Introduction
There have been many changes and technological advancements as far as fuels, computers, infrastructure and various gadgets are concerned. The changes that have occurred have been sufficient proof of the limitless expanses that are yet to be explored. One might be tempted to think that the current technological advancements are hard to be beat. However, a closer examination reveals that great steps have been made in different areas over the past 10 years than over the last 100 years. This is to mean that the human mind has an unlimited capacity to create a myriad of technological changes that make the human lives easier.
Technological advancements have in the past affected different spectrums of the human life. These advancements are all made to simplify human activities and to reduce errors in the various operations that humans may engage in. This includes the transportation sector, the use of computers, use of mobile phones and other modes of technology. Furthermore, any technology must consider ways obtaining cheap and reliable sources of energy.
Summary of Changes
Future changes in transport will incorporate use of electric trains within inbuilt generators, generation of electricity using piezoelectric cells below the surface of roads. Energy sources will shift to use of algae to produce butanol, and generation of electricity using nuclear energy and solar energy. Improvements in computer technology will include facing out of some hardware components such as keyboards and massive use of touchpad. Mobile phones wil soon be minicomputers with the features of a phone.
Future Technological Advancements
Possible innovations include the creation of efficient transportation systems, both for passenger and luggage purposes. Such systems will facilitate fast, safe and efficient transportation of goods, and people across the world at their own convenience. Furthermore, such systems should be affordable. For technological advancements to be able to positively impact the lives of the people they must be affordable to the common citizens. This may, for example, be facilitated by fast and convenient air systems.
The current railway systems are poorly developed and neglected. However, future technological changes may lead to vast development of railway systems. This will also led to a shift from the use of steam engines to use of the fast and efficient electric trains. This form of transportation may be laid out throughout all parts of cities and linking different towns in a country. The current electric trains are powered by electricity from the national grid (Allen, 286). However, this can be substituted by rotary convertors which are attached to the rail to help tap the kinetic energy, and use it to turn rotate a magnetic field and hence produce electricity using this generator. This will save on electricity, making this form of transport very cheap and at the same time energy saving.
Civil engineers can also introduce new technologies in the construction of roads. For example, these roads can be made such that piezoelectric cells are well set below the top surface. The cells will then have underground cables leading to larger cells where the electricity is stored. These larger cells can be set at refueling station (Schilperoord, 2006). In the future, most cars will be electric cars or hybrid cars due to the environmentally friendly effect they have. Drivers of such cars can but new DC batteries for their cars at the refueling stations. This will mean that the pressure underneath the roads will be used to power the cars that cause this pressure.
The roads can also be upgraded to include multiple lane carriage ways. This would mean, for example, having vehicles travelling in one direction for eight lanes and having others travelling in the opposite directions in the other eight lanes. This would make this form of transport very efficient, and hence reduce traffic congestion. This would also lead to reduced accidents due to the allocation of specific lanes for one direction. Currently, there exists dual carriage ways, but these kinds of roads are not well distributed in most countries. In the future, all road and especially highways should have well maintained multiple lanes. In order to reduce congestion in cities and other areas where there is a lot of traffic, engineers may build storied roads and bypasses to help decongest the roundabouts and the central business districts of such areas. Similarly, there should also be multiple access roads into cities so as to reduce traffic during rush hours (Yelland, 2007).
In the future air transport should become well entrenched in the transport system and not be limited to the wealthy and well off members of society. Airports should be constructed in multiple points to allow ferrying of passengers between towns. This is especially a major target for the developing countries. Construction of airplanes should be made to target the production of cheap but stable planes for use by the common citizens. Airlines in future should seek to establish the shortest routes to save on time. Currently some airlines are extremely long due to the lack of permits to pass over certain air spaces. However, with sufficient negotiations these countries could be convinced to allow airlines to be established over their national airspace.
In future there should sufficient changes in the types of fuels used. This is especially because the current fuels that are non-renewable will soon have little or no reserves left for continued use. Fuels will have to be got from renewable sources. This will require extensive use of sources such as solar energy. Currently solar energy is used as a substitute to other sources of energy. However, in future technologies will allow for manufacture of stronger solar cells and panels that will facilitate the generation of electricity for domestic and commercial purposes.
The national grid should also seek to use this source of energy as its principle source of energy. Domestic homes should be able to acquire the solar panels and the accompanying electrical gadgets such as inverters and voltage regulators. This will reduce dependence of the citizens on the national grid. Furthermore, the supply will become less prone to faults since there would be no transmission losses and faults. However, in future countries should also seek to invest in nuclear energy as a source of domestic and industrial power. Nuclear energy is a green source of energy that is obtained from the process of nuclear fission and nuclear fusion. It makes use of radioactive materials that usually release a lot of energy once subjected to the process of nuclear fission.
Nuclear energy makes use of very little radioactive material to release a lot of energy (electricity). However, countries that chose to invest in this form of energy production should take all the necessary precautions to ensure there is sufficient safety. Nuclear reactors should also be located in areas where there is sufficient supply of water, preferably large water bodies. This will help ensure that the reactors are cooled to ensure there are no breakdowns. Although a risky source of energy, nuclear energy might be the missing link to a world that is adequately powered (Johansson and Burnham, 1993).
Research in some universities has revealed that in the future it may be possible to generate fuel from common algae. This would help substitute the oil as the principle source of biomass fuel in powering vehicles and machines. The algae are nurtured in an eco-friendly environment to produce butanol. Butanol is more efficient than ethanol especially when combined with gasoline for use as fuel. The process of production of the butanol also results in discharge of useful water organisms after the fermentation process. This has led to an improvement of water systems. This is because the organic materials and organisms released into natural waterways help to detoxify water by ridding it of excess chemical such as nitrogen. They also act as food for other aquatic organisms such as fish. Eventually, this results in boosting of nature’s flora and fauna.
Future computers are likely to overcome any imaginations we may currently have. This can be evidenced by the growth of the computer technologies. The first computers occupied entire rooms. They had small memories and were relatively slow as compared to today’s computers. Over time computers have reduced in size to more reasonable sizes. These changes in size have been facilitated by the change in technology from use of vacuum tubes for switching to use of transistors that are much smaller. The 21st century saw the advent of home computers and especially desktop computers (Allen, 1982).
Gradually the bulky CRT monitors were replaced the sleek and slender LCD screens that were lighter, and even more attractive. Eventually laptops hit the world and size has since then ceased to be limitation. Technology has focused on speed and inclusion of multiple functions and applications in every new version of computers and computer software released into the world. Future technologies would seek to make the home PC more useful. This may mean blending the appliances in the home to control and monitoring by the PC. This will include a lot of automation of most of the activities in the home.
The future will see a growth from the current use of laptops to massive use of ultrabooks. Ultrabooks are an improvement of the netbooks that are in turn an improvement of the laptops. The difference in these devices is the type of memory used. Laptops use physical memory to store data. Netbooks, on the other hand, use cloud computing to store data while ultrabooks will use flash memory. The current computer use physical keyboards for data entry and as a HMI. However, future technologies will seek to unveil computers that do not rely on keyboards but instead use the touchpad that is widely used in most phones today. Computers are likely to follow the trend that was set by the iPad that was released by Apple. This will mean the tendency to make smaller, more portable, and well designed computers. Such computers are expected to have thousands of applications and other features that people nowadays find necessary or just enjoy to have as part of their computers. These computers have well developed bluetooth and wifi technologies that allow or internet access and communication with other intelligent devices (Denning, 2002).
Mobile phones have also grown over time. They came to replace wired type of communication that made use of analogue signals and transmission lines. Mobile phones initially consisted of large handsets with few features. However, these phones have evolved over time. Nowadays mobile phones have multiple applications and they can handle multiple functions. Some are almost as useful as a computer. Recent technology has led to the use of computer software and operating systems in mobile phones.
For example, nowadays, mobile phones use operating systems such as Windows 7 (Garson, 1999). Computers and mobile phones now use touch screen technology. This has replaced the use of buttons as an input mechanism. In future the is likely to be a merger of these tow technologies(mobile phones and computers) such that people will have portable computers with all the necessary functions that can still serve as mobile phones. Eventually, these gadgets will use voice recognition commands to operate the various applications available.
Conclusion
All these technological changes that will occur in future will impact the lives of people, both positively and negatively. They may lead extremely fast communication. Data sharing will become very fast due to the use of cloud computing in storage of data. This will make information readily available for use by any person that is interested. However, this will make the education system almost obsolete. People will cease to have a reading culture. Furthermore, with the increase in number of applications in mobile phones, few people take interest in other activities around them. A lot of time will be spent on the internet in social media. Eventually, social gatherings may be phased out and the world will change in its entirety (Tokyo, 1988).
Social evils are likely to increase due to the increased access to information. Pornographic materials will encourage rampant and unsafe sexual behavior, especially among the younger generation. The improvements in technology will then have to incorporate sufficient controls to ensure that the threat to normalcy is reduced. The improved infrastructural and transportation systems will act to make the world a global village with ease of access. This will encourage business activities and social relations between people in different parts of the world.
However, there is no limit as to what is to come and the myriad of ideas yet to be explores in various areas.
References
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