The Future is Rapidly Approaching

This morning (02014.03.10) I’ve read postings having the following titles.

• Sniffing out cancer with electronic noses — BBC.com
• It’s time to build a bionic brain for smarter research — TheConversation.com
• Bioprinting: Building living tissue with a 3D printer is becoming a new business, but making whole organs for transplant remains elusive — Economist.com
• The rechargeable revolution: A better battery — Nature.com
• Folding@home simulates activation of key cancer protein, could lead to novel drug design — Phys.org
• SXSW Cognitive Cooking: Belgian Bacon Pudding — IBM on YouTube.com

The future is rapidly approaching, yet from a sociopolitical perspective it seems as though we can’t escape the 20th century.

Ubiquitous Sensing I Get, But What’s Nanodata?

The Computing Trend that Will Change Everything had the sub-title “Computing isn’t just getting cheaper. It’s becoming more energy efficient. That means a world populated by ubiquitous sensors and streams of nanodata.”

Ubiquitous sensors imply streams of data. That I get. But what’s nanodata?

“Harvesting background energy flows, including ambient light, motion, or heat, opens up the possibility of mobile sensors operating indefinitely with no external power source, and that means an explosion of available data.“

An “explosion of data” implies to me yottadata (as in yottagoo). Again, what’s nanodata?

According the MIT Technology Review article, nanodata is “customized fine-grained data describing in detail the characteristics of individuals, transactions, and information flows.” To me it seems as if nanodata is a form of metadata (i.e. data about data).

I still don’t get the term nanodata, but I consider that okay. Bottom-line: It’s possible ubiquitous sensors is our future and that implies infinite data being piped into an Infinite Computing environment.

“Abundance” Chapter Two Review

The following notes are from chapter two of “Abundance: The Future is Better Than You Think” by Peter H. Diamandis and Steven Kotler.

Interesting observation…

“Today most poverty-stricken Americans have a television, telephone, electricity, running water, and indoor plumbing. Most Africans do not.

Definitions are way too restrictive and in many cases totally bogus. The authors allocated a couple of pages to providing a “practical definition” of abundance.

“Abundance is about creating a world of possibility […]”

I’ve learned from Hans Rosling that learning about the future is easier if one is a possibilitist. This book assumes almost everything is possible.

A three tiered pyramid is presented. The bottom-level: “food, water, shelter (basic survival)“. The middle-level is “devoted to catalysts for further growth like abundant energy, ample educational opportunities, and access to ubiquitous communications and information“. The highest tier is “freedom and health“.

Sad, but true observation.

“Currently a billion people lack access to safe drinking water, and 2.6 billion lack access to basic sanitation.”

The authors wanted readers to be aware of Friedrich Hayek’s “catallaxy: the ever-expanding possibility generated by the division of labor.”

I have a new found respect for the 1,200 watts two-burner cookstove.

A reasonable near term prediction.

“By 2015, the global market for personalized medicine is projected to reach $452 billion.”

Recall that health is in the highest tier of the pyramid.

Time to put on our possibilitist hat…

An end to most of what ails us by 2035?

It’s possible. In fact, 02035 is sooner than I would have guessed.