Today is a collection of upcoming inventions / tech advances that really captured my imagination. How neat that God gives us the skills to image His creativity and craft order out of chaos in so many ways!
After you read this list, ponder on the fact that our children will see many of these inventions (that would have been sci-fi fantasy material just 10, 20 years ago) as part and parcel of life. For example, E will never know a world without social media, the internet, entertainment-on-demand via screens and headphones…
A pen for drawing in 3D – As a kid I would have loved to doodle things into life. The 3Doodler lets you do just that for $75 plus shipping – though given that it’s basically spitting out melted plastic, probably not a kid-friendly toy just yet. (HT: Mashable)
Glasses to record everything in life – There’s a hypothetical question that Rico Tice asks in an episode of Christianity Explored: “What if you watched a film that showed every moment in your life?” Well, that could be a reality with Google Glass, a head-mounted display to let you interact with augmented reality.
It’s been promised that you’ll be able to use Glass to take photos, record videos, look up answers to things you’re seeing, show reminders, and share whatever you’re looking at. I’m thinking, instead of sheet music, musicians and worship leaders might just read songs off their Glass, and pastors could preach without paper notes – the applications seem endless and scarily disruptive!
Google’s even offering a chance to get one early, if you have a cool US$1500 and live in the US:
https://twitter.com/projectglass/status/304183672381272064
Personalised genetic medicine – One of my favourite movies is GATTACA – which paints a future where children are selected based on favourable genetics, and those born “naturally” become second-class citizens (called “invalids”). Well that future could be a reality within our lifetimes, thanks to the rapid advances in genomic sequencing, analysis and application.
In some centers, you can already get your own genome sequenced in a day – it’s more the analysis that is still prohibitively expensive. But I think the next generation will be confronted with ethical issues such as whether to screen their children for genomic indicators to their future health, and what to do about it.
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