Sunday, March 02, 2008
A Focus on the FutureJapan leads the world in robotics. They want robots to serve them rather than immigrants, which is why they haven’t loosened their extremely tight immigration laws. And this could actually be a boon to humanity, because we can’t continue to depend on people from poor countries to do all our dirty work.
One of the key differences between Japan and the US, is they don’t fear technology. They embrace it. Their fiction isn’t full of ways technology will be the end of humanity. Our Luddite mentality, our fear of progress has held us back.
Robots are already taken for granted in Japanese factories, so much so that they are sometimes welcomed on their first day at work with Shinto religious ceremonies. Robots make sushi. Robots plant rice and tend paddies.
There are robots serving as receptionists, vacuuming office corridors, spoon-feeding the elderly. They serve tea, greet company guests and chatter away at public technology displays. Now start-ups are marching out robotic home helpers.
They aren’t all humanoid. The Paro is a furry robot seal fitted with sensors beneath its fur and whiskers, designed to comfort the lonely, opening and closing its eyes and moving its flippers.
For Japan, the robotics revolution is an imperative. With more than a fifth of the population 65 or older, the country is banking on robots to replenish the workforce and care for the elderly.
In the past several years, the government has funded a plethora of robotics-related efforts, including some $42 million for the first phase of a humanoid robotics project, and $10 million a year between 2006 and 2010 to develop key robot technologies.
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Robots have long been portrayed as friendly helpers in Japanese popular culture, a far cry from the often rebellious and violent machines that often inhabit Western science fiction.
America was once the technological leader of the world. But as our education system worsens (see below) and our technological edge weakens, we really should be following the Japan’s lead and developing our own robotic answers to many of our problems.
Most of our robotic advances have been in the military, with drone aircraft and vehicles. That’s where we put our money and priorities in the field. Generally speaking, most of America’s technological developments came from either military research or the space program, then trickled down to consumers.
But that’s not a sustainable way of doing things. Billions get funneled down various rat holes and a few good things come out of it. A lot of it gets wasted. The Japanese just focus on what needs to get done and it’s paying off for them.
We should focus on the future.
Saturday, March 01, 2008
KidsA source of amusement or derangement. You decide.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Future Tech
Nano tech cell phones.
Or how about electronic tattoos?
Tuesday, January 01, 2008
It’s Come to ThisEven though the weighty Michael More praised Britains NHS in his movie Sicko they probably wouldn’t treat him according to new laws put in place in England.
Smokers, drinkers and the obese are about to be denied health care there. Just as they deny it for people over 70. Not unless they “change” (the old don’t have that option).
It doesn’t matter that the people being denied health care pay for it. It every country where they have Socialized medicine, there are high taxes that pay for it. You are forced to pay them, just as you are here. But paying taxes is no guarantee they will give you any benefits. All they have to do is pass new rules and they can deny you anything.
Socialized medicine is never the answer. Once you give all the power to bureaucrats, they start turning the screws. They always claim they are going to take care of you, but they never really want to. The services you get from most governments is poor. That’s because large bureaucracies simply fail to work well. And scammers usually drain the system of funds, while the truly needy go without.
Governments should never get too much power over the people’s lives, because the power freaks will abuse it every time. And power freaks are drawn to government like moths to a flame.
The British people need to get a clue about the Labour party. It has sold them out time and time again. How much longer are they going to take it?
Saturday, December 22, 2007
Nanowire BatteriesAs I’ve been saying, carbon nano-filaments are the plastic of the 21st century. Many technologies that will revolutionize this era will incorporate this discovery. This represents an important leap.
Stanford researchers have found a way to use silicon nanowires to reinvent the rechargeable lithium-ion batteries that power laptops, iPods, video cameras, cell phones, and countless other devices.
The new version, developed through research led by Yi Cui, assistant professor of materials science and engineering, produces 10 times the amount of electricity of existing lithium-ion, known as Li-ion, batteries. A laptop that now runs on battery for two hours could operate for 20 hours, a boon to ocean-hopping business travelers.
“It’s not a small improvement,” Cui said. “It’s a revolutionary development.”
I suspect they will take it much farther than this in time. But a 20 hour laptop battery is music to my ears.
Thursday, December 13, 2007
A New Glow in the Dark
This amazing stuff glows on its own. Its dirt cheap to make and lasts up to 12 years!
GlowPaint glow-in-the-dark paint company, MPK Co., has come up with self-luminous micro particles called Litrospheres™ which they say are inexpensive, non-toxic, and will stay on for 12+ years (half-life point) continuously—without having to be plugged into any power source. It is a betavoltaic technology, using a radioactive gas, whose “soft” emission of electrons from the beta emitting gas cannot penetrate the glass or polymer wall of the microspheres.
The Litrospheres™ are not affected by heat or cold, and are 5,000-pound crush resistant. They can be injection molded or added to paint. The fill rate of Litroenergy micro particles in plastic injection molding material or paint is about 20%. The constant light gives off no U.V. rays, and can be designed to emit almost any color of light desired.
Monday, November 26, 2007
Future InterfacesI’m going to be playing with some of these at my new company. Should be cool.
Tuesday, October 09, 2007
Hmm
A Nissan staff tries to drive the Japanese auto maker’s ball-shaped electric vehicle Pivo 2 out from a tiny parking space during the ‘concept’ car’s demostration in Tokyo Friday, Oct. 5, 2007. Cute, communicative and cubic seem to be the fashion statement as far as offerings from Japan’s ‘Big Three’ automakers Toyota, Honda and Nissan, debuting at the Tokyo auto show later this month. (AP Photo/Yuri Kageyama)
One seaters aren’t going to do well. But this is a concept car.
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Mars is Amazing
Sunday, July 22, 2007
The New Bionic Man and Woman
