Future Now
The IFTF Blog
NEW Reports!!
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I am very pleased to present two new research memos from the Tech Horizons Program.
Smart Infrastructures: Computational Resources to Burn (SR-1042)Michael Liebhold & Anthony Townsend
Sensory Transformation: New Tools & Practices for Overcoming Cognitive Overload (SR-1075)David Pescovitz, Jason Tester, & Mike Love
Descriptions follow and both can be found in the Archive (look in left-hand column)
Smart Infrastructures: Computational Resources to Burn(SR-1042, May 2007)
Over the next 15–20 years we will overcome limits in availability of our computational resources. While today, high-performance computing applications are mostly limited to capital-intensive industries like petroleum exploration, aircraft and automotive design, and pharmaceuticals, over time these capabilities will migrate to mass markets and eventually into the hands of consumers. In this world of abundant computing, our interactions with computers will no longer be constrained to laptops, desktops, and handhelds. High-powered computing capability will be embedded in our physical environment, in living things, medicine, walls, furniture, garments, tools, utensils, and toys. We'll be able to interact with information in place as naturally as we interact now with physical things, which will become increasingly less passive, and more active. In short, the computation revolution will have huge impacts on daily life, workplaces, and in many industries. In this memo, Smart Infrastructures: Computational Resources to Burn (SR-1042), we review the fundamental technologies driving exponential growth in computing resources and some of the likely applications in areas such as entertainment, gaming, health, and communications.
Sensory Transformation: New Tools & Practices for Overcoming Cognitive Overload(SR-1057, May 2007)
"Information overload" has become a cliche. We use the phrase half-jokingly to describe the stress associated with the onslaught of media that digital technology has unleashed on us. The sobering reality is that we ain't seen nothin' yet. The vast majority of new information technologies are either built for data acquisition or information dissemination. The suffocation of endless incoming e-mail demanding immediate response, the twinge of guilt from falling behind on your RSS feeds, dread about a TiVo hard drive full of unwatched shows--these are all just a teaser for what's to come. No matter how many computers surround us, collecting, aggregating, and delivering information, we each only have one pair of eyes and ears, and more importantly, one mind, to deal with the data. On the heels of this data explosion, a wide variety of innovative tools and practices will emerge to help us leverage the information glut to our benefit. These new devices, systems, and mindsets will enable us to alleviate the symptoms of cognitive overload while allowing us to comfortably sip from the information firehose. In this report, Sensory Transformation: New Tools and Practices for Overcoming Cognitive Overload (SR-1075), we describe the emerging collection of tools and practices that will be important over the next ten years and some of the implications for business and society.