst reducing the costs and hopefully the
cost of goods. Seem like sci-fi? It’s coming.
5)
Education: As we have all long understood,
knowledge is power and the ability of our best educators to package up their
greatest insights and post them on the net in bite sized, brilliantly
constructed, accessible packages will continue to revolutionise the way we
learn not only in the UK but across the globe.
Wherever there is a power source and a mobile connection people will be
able to learn. My son recently visited
China and stayed in a village with no running water but great internet
connections, definitely a sign of the times.
With the costs of universities increasing the option to learn at your
own pace in your own time whilst working will be increasingly popular. Sorry Michael Gove, digital advances will
ensure that teaching will finally shift from being a profession that imparts
content to being one that enables pupils to access and get the best from the
available content. We will see the use
of immersive technologies (google glass, virtual reality environments etc)
delivering far more memorable, tailor made learning experiences. Personally I can’t wait to do a “nature walk”
whilst my google glasses identify the birds, trees and plants I’m walking past.
OK, enough
already. There’s loads more that will
change in entertainment, communications, finance and every aspect of our
working lives but that’s for another day.
We are only just at the start of this digital revolution and it should
be quite a ride. Finally I’ll end with a
plea. Yes, of course there are
challenges that arise from a digital future relating to ethics, security,
privacy and others but please let’s not skimp on providing the infrastructure
and investment required to underpin the rosy future. Maybe we should be looking to invest
billions in new technology infrastructure such as universal wifi coverage and
broadband connectivity to ensure rapid internet access for all with the same
level of doggedness that we are looking to spend billions on the technology of
the industrial revolution such as the High Speed 2 rail link. Here’s wishing us all a happy and prosperous
digital future.
Oh and for
those who need some further convincing check out the words of wisdom of MIT’s
Andy McAfee on the subject http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZ5ePL36BbU&feature=youtu.be
No comments:
Post a Comment